The new Prospectus Law and amendments to the Law on Takeover Bids – The law of 11 July 2018
1. Introduction The public offer of investment instruments and their admission to trading on a regulated market used to be governed by the law of 16 June 2006 implementing the Directive 2003/71/EC of 4 November 2003 (the Law of 2006). While mandatory disclosure of information is vital to protect investors and constitutes a necessary step […]
Another novelty in the Belgian judicial landscape: the future Brussels International Business Court (“BIBC”)
On 15 May 2018, the Belgian Government filed a draft law concerning the implementation of a new specialised English-speaking court in Brussels: the Brussels International Business Court (“BIBC”). The Belgian Parliament is currently reviewing the draft law. The Government intends to ensure the entry into force of the law on 1st January 2020 at the […]
Benelux Trademarks: Extension of the procedures with the Office and centralisation of the appeals with the Benelux Court of Justice
On 1 June 2018, the amendments[1] to the Benelux Convention on Intellectual Property (BCIP), adopted in 2014, entered into force. From 1 June on, new powers are attributed to both the Benelux Court of Justice (BCJ) (1) and the Benelux Office of Intellectual Property (BOIP) (2). Furthermore, a new opposition ground – currently already available […]
The FSMA’s Q&A on how to obtain a registration as an insurance intermediary in Belgium
The FSMA recently released a short Q&A summarising the key steps and requirements of the process for a registration application as an insurance intermediary in Belgium[1]. This document, drafted in English, is intended to attract and inform potential newcomers, be them established insurance professionals fleeing the potential consequences of Brexit or new market entrants such […]
Belgian transposition of the PSDII rules of conduct
The transposition of the second Payment Services Directive (the “PSDII”) should have been completed on 13 January 2018. With a delay of a few months, a Belgian draft law implementing the PSDII rules of conduct into the Economic Law Code (the “Rules of Conduct (draft) Law”) has finally been released and is likely to be […]
A step forward for the draft new Companies and Associations Code
On 25 May 2018, the Council of Ministers approved the draft new Companies and Associations Code which aims at modernising the regime applicable to companies and associations. The draft Code will now be submitted to the Federal Parliament for discussion and vote. We expect parliamentary approval in the autumn of this year. One of the […]
2nd e-Money Directive evaluation: too little and too late?
The 2nd E-money Directive’s ambitions The first e-money directive 200/46/EC was not as successful as initially expected. Some of its provisions limited the development of the European e-money market, notably due to certain over-demanding prudential requirements and uncertainties about its scope of application. The second e-money directive 2009/110/EC of 16 September 2009 (“2EMD”) was meant […]
GDPR – Are you ready?
On 10 January 2018, the law of 3 December 2017 concerning the establishment of the Data Protection Authority was published in the Belgian’s official Gazette. This law, reforming the current Commission for the protection of privacy, is one of the necessary legislative efforts to anticipate the entry into force of the European Union’s General Regulation […]
Our review of the EU Commission draft FinTech Action Plan
The EU should work on “a more future-oriented regulatory framework embracing digitalisation, with the aim of creating an environment where innovative FinTech products and solutions can be rapidly rolled out across the EU to benefit from the scale economies of the Single Market” (EU Commission draft FinTech Action Plan) And to attain this ambitious objective, […]
ICOs in Belgium and Europe: a legal perspective
What’s in a name? The term ICO stands for ‘Initial Coin Offering’, a rather obvious reference to IPOs (‘Initial Public Offering’). Like IPOs, ICOs can be described as a means of raising public funds. And quite a good one. Although numbers vary from one analyst to another, in 2017 alone, approximately USD 3 billion would […]
A drug prescription assistance software can be a medical device
In its judgment dated 7 December 2017 (case C-329/16), the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) considered that software, of which at least one of the functions makes it possible to use patient-specific data for the purposes, inter alia, of detecting contraindications, drug interactions and excessive doses, is, in respect of that function, […]
The Belgian corporate income tax reform
As announced since several months, the new Belgian corporate income tax reform was recently enacted by the law of 25 December 2017 (hereafter: “Law”), as published in the Belgian State Gazette of 27 December 2017. Hereunder you will find a summary of some of the major highlights of this reform. Decrease of the nominal corporate income […]
