Insights

In recent years, there has been a wave of new legislation impacting contracts and contractual terms. The Belgian legislator is gradually adopting the different Books of our new Belgian Civil Code. Last February, a new proposal for Book VII on special contracts, including sale and loan agreements was submitted. Additionally, the Belgian Code of Economic Law has been updated several times, impacting the drafting of contracts and of contractual terms, not only between companies but also with consumers.

On 26 February 2025, the Commission proposed a sustainability simplifications package, commonly referred to as the Omnibus package. Among the sustainability reporting and due diligence provisions, the Omnibus package would also bring about changes to the EU’s unilateral environmental measure, the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). CBAM entered into application in its transitional phase in October 2023 and is now halfway towards its definitive implementation. The proposed deregulation brings about improvements in several CBAM areas, including scope, and reporting and procedural requirements. In this alert, we outline those suggested amendments that are likely to be of most importance to businesses involved in trading in CBAM goods.

Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) 32bis applies in Belgium in the event of a transfer of undertakings. It establishes the legal framework that protects employees’ rights during such a transfer.

The EU Institutions are currently adding the finishing touches to the new Packaging & Packaging Waste Regulation (“PPWR”) which is expected to be adopted in Q4 2024 or Q1 2025. While many companies are fully preoccupied with preparing for other EU legislation (e.g. the Deforestation Regulation) – companies will ignore the PPWR at their peril. The PPWR contains a host of ambitious legal targets and requirements – which industry will find it difficult to achieve in practice. And the deadlines to comply – are perhaps even more challenging. Companies will need to start preparing for the EU PPWR now, to avoid serious problems – including supply-chain disruption, penalties and litigation – in the future.

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.

On March 19, 2024, the European Council adopted changes to the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union in an attempt to improve its efficiency.

On February 17, 2024, The Digital Services Act (DSA) will become applicable, introducing a new regulatory framework for providers of intermediary services. The DSA will apply to those offering their services to users located in the EU, regardless of the providers' place of establishment. We have discussed the new obligations in our previous client alert, when the DSA was adopted. In this alert, we will focus on the notice and action mechanisms, the positions of the users, intermediaries and the general public.

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.

The articles of association of all Belgian companies and non-profit associations must be in line with the new Belgian Companies and Associations Code before January 1, 2024. Failure to amend your articles of association appropriately and in due time could result in a director’s liability claim.

On 28 November, the European Union adopted the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (hereafter: “CSRD”), succeeding the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (hereafter: “NFRD”) and ushering in the next era of sustainability reporting. Here are seven questions and responses to help your company prepare in the countdown to CSRD implementation.

A new Belgian law, passed on August 14, 2021, has introduced several important changes to the 2002 law on combating late payment in commercial transactions. These changes entered into force on February 1, 2022.

All Belgian companies, foundations, non-profit organizations, fiduciaries and trusts must submit information about their ultimate beneficial owners to the Ultimate Beneficial Owners (UBO) register (see the Belgian Act of September 18, 2017 and the Royal Decree of July 30, 2018).

On Tuesday June 8, 2021, the Belgian Group of Ten (i.e., the consultative body of trade unions and employers, the “social partners”) reached general agreement on four social topics. This agreement follows the government’s conciliation proposal to the social partners of May 2021, whereby the government instructed the social partners to find practical solutions with respect to the following four topics.

On November 25, 2020, the EU adopted a new Class Actions Directive, covering representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers. By creating at least one effective and efficient procedural mechanism for representative actions across all member states, this new Directive will enhance the protection of consumers against both domestic and cross-border “mass harm.” However, you should be aware that it could also increase the risk of litigation for your company.

We started this series of alerts by sharing our view on the legal consequences of COVID-19 on B2B relations in the events industry. Our first two alerts set the scene. But of course, law is not applied in a vacuum, and to supplement our analysis we thought it would be useful to understand how different stakeholders from the events industry have been experiencing the pandemic. So, in our most recent alerts, we have been reaching out to different industry representatives, asking them five key questions and inviting them to share their perspective.

We started this series of alerts by sharing our view on the legal consequences of COVID-19 on B2B relations in the events industry. Our first two alerts set the scene. But of course, law is not applied in a vacuum, and to supplement our analysis we thought it would be useful to understand how different stakeholders from the events industry have been experiencing the pandemic. So, in our most recent alerts, we have been reaching out to different industry representatives, asking them five key questions and inviting them to share their perspective.

We started this series of alerts by sharing our view on the legal consequences of COVID-19 on B2B relations in the events industry. Our series of alerts set the scene. But of course, law is not applied in a vacuum, and for our next alerts we are reaching out to different stakeholders from the events industry, asking them five key questions and inviting them to share their practical business perspectives.

We started this series of alerts by sharing our view on the legal consequences of COVID-19 on B2B relations in the events industry. Our first two alerts set the scene. But of course, law is not applied in a vacuum, and for our next alerts we will be reaching out to different stakeholders from the events industry, asking them five key questions and inviting them to share their thoughts. In addition to the analyses that Crowell & Moring has been offering, we thought it would be useful to understand how all of the different actors in the events industry are experiencing the pandemic and to ask them to share their practical business perspectives.

In response to the many questions we have recently received from clients, we have prepared a Q&A regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on various day-to-day business activities in Belgium. In particular, we address the following specific questions: