In Belgian employment law, Saturday is in principle considered a working day (in contrast to Sunday and legal holidays) even if the employees are not working on this day. 

On March 1, 2022 , the European Commission published its draft revised Horizontal Block Exemption Regulations (HBERs) and Guidelines for Horizontal Cooperation Agreements (Guidelines ). The stated aim of the revision is to make it easier for companies to cooperate in economically desirable ways and contribute to the digital and green transition. The current HBERs are set to expire on December 31, 2022 and it is therefore to be expected that the final revised HBERs and Guidelines will be adopted before the end of this year.

In a judgment rendered on June 20, 2022, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Justice (ECJ)  ruled that a judgment rendered by a Court of a Member State in the terms of an arbitral award may in principle serve as a basis for refusing to recognize a subsequent irreconcilable judgment of another Member State. Nevertheless, this rule does not apply where the recognition decision leads to a result which a Court of a Member State could not have achieved directly without violating the fundamental provisions and objectives of the famous Brussels I Regulation. If at this stage this decision seems convoluted, let us detail the stakes of this ruling which will certainly be talked about among scholars and practitioners of law.

Depuis le 1er juin 2022, le nouveau régime de garantie des consommateurs est entré en vigueur, ce qui signifie que les consommateurs sont désormais mieux protégés contre les produits et services vendus non conformes en L’Union Européenne. Le nouveau régime est le résultat d'une révision de la réglementation européenne. Les changements les plus importants apportés au régime de garantie existant concernent la preuve qu'un produit ou un service est ou n'est pas conforme : désormais, cette preuve doit être fournie exclusivement par le vendeur. Depuis ce changement, les contenus et services numériques entrent également dans le champ d'application du règlement.

The concept of the “place where the employee habitually works” is an essential concept for determining which employment law is to be applied and which jurisdiction is competent. According to a recent case of the Belgian Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation), this concept should not be interpreted in a purely quantitative way, as in the place where the employee works the majority of his time.

Un employeur est-il contraint d'affecter un travailleur, qui ne peut plus exercer sa fonction initiale en raison d'un handicap, à un autre poste au sein de l'entreprise ? La Cour de justice de l’Union européenne s'est prononcée sur cette question importante dans un arrêt intéressant rendu le 10 février 2022.

The European Whistleblowing Directive (the Directive) provides for the establishment of mandatory secure channels for reporting breaches of EU law and the protection of those who report breaches in a professional context.

Since the European Commission proposed its European strategy for data on 19 February 2020 (followed by the European Parliament’s resolution “European strategy for data”), the Commission has issued the Data Governance Act (DGA) and the Data Act (DA) aiming at creating a single market for data and establishing European leadership in the global data economy. 

Actualités : augmentations et révisions des prix dans les contrats commerciaux et publics

Updates regarding the telework cost compensation

On June 20^th, 2019 the EU issued a new Directive on preventive restructuring frameworks, discharge of debt and disqualifications, and measures to increase the efficiency of procedures concerning restructuring, insolvency and discharge of debt (hereafter referred to as ‘The Directive’), in its first attempt to harmonize substantive rules on insolvency law within the Union.

The Belgian government is currently working on several important new and amending laws and rules regarding employment law. Below, we provide a concise overview and an estimated timeline for their implementation.

On 1 June 2022, the Belgian law transposing the EU directives on certain aspects of contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services (2019/770) and for the sale of goods (2019/771) will enter into force, thereby ushering in a number of changes.

In our society today, we use a variety of products often without reflecting on their impact on the environment.

Le 8 mai 2022, une modification du Code pénal social (article 42/1) est entrée en vigueur. Grâce à cette modification, l'inspection du travail devrait disposer d’une plus grande marge de manœuvre pour détecter, au moyen de mystery calls ou de tests de situation anonymes, des discriminations à l’embauche.