The Treaty between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Kingdom of Belgium on the Dutch Language Union was concluded in Brussels on 9 September 1980, in two copies, in the Dutch language. Plenipotentiaries: D. F. van der Mei, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Charles-Ferdinand Nothomb, Minister for Foreign Affairs. Article 23: ratification, instruments exchanged at The Hague; entry into force on the first day of the third month after the exchange — 1 April 1982. It is not the 1946 cultural agreement, nor Suriname’s 2003 association treaty.

Article 1 establishes the Taalunie. Article 2: integration of the Netherlands and the Dutch-speaking community in Belgium in the field of the Dutch language and literature. Article 3: joint development of the language, knowledge and proper use, literature, and study and dissemination abroad. Article 4: common institutions, official spelling and grammar, legislative terminology, a policy on dictionaries, the Certificate of Dutch as a Foreign Language, and a joint stance in international relations, particularly in the European Communities.

Article 6: the organs are the Committee of Ministers, the Interparliamentary Commission, the Council for Dutch Language and Literature and the General Secretariat. Article 8: each Party has one vote in the Committee. Article 16: legal personality. Article 17: financing — Belgium one third, the Netherlands two thirds, with power to depart. Article 19: for the Netherlands, application only to the European part of the Kingdom, extendable by notes. Article 20: association of other States. Article 21: indefinite duration; denunciation after ten years, on twelve months’ notice.

The text consulted is the authentic version on wetten.nl (BWBV0002947), corresponding to Tractatenblad 1980, 147. Suriname later became an associate member; it was not an original party. The seat is fixed by the Committee, not by the treaty.

The Union is not a political francophonie: its object is language and literature, not a community of States.

Cover: Egmont Palace in Brussels, a Belgian diplomatic venue at the date of signature; we do not claim the hall. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

Sources consulted: Dutch Language Union; Verdrag inzake de Nederlandse Taalunie (Brussel).