BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Dominique Blommaert, Didier Bracke, Jens Benoot and Lydie Van Muylem, Janson
6.3 Availability of Injunctive Relief on an Ex Parte Basis In cases of absolute necessity, injunctive relief may be granted ex parte, subject to the following conditions: • exceptional or absolute urgency; • the measure requires surprise; and • the absence of an adversary, or the inability to identify the person or entity against whom the measure is sought. Any party opposing such an injunction may request an adversarial (“ contradictoire ”) hearing by the court. 6.4 Liability for Damages for the Applicant In ordinary proceedings, the respondent may claim damages from the applicant if the applicant fails to act as a reasonable, prudent, and diligent person. This duty of good faith is even more stringent when the application is made ex parte. Furthermore, if the applicant enforces an injunction while an appeal is pending and the appellate court reverses the injunction, the applicant is liable for the damages suffered by the respondent. The respondent may also claim higher procedural fees if the applicant acted abusively. Finally, a judge may impose a fine on the applicant for abuse of process. 6.5 Respondent’s Worldwide Assets and Injunctive Relief Where a Belgian judge has international competence to rule on the merits of the case, its competence also extends to issuing injunctive relief against the assets of the respondent globally. However, such injunction may face enforcement issues. For EU member states, the enforcement is governed by the Recast Brussels Regulation. For non-EU member states, it will be enforced in accordance with the applicable laws of the foreign state. 6.6 Third Parties and Injunctive Relief See 5.2 Discovery and Third Parties with respect to the production of documents by third parties.
production in proceedings relating to claims for dam- ages due to breach of antitrust laws. 5.2 Discovery and Third Parties A judge may order a third party to produce documents if the third party holds the requested documents. The judge will invite the third party to submit the docu- ments to the court file, along with any remarks the third party may have. The parties may then respond to the third party’s remarks. After that, the judge will decide whether or not the documents must be pro- duced. This decision is final and cannot be appealed or opposed.
5.3 Discovery in This Jurisdiction See 5.1 Discovery and Civil Cases .
5.4 Alternatives to Discovery Mechanisms See 5.1 Discovery and Civil Cases . In Belgium, evidence is typically provided through the exhibits attached to the submissions filed with the court. 5.5 Legal Privilege Clients benefit from attorney-client privilege whereby lawyers cannot disclose information provided by their clients. In-house counsels have a confidentiality obli- gation regarding advice provided to employees in their legal advisory role. 5.6 Rules Disallowing Disclosure of a Document In matters related, for instance, to trade secrecy, a party may refuse to produce certain documents or may be allowed to produce certain documents after they have been anonymised. 6. Injunctive Relief 6.1 Circumstances of Injunctive Relief Injunctive relief applies in interim measures or emer- gency proceedings. Anti-suit injunctions are not per- mitted. In case of parallel proceedings, a court may invoke lis pendens. 6.2 Arrangements for Obtaining Urgent Injunctive Relief See 4.7 Application/Motion Timeframe .
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