Minister of Tourism Claret Connor on Tuesday met with members of the board of the St. Maarten Timeshare Association (SMTA) to look at, among things, the possible litigation of timeshare issues moving forward. The meeting was called based on a directive from the Prime Minister to ensure that government has all relevant information about the industry in order to make informed decisions.
Minister Connor said what was realized was that there are instances on island where persons purchase a product and the buyer has an opinion about what he/she purchasing. These opinions are often brings unfortunate conflicts. The meeting focused on elucidations from the SMTA to Minister Connor on the nature of timeshare sales.
The SMTA agreed with the Minister that there should be a level of oversight from relevant authorities specifically regarding the way in which seller-buyer contracts are being drafted. The SMTA also agreed to allow government to view their contracts to ensure that they are operating at a level that would not jeopardize the industry
The SMTA and Minister Connor also agreed to establish sound industry standards and will use the draft law legislation to amend the civil code, as submitted to Parliament by former Member of Parliament Leroy DeWeever, as a guiding principle.
