
Yves Lenders
Commercial law
Dispute Resolution
Ports and Logistics
Insolvency and Restructuring
Fraud and internal investigations
Business Criminal Law
yves.lenders@lydian.be
Also the Belgian economy has been seriously impacted by the Covid-19 crisis. It is expected that in 2021 and 2022 even more companies will face financial difficulties. The commercial courts, in particular the special 'Chambers for Companies in Difficulty' (“CCID”) monitor the situation of such companies to ultimately ensure the rights of creditors. However, we often also see proceedings being launched against (subsidiary) companies that, although they are suffering losses, still enjoy bright future prospects and continue to have the support of the group to which they belong. The cause is usually an administrative omission that can nevertheless trigger a whole procedure (and possibly even bankruptcy). Therefore, everything starts with sound administrative management.
Each commercial court has one or more chambers for companies in difficulty (CCID) that monitor the situation of companies in difficulty in order to safeguard the continuity of their activities and ensure the protection of creditors' rights.
Based on the principle that "prevention is better than a cure", the legislator wants to use the CCID to timely detect difficulties and urge companies to take the appropriate remedy measures to avert discontinuity.
As soon as the court detects that your company is facing financial difficulties, an investigation will be launched. Naturally, there will almost always be a certain ‘trigger event’ in this respect. In our practice, we are often confronted with clients being investigated as a result of one or more of the following events:
The registry of the CCID will also track down companies in difficulty by means of judgments in absence (in absentia) or judgments relating to undisputed pecuniary debts. It is therefore important to monitor your payments carefully.
The examination by the CCID is as follows:
1. CCID examines whether the continuity of the company is threatened
2. CCID requests the company to attend a meeting
3. CCID hears the company about its financial situation
After the examination, the CCID may take the following decisions (which are not subject to appeal or opposition):
In our practice, we find that solvent companies whose continuity is not threatened are nevertheless regularly being investigated by the CCID. This entails a high administrative burden (e.g. drawing up an interim statement, note on financial future, etc.) which can be avoided.
We point out the following points of attention:
Commercial law
Dispute Resolution
Ports and Logistics
Insolvency and Restructuring
Fraud and internal investigations
Business Criminal Law
yves.lenders@lydian.be
Commercial law
Dispute Resolution
Fraud and internal investigations
tim.vanlandeghem@lydian.be