Entry into Force of the New Belgian Insolvency Code
Over the past few years, the Belgian legislature has consolidated various pieces of legislation regulating businesses into a single instrument: the Code of Economic Law (Wetboek van economisch recht/ Code de droit économique). Insolvency law has not escaped this trend. In the summer of 2017, the Belgian Parliament enacted Book XX of the Code of Economic Law, entitled "Insolvency of Undertakings" (hereinafter the "Insolvency Code").
The new rules entered into force on 1 May 2018 and are applicable to insolvency proceedings commenced as from this date. The primary purpose of the Insolvency Code is to consolidate the existing rules of Belgian insolvency law, previously found in the Bankruptcy Act of 8 August 1997 and the Business Continuity Act of 31 January 2009. Its secondary purpose is to modernise insolvency proceedings.
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