BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Nathalie Colin, Maria-Clara Van den Bossche, Kevin Xhebexhia and Florence Frühling, Freshfields
Without the theory of virtual representation, res judi - cata does not extend to third parties to the procedure. However, arbitral awards do have evidentiary value and, therefore, can be invoked as a rebuttable pre - sumption of truth against a third party in subsequent legal proceedings. This means that the third party cannot challenge what has been decided by the arbi - tral award without providing new elements of proof or new arguments not submitted to the first arbitral tribunal. If the third party wants to completely review the debate, they must file a third-party opposition against the arbitral award. Such right was recognised by the Belgian Constitutional Court in a ruling dated 16 February 2017.
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