BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Dominique Blommaert, Didier Bracke and Jens Benoot, Janson
4.2 Early Judgment Applications No proceedings to adjudicate the case without a trial or hearing exist. On the other hand, cases requiring only short debates can be dealt with at the case management hearing. This needs to be requested in the document (for instance, a writ of summons) that initiates the proceedings. A judge can either grant or refuse such request. 4.3 Dispositive Motions Dispositive motions cannot be made before the trial or hearing. On the other hand and as men- tioned in 4.2 Early Judgment Applications , an early judgment application can be requested in the document initiating the proceedings. 4.4 Requirements for Interested Parties to Join a Lawsuit Parties either join a lawsuit voluntarily (by appli- cation) or involuntarily (by being summoned or through a submission filed against them when they are already part of proceedings). The option to join a case is available at any point during first-instance proceedings, up until such pro- ceedings are officially closed. 4.5 Applications for Security for Defendant’s Costs A Belgian defendant may request a “cautio judi- catum solvi”, which obliges a foreign claimant to deposit a security amount determined by the judge. However, this is applicable only to claim- ants from outside the EU or from countries with which Belgium has not entered into an interna- tional treaty concerning this matter. 4.6 Costs of Interim Applications/ Motions Costs regarding interim applications are not specifically regulated. If the court appoints an expert, the party appointed by the judge to pay the expert’s fees will be required to advance
them. The court will only make a final determi- nation of costs at the end of the case, once the merits of the claim have been decided. 4.7 Application/Motion Timeframe The timeframe for interim measures typically varies from a couple of days to several months, depending on the discretion of the competent court. In genuine emergencies, proceedings can be submitted to the president of the relevant court. Belgian civil law does not have a formal discov- ery process. However, there are proceedings for taking evidence, such as the production of documents, the hearing of witnesses, and the examination of the parties. The production of a document is broadly defined and can include written documents, electronic data, and photos. Documents must be specifically identified to avoid fishing expeditions, which are prohibited. There are no mechanisms to limit the scope or cost of these proceedings, but documents pro- tected by trade secrecy or legal privilege may be excluded. Articles XVII.74-XVII.81 of the Belgian Code of Economic Law provide for a specific regime of document production in proceedings relating to claims for damages due to breach of antitrust laws. 5.2 Discovery and Third Parties A judge may order a third party to produce doc- uments if the third party holds the requested documents. The judge will invite the third party to submit the documents to the court file, along with any remarks the third party may have. The 5. Discovery 5.1 Discovery and Civil Cases
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