BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Hugo Keulers, Sandra Lodewijckx, Tine Meurs and Thomas Verheyen, Lydian
suppliers who were also impacted by the cyber inci- dent. Other types of coverage disputes that regularly occur are those related to internal errors (within the policyholder’s organisation) and disputes related to the interpretation and scope of (technical) policy defi- nitions in light of technological evolutions. Insurance undertakings generally take care to exclude coverage for systemic events. In technology related insurance, these exclusions are generally legally valid and enforceable, provided that they are clearly drafted and do not frustrate the main purpose of the cover- age. 4.4 Aggregation and Limits of Liability There often are questions on aggregation, serial loss clauses and allocation of insurance claims to one or more policy periods. In particular, there has been an increase in discussions on serial loss clauses in the construction sector or in (product) liability insurance due to the use of new techniques and materials. How- ever, there is little Belgian case law available on this subject, which makes this a complex matter for Bel- gian insurance lawyers to advise upon; disputes of Sanction clauses are common in any Belgian insur- ance contract but do not generally lead to coverage disputes specifically. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has shown that sanction clauses are indeed strictly applied by insurers and have, in some cases, limited insurers’ ability to pay claims or insure certain risks, for example risks in the financial sector. 4.6 Late Payment and Claims Handling Practices As of 1 October 2024, the Insurance Act introduced a uniform legal framework for non-marine insurance contracts requiring insurers to respond to claims within three months of the claim, including giving rea- soned answers when coverage is disputed, and to pay compensation within 30 days after agreement with the insured. Insurers that miss the response deadline face a flat penalty of EUR300, which can be increased to an additional penalty of EUR300 per day if the insurer still fails to respond after being formally notified. Fur- this type are therefore often settled. 4.5 Sanctions and Illegality Issues
thermore, late payment for undisputed/agreed claims triggers high default interest. Based on this legislation, insurers, in theory, now face hard deadlines and automatic financial penalties, but some grey areas remain, in particular when applied to industrial risks. It is, for example, not clear at which time the insurer is deemed to have sufficient infor- mation in case of a complex loss to provide a timely response to a claim, or what constitutes a ‘reasoned answer’ from the insurer when coverage is disputed or denied. 4.7 ESG and Climate-Related Coverage Since 2003, Belgium has imposed minimum coverage in cases of listed natural disasters in certain property insurance contracts. This regime is not applicable to insured property of high value (such as industrial sites). The exact amount of mandatory coverage is limited, and based on the composition of the insur- er’s portfolio and premium income in a certain policy year. The protection of this regime, however, appeared insufficient when the south of Belgium faced extreme flooding in July 2021. Political pressure led insurers to contribute to losses even in excess of the statutory minimum coverage. The legislature followed up with an increase of the minimum book-wide coverage that property insurers have to provide for natural disasters. Meanwhile, a more fundamental update is on the table between policymakers and the insurance sector, but this is complicated by the required involvement of both federal and regional levels of government. Stake- holders are discussing a clearer and more efficient public-private partnership between the government, insurers, and reinsurers and increased investment in prevention. 4.8 Delegated Authority and Claims Responsibility Specific issues may arise with MGAs, TPAs and other agents who take policy application positions after a loss, although they may not be authorised to do so under their delegated authority agreement or co-oper- ation agreement with the insurer. In such cases, courts will nevertheless often condemn insurers based on the statements regarding coverage made by those enti- ties, as they will consider the insurers to have author-
28 I NSURANCE L I T IGATI O N 2026
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