The Belgian takeover market is currently undergoing a full transformation. Three experts from the independent law firm, ALTIUS, share their insights about the new dynamics in the field of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). “We see clear links with restructurings, bankruptcies, and the evolution of the real estate market.” The new dynamics currently driving the takeover market in our country are the result of various factors ...
Integrating AI tools at work is not without danger. Three experts from the independent Belgian law firm, ALTIUS, explain how companies should best guard against ethical risks, data protection, intellectual property rights, and trade secrets. “It is essential that organisations teach their people to work with AI safely and responsibly ...
The rules on the duration and termination of insurance contracts governed by Belgian law have often been found overly formalistic and complex, especially by consumers. Save for a few exceptions, the duration of non-life insurance contracts can, in principle, not exceed one year. Instead, such contracts are tacitly renewed for successive one-year periods, subject to a notice for termination or objection to the tacit renewal being made by one of the parties ...
On 21 September 2024, the Chief Public Prosecutor of the Belgian Competition authority (“BCA”) publicly announced that in the BCA’s investigations into agreements concerning subsidies granted for the delivery of newspapers and magazines in Belgium the BCA will for the first time also be prosecuting physical persons ...
This newsletter gives a short overview of the latest legal and administrative developments when temporarily posting workers to Belgium. The topics covered are relevant for both foreign posting employers and Belgian service users. 1. The Limosa notification and the place of work: administrative clarifications When filing a Limosa notification for your posted workers, you must, amongst others, identify the place of work. However, this is not always easy to do ...
New legal regime Articles 95, § 3-5 (works), 127 (supplies) and 160 (services) of the Royal Decree of 14 January 2013 regarding the general rules for execution of public tenders: 30 calendar days verification term + 30 calendar days payment term. Exception for contracting authorities in the healthcare sector for public tenders for works, supplies and services pertaining to their healthcare activities. 30 calendar days verification term + 60 calendar days payment term ...
On 1 July 2024, the Act of 15 May 2024 on measures to address over-indebtedness and protect companies in difficulty (the“Act”) was published in the Belgian Official State Gazette. The main amendments of the Act, as well as its entry into force, are briefly discussed below ...
Introduction NIS2 (the second “Network and Information Systems Directive”) is an updated regulatory framework introduced by the European Union tostrengthen cybersecurityacross member states. It is a successor to the original NIS Directive, which was adopted in 2016 ...
Introduction The EU Deforestation Regulation (‘EUDR’) waspublishedin the Official Journal on 9 June 2023 and entered into force on 29 June 2023,marking the start of its implementation phase. As the EU legislator has adopted a decentralized enforcement approach, Member States need to set up the necessary legal frameworks to fulfil their enforcement duties under the EUDR ...
nternal investigations: an employee’s right to be assisted during an interview. The Supreme Court clarifies… but is already overruled by recent legislative changes? Although employers have been proceeding with internal investigations for decades, nowadays they raise more and more legal questions. Driven by legislative initiatives (e.g. whistleblowing legislation) and case law trends, there are many situations in which an employer may be forced to an internal investigation ...
A new draft Act has recently been submitted to the Belgian Parliament that aims to amend the Social Penal Code which lists the infringements of labour and social security law that are punishable and the related penalties. The new draft Act is very ambitious, as it contemplates being the biggest reform of the Social Penal Code since the latter’s enactment ...
On 21 September 2023,the EU Court of Justice (‘CJEU’) handed down its ruling in the Apotheke B. case (C-47/22), and it is a good example of the high threshold set by the EU Court of Justice to uphold the Community Code’s main aim of protecting public health ...
On 18 April 2024, a new Act to better protect employees undergoing infertility treatment was published in the Belgian State Gazette. The new Act aims to protect these employees against (i) dismissal, and (ii) discrimination. It therefore updates two well-known Belgian employment law Acts: the Labour Act of 16 March 1971 and the Gender Act of 10 May 2007.The new Act enters into force on 28 April 2024. I. Modification of the Labour Act of 16 March 1971: a new protection against dismissal A ...
