Joris Deene
An employee may prepare for a future competitive activity during the term of his employment contract, but he may not compete with his employer while the contract is in effect. Article 17, 3° of the...
Is the Belgian Advertising Code binding on advertisers and influencers?
No. The Belgian Advertising Code, which was launched by the Advertising Council on September 15, 2026, is a self-regulatory framework and not a law. In practice, it binds advertisers and influencers through the Jury for Ethical Practices regarding...
Should your company start preparing for the quantum computer now?
Yes. Even before a European Quantum Act is enacted, Article 32 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Article 30 of the Belgian NIS2 Act of April 26, 2024, require companies to...
Who will inherit your emails, photos, and crypto wallet? European model rules for digital inheritance
Anyone who wishes to manage a loved one’s emails, photos, social media accounts, and crypto wallet after their death will find that Belgian law currently lacks specific provisions on this matter. The Model Rules on Succession and Access to Digital...
Can Belgium exempt subsidized independent schools from GDPR fines?
According to the opinion of Advocate General Campos Sánchez-Bordona dated September 10, 2026, in Case C-458/25, Belgium may not exempt a private school that provides subsidized free education from...
Can a political party use a well-known brand to reinforce its message?
Not just like that. According to the Court of Justice of the European Union, freedom of expression—including political satire—can be a valid reason to use a sign that is identical to or corresponds to a...
Can a judge reduce the termination fee specified in a franchise agreement?
Yes, but not under the rules governing liquidated damages. According to the Antwerp Court of Appeals, a stipulated termination fee is not a liquidated damage clause and is therefore not subject to the mitigation provisions of Article 1231 of the former Civil Code...
GDPR in the Workplace: What Does an Employer Need to Have in Place Today?
Ten years after the adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation, an employer in Belgium must be able to demonstrate five things: a valid legal basis for each processing activity (consent is rarely sufficient), a data retention policy...
Can an AI model be trained on copyrighted texts without a license? The U.S. government takes a stand
In the United States, it is—at least according to the U.S. Department of Justice: training a language model on copyrighted texts is, according to the U.S. government, “fair use” in the...
Can a newspaper reproduce a Facebook post in its entirety as news?
Yes, but not necessarily. On September 3, 2026, the Court of Justice ruled that a short Facebook post can be a copyrighted work, and that Directive 2001/29 allows a member state to apply the exception...
Can the bank delay repayment following a phishing incident until the case has been resolved on its merits?
No. On September 1, 2026, the presiding judge of the Commercial Court in Antwerp, Antwerp Division, ruled in summary proceedings that Article VII.43 of the Code of Economic Law requires the bank to pay the amount of...
Will artificial intelligence eventually replace judges and lawyers?
No, and that shouldn't be allowed, says the First Advocate General at the Court of Cassation. On September 1, 2026, Michel Nolet de Brauwere devoted his opening address for the judicial year—the so-called "mercuriale"—entirely to...
When does an AI chatbot legally become a search engine?
As soon as an AI chatbot searches the web and reaches at least 45 million users per month in the European Union, the European Commission can treat it as a very large online search engine. That is exactly what happened on 31...
Is your government agency legally prepared for a cyberattack?
When hackers breached the City of Antwerp’s systems on the night of December 5–6, 2022, service counters, email systems, and even the Zorgbedrijf’s medication registry were down for weeks. Since then, the legal...
Which law applies to your crypto assets?
Anyone involved in a dispute over bitcoins or other crypto-assets faces a question that traditional assets never raise: Under which national law does this asset actually fall? The short answer: a definitive...
How does Belgium tackle illegal live streams of sports events?
As of June 1, 2024, anyone who illegally streams a soccer game in Belgium faces one of the fastest blocking procedures in Europe: the president of the Brussels Commercial Court issues a ruling within eight business days...
What are the risks for someone who hides AI instructions in their court filings?
Anyone who hides invisible instructions for AI systems in a court document is committing a serious abuse of the legal process and risks sanctions, even if no judge or opposing party ever runs the document through an AI system...
When are you required to pay damages following an unjustified seizure related to counterfeiting?
Anyone who obtains a seizure order regarding counterfeit goods based on a patent that is subsequently found to be invalid is not automatically required to compensate the party against whom the seizure was issued for damages: the party against whom the seizure was issued must prove negligence. But in this case, that negligence lay in...
Dutch 
English