Partnerblog

The Act of 20 December 2020 providing for various temporary and structural measures in the framework of the fight against the spread of Covid-19 (the "Act") recently amended the statutory provisions on the holding of general meetings remotely using an electronic means of communication, in particular Articles 5:89 (SRL/BV) and 7:137 (SA/NV) of the Code of Companies and Associations (the "CCA").

Antitrust policy and enforcement is now mainstream news: it is front and centre in discussions about large tech players and digital markets; it is a core issue in the debate on sustainability; and it remains a key consideration in global trade negotiations.

According to the Legal Departments in a Digital Era report, 72% of legal departments say compliance and risk management are highly important. However, the maturity level is at 34%. Discover the other challenges and more expert insights in this article.

On 15 December 2020, the European Commission finally unveiled its long-awaited proposals for a Digital Services Act (DSA) and a Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DSA aims to harmonize the liability and accountability rules for digital service providers, while the DMA aims to promote fair and contestable markets in the digital sector.

A partir du 1^er janvier 2021, les travailleurs britanniques seront des ressortissants de pays tiers. En pratique, les conséquences se feront principalement ressentir  dans le domaine de la migration économique et de la sécurité sociale en cas d’emploi transfrontalier.

Il existe de nombreux modes alternatifs de règlement des conflits en matière sociale.
Apportent-ils une valeur ajoutée aux acteurs de la justice ?

Marianne Gratia lève le voile concernant:

• Les différents modes alternatifs de règlement des conflits appelés communément les « MARCs »
• Quelques particularités des MARCs, et en particulier de la mediation
• Le recours aux MARCs dans le domaine des relations professionnelles

The new Belgian government prioritises the promotion of gender equality and the fight against discrimination based on gender. One of the first steps in this agenda is the extension of birth leave, which is the leave that fathers or co-parents (it is a gender-neutral type of paternity leave) can take at the birth of a child.

There have been some major changes in the B2B landscape recently. On May 24, 2019, two new acts bringing some major changes to Belgian competition law and the legal framework of B2B relationships were published in the Belgian Official Journal. Firstly, the Act of April 4, 2019, which introduced new rules for B2B relationships relating to unfair market practices, abuse of economic dependence and unlawful contractual terms. Secondly, the Act of May 2, 2019, which introduced a number of changes to the competition rules (i.e., in Book IV of the Code of Economic Law). All of these changes are now in effect. The new rules on unfair market practices entered into force on September 1, 2019, the rules prohibiting abuse of economic dependence on August 22, 2020. And more recently, on December 1, 2020, the new rules on unlawful contract terms entered into force.

Que peut faire l'employeur pendant l’occupation d’un travailleur pour éviter que le licenciement soit considéré ultérieurement comme manifestement déraisonnable par le tribunal du travail?

Face à la crise sanitaire, une entreprise en difficulté peut alléger ses coûts en réduisant temporairement le temps de travail du personnel. Ceci implique une réduction des cotisations sociales et une réduction des salaires (qui doit cependant être en partie compensée).

Le télétravail est une mesure importante dans la lutte contre la pandémie actuelle de COVID-19. Le cadre réglementaire existe depuis longtemps, mais il est aujourd’hui d’une actualité brûlante. Quelles sont les formes de « travail à domicile » qui existent exactement ? Et où se situent les différences en matière de remboursement des frais ? Un récent arrêt du 5 octobre 2020 de la cour de Cassation apporte un éclairage intéressant à ce sujet.

La lutte contre le changement climatique et la transition vers une économie durable sont actuellement des priorités absolues de l’Union européenne. Récemment, l’Union européenne s'est fixée comme objectif d’atteindre la neutralité climatique d'ici 2050. Pour atteindre ces objectifs dans 30 ans, la Commission von der Leyen a publié le 11 décembre 2019 le pacte vert pour l’Europe (European Green Deal en anglais), un plan d'action comportant des initiatives politiques et des mesures visant à passer à une économie propre et circulaire, à restaurer la biodiversité et à réduire la pollution. Le pacte vert pour l’Europe décrit les investissements et les instruments financiers nécessaires pour y parvenir et clarifie la manière de garantir une transition équitable et inclusive.

Businesses distributing goods and services in the EU rely heavily on the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (VBER) for legal certainty. It sets out the conditions under which distribution agreements are presumed to comply with the European competition rules. However, certain of its provisions are no longer adapted to recent market developments, notably the growth of online sales and the increased importance of new market players, such as online platforms. Recently, the European Commission proposed a number of changes to the VBER which is currently under review.

If an employee leaves the company, can the mailbox remain active for a while and does the employer have access to the e-mails therein? A recent decision of the Data Protection Authority (DPA) clarifies. In this decision, the DPA decided to impose an administrative fine of EUR 15,000 on a company that only closed e-mail addresses linked to former employees (surname and first name) after 2.5 years.

If people were to look, they would probably conclude that you do not fully comply with data protection rules. Top of the line security always fails somewhere, typically at the human level, and the same reasoning applies to data protection compliance: even if you build your processes, systems and procedures with data protection rules in mind, you cannot prevent every mistake.

However mature your organisation may be in data protection terms, there is always a weakness – and non-compliance is then a likely consequence.

This provides regulators, competitors and data subjects with opportunities to attack you. Conversely, there may be cases where you wish to use weaknesses of a competitor or adversary against them.

Either way, you need to give careful thought to data protection litigation, both as a risk you have to manage and as an opportunity on which you can capitalise.

We will examine below practical considerations based on our own experience in cases before the Belgian Data Protection Authority (BDPA), the case law of the BDPA’s Litigation Chamber (and appeals before the Market Court) and commercial disputes in which the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other data protection rules come into play.