Insights

Brussels – March 20, 2023: Chambers and Partners has ranked four Crowell & Moring practice groups and six individual lawyers in the Chambers Europe 2023 guide. The rankings are driven by independent interviews of clients and members of the legal community.

Brussels – August 29, 2022: Emmanuel Plasschaert, partner and head of Crowell & Moring’s Corporate, Commercial, and Employment practices in Brussels, will become president (“bâtonnier”) of the Brussels Bar (FR) on September 1, 2022.  Plasschaert previously served a two-year term as the Bar’s vice-president.

On 31 May 2024, the law of 21 April 2024 amending Books I, XV and XVII of the Economic Code, and transposing Directive (EU) 2020/1828 on representative actions to protect the collective interests of consumers, was published in the Belgian Official Journal.

At the beginning of the year, we brought to your attention that a number of important Belgian and EU legislative changes are likely to have an impact in 2024: there are new laws that have been adopted and proposals that are expected to firm up into law.

A number of important Belgian and EU legislative changes are likely to have an impact in 2024. On the one hand, there are new laws that have been adopted and will start to bite, and, on the other, there are proposals that are expected to firm up into law.

In collaboration with ACC EuropeThe EU Whistleblower Directive, which is intended to provide whistleblowers with greater protection, sets out a legal framework of minimum standards that have to be transposed by the EU member states into national legislation.

In Collaboration with the IBJDuring this webinar we will dive into the European Directive on pay transparency that entered into force in June 2024 and has to be transposed for June 2026 in all EU Member States. This European Directive has the ambition to strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women, for all employees in all sectors. The Directive brings significant new reporting obligations and assessment obligations on employers that the EU Member States will publish. How will you have to calculate the threshold to know if your company as an employer falls under the scope of the Directive? And what happens when there is a gap in the equal pay? What will you have to do as an employer? What kind of enforcement does the Directive foresee? Lastly, did you know that in the US there is an Equal Pay Act that has been in force since 1963? How has that statute been applied in the US and what are the differences and similarities with the European Directive? Our special US guest will teach us some interesting US-insights.  

There have been many recent changes in Belgian labor and employment law - changes that are likely to significantly impact your daily HR practice. 

The legislative framework for contract drafting is rapidly evolving. A revised Book of the Belgian Civil Code on obligations (which is likely to be adopted after the Easter holidays), a recent change in the law to combat late payment between companies, and the existing rules on B2B contracts in the Code of Economic law all need to be taken into account.