Suriname: A General Business Law Overview

Suriname is an independent Republic on the north-east of South America. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the north, Brazil to thes, French Guyana to the east and Guyana to the west. In 1816 Suriname was claimed by the Dutch up to the day of Suriname’s independence on the 25 November 1975.

The legal history of Suriname is closely related to its political development. The major periods are the colonial period, followed by the period of autonomy, (or partial self-government), the independence when a new legal order was instituted, the military period that overturned the then existing legal order, and the period of the return to parliamentary democracy. This all resulted in a mixed legal framework partly derived from the legal principles that govern in the legal order of the Netherlands (interpreted and applied in a domestic context), and partly domestically originated.

The administration of justice in Suriname is provided for by three Cantonal Courts and one Court of Appeal. All courts have their seat in Paramaribo, the capital, but roving judges from Paramaribo’s Cantonal Courts also hold sessions in other districts. The appointment of judges is for life – ie, until the age of retirement. All judges are members of the Court of Justice. The basis for the appointment of judges is enshrined in the Constitution.

Economy

Suriname is a small, natural resource-rich country with a population of approximately 600,000. The economy is driven by its abundant natural resources, with mining accounting for nearly half of public sector revenue and gold representing about 80% of total exports. This makes the Suriname economy vulnerable to external shocks. As of 2015, government revenue from mining fell sharply, and foreign reserves were drained. Exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this resulted in 2020 in a severe fiscal and balance-of-payments crisis, as well as drastic devaluations of the Suriname currency and ever-increasing shortage of foreign currency. In December 2021, the government entered into a 36-month IMF arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility for Suriname, in an amount of about USD688 million with the intention, among other thing, to restore fiscal sustainability and bring public debt to sustainable levels.

Foreign Exchange Restrictions

The economic situation and the shortage of foreign exchange also resulted in foreign exchange restrictions imposed by the government. More specifically, the government imposed a 100% repatriation obligation upon Suriname-resident exporters of their foreign currency export revenues, and an obligation to exchange 30% thereof in Suriname currency through one of the resident foreign exchange commercial banks.

CARICOM Single Market and Economy

Suriname is a member state of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) created by the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas in 2006 and establishing a common market comprising the freedoms of free movement of goods, persons, services and the right of establishment and the movement of capital, as well as the co-ordination of common policy in designated domains. The other member states are all West-Indian, English-speaking islands and mainland territories of the Caribbean Basin area, such as for instance Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Barbados, Saint Lucia and Guyana. CARICOM residents do enjoy a corresponding favoured status over sources of foreign investment.

Company Law

Suriname company law has recently been modernised, abolishing bearer shares, simplifying and cutting start-up costs for the creation of companies, and introducing the one-tier board system as an alternative to the two-tier board system of governance.

Competition

There is to date no competition law in force in Suriname, and there are currently no domestic agencies reviewing transactions for competition-related concerns. There is a draft competition law circulating pending review by the government. The CARICOM Competition Commission is based in Suriname, and it monitors potential anti-competitive practices for enterprises operating within the CSME.

Environmental Law

The Environmental Framework Law has recently been passed to deal with the protection and sustainable management of the environment in Suriname, and the implementation and carrying into effect of obligations deriving from Suriname’s membership of international treaties, conventions and agreements (such as the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the Paris Agreement and the Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions on POPs and PIC respectively). At the same time, this law establishes the authority and powers for the investigation, prosecution and trial of offences prescribed as environmental offences. 

Oil and Gas

The Guyana-Suriname Basin, the offshore economic zone north of the Atlantic Coast of Guyana and Suriname, has been identified by the US Geological Survey as having significant potential recoverable petroleum and gas reserves. In the past few years, several production-sharing agreements have been signed with international petroleum companies to do the exploration of oil and gas in offshore Suriname. In October 2024, TotalEnergies and APA Corporation announced the Final Investment Decision (FID) for the development of a production field in Block 58 offshore Suriname, with the construction and installation phase estimated to take about four years. Additionally, Petronas recently announced the discovery of several viable wells and signed a Letter of Agreement with concession holder Staatsolie to further exploration of the gas discovery made in Block 52. Although a second FID is yet to be made, the drilling of appraisal-wells is ongoing and contributes relevant economic development for Suriname.

Substantial preparations have now been intensified to educate the local workforce to capitalise on the attracted economic development.

Carbon Credits

Suriname is about 90% covered by forest and has a carbon negative economy; any global warming gasses it does produce are offset by natural resources which absorb those gasses. Suriname has outlined updated plans (Nationally Determined Contributions) under the Paris Climate Agreement to fight climate change in the hope of ensuring that any future increase in the temperature of the planet does not exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. To finance these plans, Suriname enters the potentially lucrative carbon credit exchange market as a promising avenue to source international funding.