BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Dominique Blommaert, Jens Benoot, Fryderyk de Peslin Lachert and Lydie Van Muylem, Janson
Judgments in Default (Jugements par Défaut/ Verstekvonnissen) If a defendant is summoned but does not appear or is not represented in court at the case management hearing, the claimant can ask the court to issue a judgment in default. Interim Judgments (Jugements Avant Dire Droit/ Vonnis Alvorens Recht te Doen) Interim judgments are non-final judgments imposing a provisional measure, either for the purpose of investi - gating the claim (eg, the appointment of an expert) or to temporarily fix the situation of the parties pending the proceedings on the merits (eg, a suspension or standstill). Injunctive Relief In urgent matters, the president of the court may issue injunctive relief orders in summary proceedings ( procedure en référé/kortgeding ). In case of absolute necessity, injunctive relief may be obtained on an ex parte basis. The ex parte order will generally be fol - lowed by contradictory procedure. Money Judgments or Specific Performance Money judgments – ie, judgments for a specified amount of money, are most common in Belgian law. Belgian law also allows a claimant to obtain specif - ic performance in cases where this is an adequate measure (eg, the performance of a contractual obliga - tion; the restitution or delivery of an asset that is being wrongfully withheld; ceasing a wrongful behaviour). Judgments ordering a specific performance or action by the defendant (in contrast to money judgments) may be subject to civil penalties ( astreinte/dwangsom ) in case of non-compliance. Judgments by Consent If parties to legal proceedings amicably settle their dispute, they may choose to have their settlement or agreement confirmed in a judgment by consent ( jugement d’accord/akkoordvonnis ). This provides the claimant with a title that is directly enforceable in case of non-compliance with the settlement by the defendant.
to subscription) and allows one to conduct searches by name. General Corporate Information Information on corporations is publicly available in the Belgian commercial register called Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE). The corporate information reg - istered in the CBE includes the annual financial state - ments published by a company, which are accessible via a link to the Central Balance Sheet Office, a data - base of the Belgian National Bank. Private Investigators Creditors are allowed to hire a private investigator to collect information on their debtor and its assets. The activity of private investigators was previously regu - lated by the Belgian Act of 19 July 1991, which was repealed and replaced by the Belgian Private Investi - gation Act of 6 December 2024 (PIA). The PIA imposes a number of obligations to be com - plied with when conducting investigations, including, most notably, the following: • investigators must obtain a prior licence from the FPS Interior (formerly the Ministry of the Interior); • a written mission statement must be entered into by the investigator and the principal, indicating the scope, purpose and duration of the mission; • investigators must provide written investigation reports; and • investigators must, in all cases, comply with spe - cific GDPR and privacy obligations. Non-compliance with the PIA can give rise to a wide array of sanctions, including administrative, criminal and General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) sanc - tions. 2. Domestic Judgments 2.1 Types of Domestic Judgments Different types of judgments can be distinguished under Belgian law.
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