Shipping 2025

BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: André Kegels, Kegels Advocaten

1. Maritime and Shipping Legislation and Regulation 1.1 Domestic Laws Establishing the Authorities of the Maritime and Shipping Courts Main Legislation The main legislation establishing the authorities of the maritime and shipping courts in Belgium is as follows: • the Belgian federal Judicial Code; • the New Belgian federal Maritime Code (NBMC) (as of 1 September 2020); • IMO-Conventions (such as the AFS-Conven - tion, BWM-Convention, CSC-Convention, LL-Convention, MARPOL-Convention and Protocols 1978 and 1997, PAL-Convention, SFV-Convention, SLAS-Convention and protocols 1978 and 1988, SRC-Convention, STCW-Convention, STCW-F-Convention and TMC-Convention); and • the various regional shipping decrees. It should also be noted that from 1 January 2025, the Act on Carriage over the Interior Waterways of 1936 has not been in force and has been replaced by additional provisions in the NBMC. Common Maritime and Shipping Claims The following claims are commonly filed in Bel - gium: • cargo and charterparty claims; • NVOCC claims; • ship arrests; • salvage claims;

• port state control retention; • marine insurance claims; and

• claims for defended marine investigations by way of court-appointed and marine-dedicat - ed surveyors or assessors.

1.2 Port State Control Status of the Paris MOU

Belgium is a party to the Paris Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (the “Paris MOU”), which is an agreement between 28 mari - time authorities. This system of port state control applies in Belgium. For more information, see the Paris MOU web - site . Port State Control The maritime authority in Belgium is a special - ised service of the Federal Public Service of Mobility and Transport: Port State Control (PSC), based in Antwerp. The PSC’s authorities and powers of inspection and control include: • examination of the documents (see Annex 10 of the Paris MOU Memorandum); • verification of the overall condition of the ship, to determine whether it complies with various conventions; and • controls on compliance with onboard opera - tional requirements.

The PSC can: • stop the ship; • detain the ship;

• collisions and groundings; • stevedoring-related claims; • ships’ agency claims; • customs and excise claims; • criminal drug-related claims;

• restrict operations of the ship; • order the ship to move; and • indicate measures to be taken by the ship to be released from PSC sanctions.

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