Online incorporation of companies and other legal entities & statutory mandate database

Online incorporation of companies and other legal entities & statutory mandate database

Online and remote incorporation of companies and other legal entities On 15 July 2021, the Company Law Digitalisation Act[1] was published in the Belgian Official Gazette. This new act transposes the Directive (EU) 2019/1151 of 20 June 2019[2], which is part of the wider digitalisation process promoted by the European Union. This act is a new step towards the digitalisation and modernisation of company law. After the introduction of the digital mandate allowing to remotely sign and execute authentic deeds such as deeds of amendment to the articles of association, and following the implementation of the articles of association database…


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Pledge on shares - what to check in case of due diligence: the pledge registry or the share register of the company?

Pledge on shares – what to check in case of due diligence: the pledge registry or the share register of the company?

After some delay, the new Pledge Act finally came into force on 1 January 2018[1]. This new legal framework introduced the ‘registered pledge’. This kind of pledge becomes valid and opposable without requiring a dispossession. This implies that the pledgor can remain in possession of the pledged goods. To make this pledge opposable to third parties, it needs to be registered in the ‘national pledge registry’ that has been set up for that purpose (https://pangafin.belgium.be/#?lang=NL). The pledge registry is publicly accessible: any person who holds a Belgian electronic identity card is able to conduct searches in the pledge registry. Every…


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Reform of the matrimonial property law: implications for the spouse who is professionnaly active through a company

Reform of the matrimonial property law: implications for the spouse who is professionnaly active through a company

Common shares of which the membership rights are own. In case of spouses who are married under the legal regime with community of acquisitions, the professional income generated by each individual spouse is considered as community property. In this context, each spouse continues to have professional autonomy and can make his own professional choices, without the interference of the other spouse. To strengthen this professional autonomy, the 2018 reform of the matrimonial property law clarified and further developed the former rules provided for in article 1401,5° of the Civil Code regarding the membership rights of common shares. Today, the membership…


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