BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Nathalie Colin, Maria-Clara Van den Bossche, Kevin Xhebexhia and Florence Frühling, Freshfields
Freshfields LLP Bastion Tower Place du Champ de Mars
Marsveldplein 5 B-1050 Brussels Belgium
Tel: +32 2 504 70 86 Fax: +32 2 404 70 86 Email: nathalie.colin@freshfields.com Web: www.freshfields.com
1. General 1.1 Prevalence of Arbitration
1.3 Arbitration Institutions The most used arbitral institutions for international arbitration in Belgium are the ICC and CEPANI. The ICC is more frequently chosen for cross-border dis - putes due to its global reputation and enforceability of awards. CEPANI is preferred when one party is Belgian, offering multilingual proceedings and strong local expertise. However, in terms of volume, the ICC handles more international cases than CEPANI. In November 2024, “C-Build by Cepani” was launched as a new department within CEPANI, specifically dedi - cated to providing tailored dispute resolution services (including arbitration, mediation and expert determina - tion) for the construction sector. CEPANI also includes a dedicated section for sports arbitration: the Belgian Centre for Sports Arbitration (C-SAR). 1.4 National Courts Under Belgian law, the power to decide on arbitration- related issues has been centralised in the Courts of First Instance and with the President of these Courts, where support is required before or during the arbi - tration proceedings (Article 1680, Section 5 of the Belgian Judicial Code (BJC)). Within these courts, arbitration-related cases are generally assigned to a specific chamber composed of judges with experi - ence in arbitration law.
Although a large number of disputes in Belgium are still resolved by State courts, international arbitration is increasingly favoured (particularly in international commercial disputes) due to its speed, confidentiality, procedural flexibility and the expertise of arbitrators. Belgium continues to engage in international arbitra - tion. For the year 2025, the Belgian Centre for Arbi - tration and Mediation (CEPANI) – which is the most important arbitration institution in Belgium – reported an increase in international cases, with 47% of its caseload involving at least one international party (9% of which concerned exclusively international parties). By contrast, there was a decrease in International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitrations seated in Belgium, with Belgium being selected as the seat in only five cases registered with the ICC. 1.2 Key Industries Certain industries in Belgium have seen notable inter - national arbitration activity in recent years. At CEPANI, 59% of cases in 2025 involved corporate law matters (ie, corporate disputes and share purchase agreement disputes). This contrasts with the ICC global case - load, where nearly 43% of disputes arose from the engineering, construction and energy sectors – mainly due to the complexity and cross-border nature of con - tracts in these industries.
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