The Belgian Act on precontractual information obligations in commercial cooperation agreements included in Book X of the Belgian Code of Economic Law (“CEL”) requires that at least one month before entering into any commercial cooperation agreements (which includes franchise agreements) a pre-contractual information document (“PID”) and a draft of the agreement must be provided ...
On 28 March 2024, the Belgian Federal Chamber of Representatives adopted a new act implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 September 2022 on contestable and fair markets in the digital sector and amending Directives (EU) 2019/1937 and (EU) 2020/1828 (“Digital Markets Act”), as well as amending various provisions related to the organisation and powers of the Belgian Competition Authority (the “Act”) ...
For the past five years there has been an ongoing battle between the Belgian Competition Authority (“BCA”) and the legislator about the BCA’s competence to review mergers between hospitals. This wrangling has lead to a whole collection of legislative reforms, opinions, merger decisions with strong press releases, and communications going back and forth ...
A new era for workers in the cultural sector 2024’s start has marked a decisive stage in the arts world. At the start of December 2023, the Commission du Travail des Arts/Arts Labour Commission (“Commission”) met for the first time at the Royal Flemish Theatre; this was vitally important for the sector’s workers as it marked the start of a new era with the long-awaited issue of “arts work certificates” from 1 January 2024 ...
From 1 April 2024, an employer establishing the termination of an employment contract for ‘medical force majeure’ will have to notify a new‘Back to Work Fund’ (Fund) set up within the National Institute for Sickness and Disability Insurance (RIZIV/INAMI)and pay a contribution of EUR 1,800 to this Fund. The incapacitated ex-employee can then call upon the Fund to receive a ‘voucher’ for specialised and customised services (e.g ...
Antitrust issues in vertical relationships are no longer below the competition authorities’ ‘radar’. This trend of not only focusing on horizontal but also on vertical competition law infringements has once more been seen with the Belgian Competition Authority’s decision to fine Le Creuset EUR 490,112 for having implemented a resale price maintenance policy with its distributors over a six and half year period ...
In an earlier article in this series, we already discussed the planned changes in terms of moveable income. Whilst the changes may seem relatively limited at first glance, Dutch residents immigrating to Belgium will however encounter several peculiarities as set out in this article. Capital gains Capital gains, i.e. on shares, are in principle taxable in the state of residence ...
The new double tax treaty between Belgium and the Netherlands will introduce significant changes compared to the current Article 5 on permanent establishments. Due to the positions of Belgium and the Netherlands to the Multilateral Instrument (MLI), only the anti-fragmentation rule is applied under the current treaty. Under the new treaty, alignment is sought and found with the other changes proposed by the MLI for permanent establishments ...
Ravel’s most famous score officially became free of rights on 1 May 2016. However, the civil court of Nanterre might soon decide that it is to return to the private domain. A blog about Maurice Ravel on Valentine’s Day? No doubt we’ll be talking aboutDaphnis et ChloéorDon Quichotte à Dulcinée? Well, no. It’s obviously theBolérothat this post is about ...
Belgium is welcoming a significant development in the field of veterinary medicine law. The Act of 11 July 2023 containing various provisions on health, which entered into force on 8 September 2023, introduces changes across a wide spectrum of healthcare domains, which are encompassed in approximately 20 chapters. In this blog post, we provide an overview of the key changes related to the marketing of veterinary medicines set out in Chapters 4 and 14 of the new Law ...
Following the Act of 19 December 2023 (published on 27 December 2023), the legislator has introduced a reconciliation procedure in the commercial and labour courts as well as in the courts of appeal. Previous situation The tool that Father Christmas has just added to the Belgian ADR toolbox is not new. Reconciling the parties has expressly been part of each court’s remit since 2018 ...
Benchmarking is a vital tool in the development and improvement of a franchise network, and will benefit franchisees and franchisors alike. A good benchmark, whether financial and/or operational requires the communication of accurate and relevant documents and information between the franchisee and the franchisor, which is best organised in a clear and detailed manner in the franchise agreement ...
