ESS Maritime is pleased that member of parliament Mr. Han ten Broeke (VVD) drafted an initiative law aiming to govern the deployment of armed maritime security officers on Dutch-flagged vessels.
Currently, the Netherlands is the only country within the European Union that has no legislation allowing for private maritime security companies to operate on Dutch-flagged vessels. The main reason for this lies in the fact that there are some political parties, among which is the Dutch labor party PvdA, that have principal objections against allowing private maritime security companies to operate on Dutch vessels. According to these opposing parties the monopoly of violence should remain with the state and therefore reaching an agreement on this very topic has been in a stalemate for several years.
Proposed legislation by Han Ten Broeke (VVD)
The proposed legislation of Mr. Han ten Broeke aims to regulate, under strict conditions, private maritime security companies to operate on Dutch-flagged vessels in order to defend against piracy. The initiative law is to a great extent based on legislation as proposed by the Dutch Cabinet in December 2015. This proposed legislation stated that ship owners are only allowed to contract armed private maritime security officers when the so-called Vessel Protection Detachment of the Dutch Navy are not able to secure the vessel in question.
ESS Maritime would like to stipulate that there is, and has been for almost 8 years, a great demand from Dutch ship owners, seafarers and security companies to create legislation that would allow private maritime security companies to operate on Dutch vessels. In this regard, ESS Maritime is delighted that Mr. Han ten Broeke takes the lead in creating actual legislation and policy that would help in protecting Dutch vessels and seafarers transiting the global High Risk Areas.