Over the years, the rules were reformed very regularly.<\/p>\r\n
The most recent reform took effect Sept. 1, 2023.<\/p>\r\n
The rules result from a June 20, 2019 European Parliament directive.<\/p>\r\n
In BELGIUM, it was not transposed until the adoption of a draft law in May 2023 and the publication of the law on June 7, 2023.<\/p>\r\n
As indicated above, the new law came into effect on Sept. 1, 2023.<\/p>\r\n
The new law also seeks to take preventive action.<\/p>\r\n
If possible, efforts are made to avoid bankruptcy.<\/p>\r\n
An important role is therefore played by the Enterprise Court and more specifically the Chamber of Enterprises in Difficulty or KOIM for short.<\/p>\r\n
The role of the Chamber of Enterprises in Difficulty is being expanded.<\/p>\r\n
This Chamber will now also be able to mediate between the debtor and his creditor.<\/p>\r\n
Of course, it remains to be seen how successful these initiatives will be.<\/p>\r\n
In any case, the role of the lawyer also becomes more important at this stage given the mediating role of the Chamber in Difficulty.<\/p>\r\n
It is evident that a bankruptcy lawyer would be in the best position to work with the Chamber of Companies in Difficulty to try to reach a comprehensive settlement with creditors.<\/p>\r\n
It also includes a number of rules relevant to the procedure of judicial reorganization.<\/p>\r\n
This procedure, known in the past as the judicial settlement, has also been modified regularly over the years.<\/p>\r\n
As far as we are concerned, the most important change to the bankruptcy procedure relates to discharge.<\/p>\r\n
In the past, those who, as natural persons, wished to be freed from debts after bankruptcy had to apply for discharge.<\/p>\r\n
The law provided a mandatory deadline of six months within which this application had to be submitted.<\/p>\r\n
This very regularly gave rise to catastrophic consequences for natural persons who did not respect this deadline.<\/p>\r\n
After all, it is mainly this category of bankrupts who had no knowledge of the precise legal requirements.<\/p>\r\n
The Constitutional Court already ruled in the past that the six-month deadline was unconstitutional.<\/p>\r\n
The Belgian legislature, spurred on by Europe, abolished this deadline.<\/p>\r\n
From now on, the remission will in principle be granted automatically.<\/p>\r\n
An application for this is no longer required.<\/p>\r\n
Do you have further questions about insolvency or bankruptcy?<\/p>\r\n