Sanctions 2025

BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Valerijus Ostrovskis, Bogdan Evtimov, Michael De Boeck and Coline Cauvin, ACQUIS

their contracts to suspend or terminate performance of obligations as a result of sanctions against Russia. If the performance of a contract becomes illegal owing to the sanctions imposed, Belgian courts may rule that the contract cannot be performed. This can lead to the application of the doctrine of “frustration”, whereby a contract is rescinded because it has become impos - sible to perform it without breaking the law. 6.2 Enforcement Belgian courts handle the enforcement of judgments involving sanctions by carefully adhering to both domestic law and EU regulations. Under EU law, judgments rendered by courts in other EU member states generally enjoy automatic recogni - tion and enforcement within all EU member states. It is not required to obtain prior recognition and enforce - ment by a Belgian court. However, in practice, EU operators may still refuse enforcement if circumstances that appear to be a vio - lation of EU sanctions become known during enforce - ment efforts. This is particularly true if they were not addressed by an EU court judgment or if the activ - ity required by the EU operator is subject to licence requirements (such as release of funds by a bank). In such cases, parties involved may request required domestic licences based on the judgment or address the issue to a specific instance called the Attach - ment Judge ( beslagrechter or juge des saisies ), who is competent for disputes arising from conservatory or executionary attachment of assets or the enforcement of judgments on Belgian territory. Judgments rendered by courts outside the EU can be enforced in Belgium under the rules of the Belgian Code of Private International Law but need to obtain an exequatur. The exequatur is essentially a judgment confirming recognition and enforcement of a foreign judgment on Belgian territory. This is an ex parte pro - cedure within which the Belgian court reviews the out - come of a foreign judgment for compliance with, inter alia, EU sanctions. Compliance with EU sanctions is considered to fall under the public order exceptions that may lead to

non-recognition or non-enforcement of foreign judg - ments.

7. Designation, Compliance and Circumvention 7.1 Executive Body

The Council of the European Union, which repre - sents the governments of EU member states, adopts legal acts imposing restrictive measures (sanctions) through decisions and regulations. These decisions are typically based on proposals from individual mem - ber states, the EC and the European External Action Service (EEAS). Such decisions are binding on EU member states, including Belgium. 7.2 Scope of Designation Belgian law and its courts generally adhere to the “owned or controlled” criteria set out in the EC and Council of the European Union guidance and best practices. Some confusion may arise in Belgium because of the minor grammatical differences and terminology used in the different language versions of provisions in Council Regulation (EU) No 269/2014. This interpretation was recently clarified in the Coun - cil’s updated Best Practices document of July 2024, which modifies the notion from “more than 50%” to “50% or more” (therefore including the scenario where a designated person or entity owns exactly 50% of another entity). It also explicitly confirmed that the 50% ownership threshold includes cases where mul - tiple designated persons’ shares are aggregated, and that control may be established on the basis of legal rights or factual indicators such as veto powers, nomi - nee structures, or other indirect means of influence. The criteria to be taken into account when assess - ing whether a legal person or entity is controlled by a designated person or entity – alone or pursuant to an agreement with another shareholder or other third party – could include: • having the right or exercising the power to appoint or remove a majority of the members of the admin - istrative, management or supervisory body of such legal person or entity;

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