[13] At the same time, the islands of Curaçao and Sint Maarten became constituent countries (Dutch: landen) within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Officially the islands are classed in Dutch law as being openbare lichamen (literally translated as "public bodies") and not gemeenten (municipalities).

Unlike normal municipalities, they do not form part of a Dutch province[16] and the powers normally exercised by provincial councils within municipalities are divided between the island governments themselves and the central government by means of the National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands.

[18] The National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands (Dutch: Rijksdienst Caribisch Nederland) is responsible for taxation, policing, immigration, transport infrastructure, health, education, and social security in the islands and provides these services on behalf of the Government of the Netherlands.

[20] This agency was established as the Regional Service Center in 2008 and became the National Office for the Caribbean Netherlands on 1 September 2010.

[nb 3] In June 2008, the Dutch government published a survey of the legal and economic impacts by a switched status from OCT to outermost region (OMR).

[25][26] The position of the islands was reviewed after a five-year transitional period, which began with the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in October 2010.

[27] The review was conducted as part of the planned review of the Dutch "Act for the public bodies Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba" (Dutch: "Wet openbare lichamen Bonaire, Sint Eustatius en Saba (WolBES)"), where the islands have been granted the option to become an OMR – and thus a direct part of the European Union.

[28] In October 2015, the review concluded the present legal structures for governance and integration with European Netherlands was not working well within the framework of WolBES, but no recommendations were made in regards of whether a switch from OCT to OMR status would help improve this situation.

The Coast Guard is managed by the Ministry of Defence and is directed by the commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy in the Caribbean.