Government measures in key jurisdictions 3rd edition final - Flipbook - Page 16
Belgium
Company
law matters
Have any measures
been put in place to
accommodate social
distancing (such as
remote general
meetings)?
The Belgian government published on 9 April 2020 a Royal Decree to allow deviations from the
conditions of convening shareholders’ meetings under the Code of Companies and Associations,
due to social distancing requirements.
In respect of shareholders’ meetings which have been called or will be called between 1 March
2020 and 30 June 2020, the following deviations are possible:
•
Firstly, the shareholders’ meeting can be held remotely (through videoconference), and/or
through a proxyholder, even if the articles of association does not provide this possibility.
•
Secondly, the shareholders’ meeting can be postponed to a later date of the choice of the
company. In particular, for annual shareholders’ meeting which needs to approve financial
statements of the company and file them with the National Bank of Belgium within six months
following the closing of financial year, a postponement of the approval and filing is possible
within maximum 10 weeks. However, certain general shareholder’s meetings (for example,
when the net asset drops below zero) cannot be postponed.
For more details on this royal decree, please refer to: Royal Decree No. 4
16
Government measures in key jurisdictions