PHILIPSBURG--Government is still to ratify the timeshare ordinance unanimously passed by Parliament in May 2017, an act necessary to bring into force the law aimed at protecting timeshare buyers. The hold-up in the process is said to be related to the need for more definitions in the legislation. Member of Parliament (MP) Sarah Wescot-Williams, then a member of the Democratic Party-led Parliament, had tabled an initiative law, the first of its kind to be adopted by Parliament in what was then its seventh year of existence.
Wescot-Williams has been pursuing the stalling of the law and recently learned from Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Stuart Johnson that the issue pertained to the need for more definitions. She has since written to Johnson calling on him to update Parliament on the status of the adopted law and for government to ratify it.
Ratification is very necessary, she explained in a press conference held in Parliament House on Wednesday. The law has to first come into effect before any amendment, such as the insertion of definitions, can be proposed by government and adopted by Parliament.
The adopted timeshare law and the pending one to establish a timeshare authority are vital for the country’s tourism-driven economy. Both laws stem from mass outcries from timeshare owners about unfair practices and hurdles faced in the industry.
