BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Dominique Blommaert, Didier Bracke and Jens Benoot, Janson
6.3 Availability of Injunctive Relief on an Ex Parte Basis In cases of absolute necessity, injunctive relief may be granted ex parte, subject to the follow- ing conditions: • exceptional or absolute urgency; • the measure requires surprise; and • the absence of an adversary, or the inability to identify the person or entity against whom the measure is sought. Any party opposing such an injunction may request an adversarial (“ contradictoire ”) hearing by the court. 6.4 Liability for Damages for the Applicant In ordinary proceedings, the respondent may claim damages from the applicant if the appli- cant fails to act as a reasonable, prudent, and diligent person. This duty of good faith is even more stringent when the application is made ex parte. Furthermore, if the applicant enforces an injunc- tion while an appeal is pending and the appellate court reverses the injunction, the applicant is lia- ble for the damages suffered by the respondent. The respondent may also claim higher procedur- al fees if the applicant acted abusively. Finally, a judge may impose a fine on the applicant for abuse of process. 6.5 Respondent’s Worldwide Assets and Injunctive Relief Where a Belgian judge has international compe- tence to rule on the merits of the case, its com- petence also extends to issuing injunctive relief against the assets of the respondent globally. However, such injunction may face enforcement issues. For EU member states, the enforcement
parties may then respond to the third party’s remarks. After that, the judge will decide whether or not the documents must be produced. This decision is final and cannot be appealed or opposed.
5.3 Discovery in This Jurisdiction See 5.1 Discovery and Civil Cases . 5.4 Alternatives to Discovery Mechanisms
See 5.1 Discovery and Civil Cases . In Belgium, evidence is typically provided through the exhib- its attached to the submissions filed with the court. 5.5 Legal Privilege Clients benefit from attorney-client privilege whereby lawyers cannot disclose information provided by their clients. In-house counsels have a confidentiality obligation regarding advice pro- vided to employees in their legal advisory role. 5.6 Rules Disallowing Disclosure of a Document In matters related, for instance, to trade secre- cy, a party may refuse to produce certain docu- ments or may be allowed to produce certain documents after they have been anonymised. 6. Injunctive Relief 6.1 Circumstances of Injunctive Relief Injunctive relief applies in interim measures or emergency proceedings. Anti-suit injunctions are not permitted. In case of parallel proceed- ings, a court may invoke lis pendens. 6.2 Arrangements for Obtaining Urgent Injunctive Relief See 4.7 Application/Motion Timeframe .
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