The Netherland Antilles reform their status

As of 10 October 2010, the Dutch Antilles will cease to exist as a country.

Curacao and St Maarten will become separate countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, while Bonaire, Saba and St Eustatius will become special Dutch municipalities. Aruba already had a separate status.

The ceremony was attended by Prince Willem-Alexander and Deputy Kingdom Relations Minister Ank Bijleveld and caretaker Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. The prime minister called the declaration "a new chapter". The intensive process which has taken five years is supposed to give the larger islands more autonomy.

See the original article online at: http://www.rnw.nl/english/bulletin/dutch-antilles-sign-declaration-reforming-their-status

What does this means for us DXers?
-Since it's official now the DXCC Desk may release an announcement concerning the future DXCC status of the islands after Oct 10.
To be added as a new "political entity" one of these criterias has meet one of these criteria:
a) The entity is a UN member state.
b) The entity has been assigned a callsign prefix block by the ITU.
c) The entity must be listed on either the US Department of State's list of "Dependencies and Areas of Special Sovereignty" or the United Nations list of "Non-Self-Governing Territories."

However, it is clear that several DXpeditions will be on the air from all islands until Oct 10.

All operations will be announced later here.

From : DxInfo
http://dxinfo.ea3bhk.com/Dxnews/The-Netherland-Antilles-reform-their-status.html