Government measures in key jurisdictions 2nd edition final pages - Flipbook - Page 12
Belgium
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Contractual
Issues
What measures
have been taken
to reinforce
contracts?
Property
•
On April 24, 2020, a number of measures were taken to ensure the continuity of
companies during COVID-19, which also have an impact on current contracts:
agreements concluded before April 24, 2020 cannot be (unilaterally) terminated
or (judicially) dissolved, in case of late payment as a result of COVID-19. The other
contractual and/or legal obligations and/or rights of the contracting parties remain in
place, such as set-off, the exception of non-execution, the right of retention, etc.
•
This measure is in force until May 17, 2020, however can be extended.
•
In order to be able to enforce this quickly and efficiently, the interested party can
issue a writ of summons before the chairman of the competent Commercial Court; the
parties can in principle appear before the chairman within two days, the requirement of
urgency is deemed to be present, the procedure is contradictory, the chairman makes
a decision on the merits and the decision is enforceable regardless of any appeal.
•
No other specific legal regulations were taken to reinforce contracts.
•
If the issue at hand is not the termination or dissolution of a contract, or if the rules
as set forth in paragraph 1 are not met, the parties will have to analyse the applicable
contractual provisions in order to establish whether the current governmental
measures can be invoked to suspend performance under the contract or to lift liability
for non or late performance. Contracts in Belgium often include clauses relating to
force majeure or hardship.
•
If parties did not include such provisions, Belgian law and jurisprudence of the highest
court provide for several mechanisms to protect contracting parties against adverse events.
Principles of good faith and obligations to renegotiate contracts can be invoked under strict
conditions. Application of these principles are casuistic and must be assessed in detail.
•
For more details on this topic, please refer to section Contract at our Corona Desk website.
•
Have any changes
been made to
the laws around
property, rent and
enforcement?
– it is possible to extend the lease agreement by e-mail if the agreement is about to
expire during the confinement period,
– a social tenant who has lost his or her income due to temporary unemployment
as a result of force majeure will be able to ask the social landlord for a temporary
adjustment of the rent, and
– social landlords will be able to provide temporary shelter, directly or through an
intermediary institution, to individual or families in an emergency situation as a
result of the COVID-19 virus measures.
•
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In respect of payment of rent, the current pandemic does not constitute force
majeure for tenants. They have to pay rent and may not suspend payment of
rent. However, there are measures to mitigate the impacts of this pandemic. For
instance, in the Flemish Region:
In addition, due to social distancing requirements, some procedures or meetings
with physical attendance requirements that have to be organized during the
period between 10 March 2020 and 30 June 2020 have been either postponed or
allowed for alternative attendance means, this is the case for the participation in
the general meeting of association of co-owners. In immovable heritage application
procedures, flexibilities are granted until 18 June 2020 in terms of (and amongst
others) extension of time limits for public enquiry on the establishment of the
architectural heritage inventory or for the appeal on certain decision.
Government measures in key jurisdictions
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