BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Dominique Blommaert, Jens Benoot, Fryderyk de Peslin Lachert and Lydie Van Muylem, Janson
To preserve the parties’ privacy, the decisions pub - lished in the part of the central registry that is publicly accessible will be pseudonymised in accordance with Article 4 (5) of the GDPR. The pseudonymisation only relates to personal data of natural persons. 3. Foreign Judgments 3.1 Legal Issues Concerning Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Belgium is a member state of the EU. Therefore, the legal framework governing recognition and enforce - ment of foreign judgments differs depending on the origin of the judgment. EU Judgments The following EU Regulations apply to the enforce - ment of EU judgments: • Regulation (EC) 44/2001 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (Brussels I Regulation), which applies to proceedings commenced before 10 January 2015 and is also applicable to Den - mark; and • Regulation (EU) 1215/2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (Brussels I Recast Regula - tion), which applies to all EU member states other than Denmark regarding proceedings commenced on or after 10 January 2015. Several other more specific EU regulations can be rel - evant for recovering debts or enforcing judgments and claims, including: • Regulation (EC) 1896/2006 creating a European order for payment procedure (Payment Regulation); • Regulation (EC) 805/2004 creating a European Enforcement Order for uncontested claims (EFO Regulation); • Regulation (EU) 655/2014 on establishing a Euro - pean Account Preservation Order procedure (EAPO Regulation); • Regulation (EC) 1346/2000 on insolvency proceed - ings (Insolvency Regulation) applicable for insol - vency matters until 25 June 2017; and
• Regulation (EU) 848/2015 on insolvency proceed - ings (Insolvency Recast Regulation) applicable for insolvency matters as of 26 June 2017. In essence, pursuant to the Brussels I Recast Regu - lation, all judgments rendered in other EU member states are recognised and enforceable in Belgium. Non-EU Judgments For non-EU judgments, several international conven - tions and bilateral conventions apply. In the cases where there is no reciprocal arrangement, the Belgian Code of Private International Law (CPIL) is applicable. The most relevant international conventions are the following: • 2007 Lugano Convention on jurisdiction and rec - ognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters, which applies to Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland; • Convention of 30 June 2005 on Choice of Court Agreements (Hague Choice of Court Convention), which applies to Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Roma - nia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom; and • The Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Com - mercial Matters 2019. 3.2 Variations in Approach to Enforcement of Foreign Judgments See 3.3 Categories of Foreign Judgments Not Enforced and 3.4 Process of Enforcing Foreign Judgments . 3.3 Categories of Foreign Judgments Not Enforced EU Judgments The grounds for refusal of recognition and enforce - ment are listed in Article 45 of the Brussels I Recast Regulation:
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