UPDATE OF THE INDICATIVE TABLE (2024)

In practice, an estimate of bodily injury is usually made on the basis of the Indicative Table. The Indicative Table consists of a number of non-binding agreements, which as soft law provide an indication for (among others) a court when assessing a claim for compensation for bodily injury.

A working group of magistrates has recently updated the Indicative Table (2020) (as published in the Journal of Police Judges 2024). The main new elements are centered around the amounts that can be considered for compensation for bodily injury, which are increased - significantly or not - in the Indicative Table (2024). 

We will briefly explain below some of these new elements (adjustments) from the Indicative Table (2024).

A first adjustment is the amount for third-party assistance for which an injured party can claim EUR 11.50 instead of EUR 10.00 per hour for the assistance provided to him / her. 

Another adjustment is the amount that can be granted for a day of hospitalization or for a day of rehabilitation (in a specialized center) in the context of a temporary personal incapacity and which can amount to EUR 39.00 instead of EUR 34.00 per day. In addition, the amount for temporary personal incapacity - other than the above two situations - is increased to EUR 32.00 instead of EUR 28.00 per day. 

Regarding the granting of compensation for a temporary specific damage (the pains, the aesthetic damage, the sexual damage and the pleasure damage) it is no longer foreseen that this would only be possible in exceptional circumstances. The Indicative Table (2024) provides that if an injury cannot be contained in a temporary personal incapacity, (additional) compensation for said temporary specific damage may be granted. Moreover, the amounts that may be awarded for said temporary specific damage are also increased (to a limited extent).

A more significant adjustment is the upgrade of a temporary household incapacity. The performance of household tasks is an important part of anyone's daily life and for this reason, can be severely disrupted in response to suffering bodily injury. For this reason, the amount for a temporary household incapacity is increased from EUR 20.00 to EUR 30.00 per day (both for a single person and for a family without dependent children). In addition, the amount for a dependent child is increased from EUR 7.00 to EUR 10.00 per child. 

Another adjustment is the amount that may be awarded for the increased efforts that an injured party must undertake in the context of a temporary economic incapacity, which may be EUR 30.00 instead of EUR 25.00 per day. 

Another - and perhaps the most significant - adjustment is the upgrade of the lump sums in the context of a permanent (personal - household - economic) incapacity[1]:

A final adjustment is in the context of moral damages following the death of a loved one. In the Indicative Table (2024), the aforementioned moral damages are estimated using a number of forks with a number of lump sums, according to the assumed intensity of the affective link between a deceased person and his / her beneficiary and according to the specific circumstances: 

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[1] Awarding a lump sum is one of the three methods of estimating and compensating a permanent incapacity, in which the age of an injured party will serve as starting point.  

[2] The date when an injured party is cured or the date when the severity of a bodily injury will no longer change.