Bram DELMOTTE • 06-04-2010
On March 18 2010 the Senate approved the new Corporate Governance Act, which had already been approved by the Chamber of Deputies. The new act will be published in the Official Gazette shortly. New corporate governance rules apply to publicly quoted companies and some state-owned companies, such as the Belgian Post and Belgium's national railway company. The act aims to strengthen the corporate governance of these companies, especially in terms of remuneration controls. It also contains new rules on individuals who are banned from acting as company directors in the banking and finance sector (eg, following bankruptcy or a criminal conviction).
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Bram DELMOTTE • 23-03-2010
On 18 March 2010, the Senate approved the new Corporate Governance Act, which had already been approved by the Chamber of Deputies. The new Act will be published in the Belgian State Gazette soon.
The new corporate governance rules apply to publicly-quoted companies and some state-owned companies such as the Belgian Post and the Belgian Railways. The Act should strengthen the corporate governance of these companies, especially in terms of remuneration controls. The Act also contains some new rules on individuals who are banned from acting as a company Director in the banking and finance sector (e.g. following bankruptcy or a criminal conviction).
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Sylvie DUBOIS and Jérôme VERMEYLEN • 10-12-2009
On 1 September 2009, the long-anticipated Social Security Agreement between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Republic of India (the “SSA”) entered into force. The SSA was signed in New Delhi on 3 November 2006 and is considered as a landmark agreement as it was the first treaty of its kind to be signed by the Indian authorities. Therefore it is likely to serve as a benchmark for similar agreements between India and other countries.
It goes without saying that this SSA will greatly affect Indian companies who are actively engaged in business in Belgium (or elsewhere in Europe while using Belgium as their platform) or who aspire to do so. Moreover, the SSA will affect Indian individuals who are working or who envisage working in Belgium (and Belgian individuals working or planning to work in India), with regard to some of their social security benefit rights. The purpose of this short memo is to highlight the most relevant provisions of the SSA.
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Bram DELMOTTE • 26-10-2009
The Royal Decree of 8 October 2008 amending the Belgian Companies Code (“BCC”) has amended the rules on financial assistance. The new rules entered into force on 1 January 2009. The Royal Decree implements European Directive 2006/68/EC amending the Second Company Law Directive.
The Belgian rules on financial assistance apply to public limited-liability companies (NV/SA), private limited-liability companies (BVBA/SPRL), partnerships limited by shares (Comm.VA/SCA) and co-operative limited-liability companies (CVBA/SCRL). This contribution only addresses the modifications which affect public limited-liability companies.
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Johan DE BRUYCKER • 15-10-2009
ALTIUS' Banking & Finance team contributed to a Jurisdictional Comparison of International Acquisition Finance. The volume provides counsel with a full insight into the law and regulation across numerous jurisdictions. In this article, Johan De Bruycker and his team, untangle the complications of debt funding regimes for the Belgian jurisdiction.
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Kurt GRILLET • 05-10-2009
On March 12, 2009, the second edition of the Belgian Code on Corporate Governance was published (the “2009 Code”), superseding and replacing the first edition, that was issued in 2004. The 2009 Code applies to companies incorporated in Belgium whose shares are admitted to trading on a regulated market. Generally, the 2009 Code applies to the financial years beginning on or after January 1 2009; the provisions regarding executive remuneration apply to contractual arrangements entered into after July 1 2009.
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Bram DELMOTTE • 02-10-2009
As of 8 January 2009, Belgian listed companies and financial undertakings are required to have an audit committee. The Law of 17 December 2008 on the establishment of an audit committee in listed companies and financial undertakings (the “Law”) then enters into force. The Law implements the provisions of the European Statutory Audit Directive relating to the audit committee into Belgian law. Before 8 January 2009, the creation of an audit committee was only a recommendation under the Belgian Corporate Governance Code for Belgian listed companies.
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Tom VANTROYEN • 24-06-2009
The Act of 31 January 2009 on the Continuity of Enterprises entered into force on 1 April 2009 (the “Act”). The disappointing results of the Act of 17 July 1997 on Judicial Composition Proceedings (‘gerechtelijk akkoord’ / ‘concordat judiciaire’) led the Belgian legislature to reform the framework of measures available to undertakings encountering (financial) difficulties (of the type where Chapter 11 is used in the USA).
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