News & Articles

19/09/13

Registration fees for judicial decisions in the case of bankruptcy of the opposing party

A court order for an opposing party to pay a high amount is not always beneficial to the creditor if it is apparent that there are insufficient assets…

06/09/13

The legal limits of tax inspections: where to draw the line?

In its efforts to further reduce tax fraud, the federal government has increased the number of tax inspections, as it had previously announced. It is …

05/09/13

Reimbursement of Belgian withholding tax for foreign investment companies

Following recent European case law judging the tax treatment that applies in Belgium to foreign investment companies as discriminatory, the administra…

04/09/13

Update on notional interest deduction

The notional interest deduction has been modified by two important tax measures entered into force as from tax year 2013: the limitation of the notion…

03/09/13

Provision of services: operative event and chargeability of VAT

Since 1 January 2013, the mere issue of an invoice no longer makes the tax due. The new regulations significantly modify the financing of VAT collecte…

20/08/13

First draft of the new de minimis regulation

 Although the Commission announced that the de minimis threshold would be raised to 500.000 EUR per undertaking over a period of 3 years, the 200…

16/08/13

Opinion of EU Advocate General on Right to Be Forgotten and (Territorial) Application of Data Protection Rules…

On 25 June 2013, Advocate General Jääskinen (the “AG”) delivered his opinion in case C-131/12 Google Spain and Google Inc. v Agencia Española de Prote…

13/08/13

The Commission fines Microsoft 561 million for breaching commitments

On 6 March 2013, the European Commission imposed a €561 million fine on Microsoft for not complying with its commitments to offer users a browser choi…

12/08/13

Prohibition of Joint Offers Involving Financial Services Is Compatible with EU Law

On 18 July 2013, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“ECJ”) held that the Belgian prohibition on joint offers to consumers when at least one c…

01/08/13

Increase of property tax on building rights and long-term leases

Le gouvernement fédéral a conclu un nouvel accord budgétaire le 30 mars 2013 afin de ramener le déficit à 2,15% du PNB. Dans les mesures prises par le…

24/07/13

CJEU clarifies scope of Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation

On 18 July 2013, the Court of Justice of the European Union ("CJEU") handed down its judgment in case C-299/12, in which it clarified three issues con…

22/07/13

Due to limited impact of infringement, Trade and Industry Appeal Tribunal reduces fine for providing wrong inf…

In its judgement of 14 May 2013, the Trade and Industry Appeal Tribunal (College van Beroep voor het bedrijfsleven, "CBb") lowered a fine imposed by t…

19/07/13

The General Court confirms fines for three undertakings in the aluminium fluoride cartel

On 18 June 2013, the General Court ("GC") dismissed the appeals lodged by Fluorsid, Minmet and Industries Chimiques du Fluor ("ICF") against the Commi…

17/07/13

European Court of Justice affirms in full the General Court's judgement in Quinn Barlo

On 30 May 2013 the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") upheld the judgement of the General Court ("GC") in the case Quinn Barlo and Others v. Commission…

15/07/13

European Court of Justice affirms that the theory of economic entity does not imply that earlier cartel infrin…

On 13 June 2013, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") rendered its judgement in the case Versalis SpA v. Commission (C-511/11 P) upholding the Genera…

12/07/13

New budget control 2013 measures and recently implemented tax measures

On 30 June 2013, the Belgian government reached an agreement on various tax measures to be implemented following the June 2013 budget control. These m…

11/07/13

ECJ declares incompatible with EU law an Austrian provision precluding access to cartel case files without par…

On 6 June 2013, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") published its judgement in Donau Chemie (C-536/11). The case concerned a reference for a prelimi…

09/07/13

Notional Interest Deduction

The notional interest deduction ("NID") refers to the deemed interest expenses that Belgian companies and establishments are entitled to calculate ann…

08/07/13

European Consultation on revised competition rules for technology transfer agreements

The European Commission launched on 18 February 2013 a public consultation on a proposal for revised competition rules for technology transfer agreeme…

05/07/13

The Commission published a proposal for a directive on rules governing actions for antitrust damages