In July of 2009 I wrote about the possibility that Sea Shepherd might lose it’s Dutch Certificate of Registry. This due to pressure from the Japanese government to revoke the certificate. Almost a year later Sea Shepherd can still sail under the Dutch flag.

The reason for this is that under current Dutch law it’s not that easy to revoke a certificate for the ships of the Sea Shepherd organisation. To actually make this possible the previous Dutch Government made a proposal to change the law with rules that allows the Dutch government to revoke a certificate far more easily.

Changing, or amending, a law in itself is a lengthy process and this would secure the Sea Shepherd’s Dutch Certificate for almost a year. Considering it’s a reasonable controversial topic among Dutch citizens and the different political parties could lengthen the process even longer (considering a foreign country is pressuring The Netherlands).

In February this year the Dutch government fell due to a disagreement about our military policy for the Afghan province Orūzgān. And this led to the placement of the changes for the ship registration law on a list of controversial changes. This means that the current rump parliament cannot decide on, or implement, the change.

The decision if the changes will be added to the law will continue after the Dutch elections in July.