The Winter 2003 Issue contains a.o. the following articles:

LEGAL AFFAIRS

Real Estate and Contracting for Work
Recent Legal Developments
Recently, the Dutch legislation on real estate has undergone major changes. A new rent law came into effect on August 1, 2003, while in September the existing regulations on ‘Purchase and Exchange’ were extended with a number of important additions regarding the purchase of real estate. Furthermore, a new regulation on contracting for work entered into force as well.
This article will be of interest to expatriates who buy and renovate their homes; in particular, we will be taking a brief look at the changes in legislation that were introduced on September 1, 2003.
Hein Stroeve, e-mail: stroeve@ekelmansenmeijer.nl

CULTURE

The Development of the Dutch Language
Ever wonder why occasionally Dutch sounds vaguely familiar? Well, it should. If it weren’t for the development of English, we’d all still be speaking more or less the same language today. In fact, your problems with Dutch pronunciation and sentence structure are to be blamed entirely on the English – or actually the French.
In fact, English and Dutch were both dialects from the same Germanic language until the French invaded Britain in 1011 and the Duke of Normandy became King William the first. For nearly 200 years to follow, French remained the official language of England’s elite while the lower classes continued to speak English.
By the time the English language had won its way back up from the masses to the upper class, it had changed so much that it had lost its close resemblance to Dutch – although some similarities are still present today ...
Naomi Bolderhey

MONEY

The EU Savings Tax Directive
Read This – It Might Save You Money!
If there is one word almost guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of any investor it is the word … TAX!
On the June 3, 2003, the Economic and Finance ministers of the EU (ECOFIN) signed an EU directive in which the member states agree to the automatic exchange of information relating to the interest on savings of EU residents. The consequence being that these states will, from January 2005, impose a withholding tax on the interest earned. For those of us resident in the Netherlands this would seem not to be particularly relevant. It starts to bite, however, when it becomes apparent that if you hold cash assets in one of the offshore crown territories (Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, etc), then they too will impose this withholding tax.
www.cagonline.net
Ian Russell, e-mail: irussell@cagonline.net