Belgium

Recent Articles

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  11/10/2024

  Europe

  EU anti-dumping investigation of Chinese hardwood plywood imports

  On 11 October 2024, the EU opened an anti-dumping investigation concerning EU imports of hardwood plywood, originating in the People’s Republic of China, which could lead to substantial anti-dumping duties on future imports.The product under investigation for alleged dumping is plywood consisting solely of sheets of wood other than bamboo and okoumé, each ply not exceeding 6 mm thickness, with at least one outer ply of tropical wood or non-coniferous wood, whether or not coated or surface-covered. The relevant species are specified under the HS Code subheadings 4412 31, 4412...

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  11/10/2024

  International

  The use of good faith arguments in time-bar disputes

  Good faith obligations are often raised in international construction disputes to overcome time-bar defences raised by employers. This Law-Now considers the approach to enforcing time-bar clauses under English law and in civil law jurisdictions before considering a recent DIFC decision which arises under the unique combination of English and civil law contained in the DIFC’s Contract Law.Time-bars under English lawThe English courts have traditionally shown themselves to be supportive of enforcing time bar clauses if they are not strictly complied with. Such clauses are intended to promote...

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  10/10/2024

  Belgium

  Artificial intelligence and copyright: what are AI companies allowed to do?

  Having addressed the issue of copyright protection of the output of generative AI tools (such as whether AI-generated content can be protected by copyright), this article explores the issue of the use of copyright protected material as input data for training these tools.Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can create new content, such as text, images, videos, audio or software code, in response to user prompts. Generative AI models (like those used by OpenAI’s ChatGPT) are trained with a large amount of publicly available data. A common method of collecting this data is...

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  08/10/2024

  Belgium

  The new payment rules in public procurement are also of relevance in the healthcare sector

  NL FR

  The new payment rules (Royal Decree of 12 August 2024) put an end to the classic distinction between the verification period and the subsequent payment period. Starting from 1 January 2025, a single processing period will be the starting point. For hospitals (and other contracting authorities active in the healthcare sector), a processing period of 60 days will be applied, which can be extended, where necessary, by a verification period of 30 days, particularly for contracts related to their specific activity in the healthcare sector. In this newsletter, the rules specific to healthcare sector...

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  07/10/2024

  Belgium

  Belgium’s regions pass new registration and inheritance tax rates

  NL FR

  Following the Belgian general elections last May and the formation of new regional governments, Belgium has experienced a downward trend in registration and inheritance taxes, which are largely the responsibility of the regions.The following article outlines the measures introduced by each region.Walloon Region On 12 September, the new Walloon government presented details of the new tax measures planned for registration tax and inheritance tax.As of 1 January 2025, the rate of registration tax applicable to properties intended to become one's sole residence will be significantly reduced. It...

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  07/10/2024

  Belgium

  The Repairability and Durability Index: a New Challenge for Industry Players

  Inspired by similar initiatives in France and at European level, Belgium is introducing the obligation to display a repairability and durability index for certain products on the market. The Act on the promotion of the repairability and durability of goods was adopted on 17 March 2024 and the first Royal Decrees needed to implement the Act were published last month in the Official State Gazette.The first Royal Decree determines the goods covered by the reparability index, the technical standards for establishing the scores for each of the criteria and the method for calculating the reparability...

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