Insights

Brussels and Doha – April 1, 2024: The Legal 500 Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) 2024 edition has recognized 16 practice areas and 11 lawyers in Crowell & Moring’s Brussels and Doha offices. The 11 individual lawyers received 18 total rankings across the 16 different practice areas.

Brussels – March 20, 2023: Chambers and Partners has ranked four Crowell & Moring practice groups and six individual lawyers in the Chambers Europe 2023 guide. The rankings are driven by independent interviews of clients and members of the legal community.

Brussels – August 29, 2022: Emmanuel Plasschaert, partner and head of Crowell & Moring’s Corporate, Commercial, and Employment practices in Brussels, will become president (“bâtonnier”) of the Brussels Bar (FR) on September 1, 2022.  Plasschaert previously served a two-year term as the Bar’s vice-president.

On March 19, 2024, the European Council adopted changes to the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union in an attempt to improve its efficiency.

On February 17, 2024, The Digital Services Act (DSA) will become applicable, introducing a new regulatory framework for providers of intermediary services. The DSA will apply to those offering their services to users located in the EU, regardless of the providers' place of establishment. We have discussed the new obligations in our previous client alert, when the DSA was adopted. In this alert, we will focus on the notice and action mechanisms, the positions of the users, intermediaries and the general public.

A number of important Belgian and EU legislative changes are likely to have an impact in 2024. On the one hand, there are new laws that have been adopted and will start to bite, and, on the other, there are proposals that are expected to firm up into law.

Class actions and their (possible) role in European law jurisdictions have been a hot topic for quite a while and this is not likely to change. The new EU directive 2020/1828 imposes the obligation upon EU member states to introduce a specific legal procedure for collective repair by 25 June 2023. In Belgium, such a procedure for collective repair was already introduced in 2014. With the imminent implementation of said EU directive into Belgian law, this procedure is likely to undergo some substantial changes. During this in-person seminar, Werner Eyskens, Evelien Van Espen, Yaël Rager and Charlotte Stynen will discuss the current and future role of class actions in Belgium, the contours of the existing procedure for collective repair and the potential impact of the expected new rules, as well as the role of third-party litigation funding and the fate of collective proceedings that fall outside the scope of the existing procedure and the new directive.

In collaboration with ACC EuropeThe EU Whistleblower Directive, which is intended to provide whistleblowers with greater protection, sets out a legal framework of minimum standards that have to be transposed by the EU member states into national legislation.

In collaboration with the IBJ

In collaboration with the IBJ