BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: André Kegels, Kegels Advocaten
are actively taken against non-compliance, and infringements are penalised accordingly. Time is of the essence when being confronted with “off- spec” bunkers, given the often short time bars that bunker suppliers provide for in their general
As far as the carriage of goods, contracts of affreightment or charterparties are concerned, there are ongoing disputes stemming from the blockade of vessels and cargo in Ukrainian ports. Courts have been involved, notably ordering car - riers with cargo on board at the onset of the war to issue bills of lading despite the vessels being blocked in Ukrainian ports. Another area of contention involves cargo inter - ests litigating with marine insurers over the concept of “abandonment” under the Antwerp Marine Policy. In essence “abandonment” refers to the scenario where cargo interests or vessel owners, having lost them or lost control over them, can relinquish them to the insurers. This concept is akin to a constructive total loss (CLT) under common law systems. This litigation is still ongoing. Some Belgian parties involved in maritime ven - tures have turned to mediation to equitably dis - tribute the costs of transporting cargo to its des - tination among cargo interests, cargo insurers, and carriers or owners. Moreover, many trades, international sales and commercial relationships have been abandoned due to the EU sanctions regime making them illegal. Even if the legal position is clear (usually force majeure), this situation poses particular challenges in sales contracts where the sanc - tioned party has already completed their part of the agreement, such as making a payment, but the Belgian party is subsequently barred from fulfilling their delivery obligations due to these sanctions. Also, the EU sanctions are applicable to EU citi - zens, wherever they are in the world. This is a relatively novel approach by the EU, so prop - er legal advice is crucial. This wide-reaching
terms and conditions. 8.3 Trade Sanctions
Belgium will in principle implement and enforce international trade sanctions if imposed by UN resolutions or EU regulations. It will not imple - ment the law of the US, the UK or any other country in respect of trade sanctions. On the contrary, if any such trade sanctions would harm Belgian interests, the authorities could take pro - tective action. Still, the extra-territorial effect of some sanc - tions, such as the US Office of Foreign Assets Control Specially Designated Nationals (OFAC SDN) sanctions list, results in Belgian entities being limited in what they are willing to do, even if under Belgian or EU law such limitations do not exist. In respect of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Bel - gium adheres to the EU regulations and its far- going sanctions. Especially Council Regulations (EU) No 833/2014 and (EU) No 269/2014 as adapted many times. Under both EU Regulations, derogations can be obtained from the competent authority of a member state, therefore also in Belgium. 8.4 International Conflict(s) Many Belgian transport and trading interests have been impacted by the war in Ukraine or incidents in the Red Sea, with increased litiga - tion being one of the consequences.
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