On February 3, 2012, the International Court of Justice delivered its judgment in proceedings instituted by Germany against Italy for alleged violations of the jurisdictional immunities enjoyed by States under public international law. The Court held that Italy committed several breaches of Germany’s State immunity.

The Belgian government implemented a new calculation method of the benefit in kind from the private use of a company car, which applies as from January 1, 2012. The new calculation method causes that company cars become more expensive for both employees and employers.

On February 2, 2011, the ILO Tribunal rendered two judgments dealing with cases of harassment within international organisations. The Tribunal ruled that the claims challenging the sufficiency of the investigations carried out by the organisation at stake were admissible and allocated damages to the applicants, although the complaints were initially lodged in an informal way only.

Lorenz Brussels proudly announces the opening of its sports and entertainment law practice and the arrival of a prominent Sports & Entertainment Lawyer, Sébastien Ledure.

Software piracy consists in illegally selling or using proprietary software. Despite their efforts, software producers have failed until now to reduce software piracy in a significant way. This article will first present an overview on software piracy and the type of activities that constitute software piracy, followed by possible lawful alternatives to piracy. Finally, the article will address the legal status of software piracy and possible sanctions against it in Belgium.

In this article the authors comment about the consequences of the new Eu-regulation 1231/2010 for the social security of non Eu-nationals.

The author gives some practical tips with respect to cloud computing agreements.

In the technology sector, mergers and acquisitions come with specific challenges. For tech companies, their ultimate purpose is to absorb the technology of the target company and to utilize it for the development of its own technology. Therefore the challenge is to overcome inherent hurdles in melding staff and technologies for a successful corporate transaction and fruitful product development. The author explains how to avoid the pitfalls when acquiring companies in the tech sector.

In this contribution, the authors comment on a recent decision of the Administration Tribunal of the International Labor Organization in which the principle is discussed whether a rule of general application can be challenged.

In this article the authors give some practical tips and information on how to make M&A transactions succeed in Belgium both from a corporate and from an employment perspective.

Regulation (EC) No 810/2009 establishing a community code on visas (hereinafter: “Visa Code”) establishes the procedures and conditions for issuing visas for transit and stays in the territory of the EU member states not exceeding three months in any six-month period.

The Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standards (DSS) is a set of comprehensive requirements for enhancing the data security of customer details from card transactions. Find out why every company that is accepting online debit or credit card payment should be aware of these standards.

The author discusses a recent judgment of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labor Organization that formally confirmed the ongoing trend in international civil service case law toward the recognition of single-sex partnerships insofar that they are recognized on a national level.

The alcohol lock is making its way in Belgium, including in Belgian labor law. In its one hundredth Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Belgian National Labor Council has enacted the obligation for all Belgian employers to establish a well-conceived alcohol prevention and treatment policy. The installation of an alcohol lock in the employer’s company car park can be introduced in the framework of such a policy.

In a recent decision, the Belgian Supreme Court has given its green light for employers to dismiss an employee and to simultaneously agree on an all-in termination package with this employee. Thus, the Supreme Court enables the employer to dismiss an employee in an efficient way that is satisfactory for both the employer and the employee.

Paving the way for new standards in data security, on October 26, 2009, the Council of the European Union approved the directive amending Directive 2002/58/EC concerning the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (the “Directive”).

After several years of lobbying by law practitioners, the European Parliament finally issued in 2006 Directive 2006/68/EC (hereinafter: “the Directive”) providing the Member States with the opportunity to ease some of the capital protective measures as set out in Directive 77/91/EEC regarding the formation of public limited liability companies and the maintenance and alteration of their capital.

Jan Dhont comments on new data retention bill announced by the Belgian Ministry of Justice. “The proposed data retention requirements risk to violate consumer’s privacy and comes with a high cost. Belgian consumers are likely to pay twice for unpopular and privacy-unfriendly measures”, Mr. Dhont says.

This article outlines the state of affairs on the limitations that many politicians announced in the wake of the financial crisis on the use golden parachutes.

The European privacy watch-dog has recently issued a long-waited opinion extending privacy rights on social networking sites. The opinion affects major and minor social networking sites with operators located both inside and outside the EU.

The current article sets forth the basic principles for immigration to Belgium and outlines who needs a work permit.

Good governance of (listed) companies has lately been a major concern in Belgium. Some unfortunate recent accidents and the current economical climate led to the introduction of a new Corporate Governance Code for listed companies in Belgium. This Code will in the future also be used to verify the corporate practices of non-listed companies in Belgium. Hence, the following summary is of importance for all companies currently or planning to be active in Belgium.

With the proposed amendments to the Electronic Communications Privacy Directive 2002/58 (hereinafter: “E-Com Directive”), the European Union is setting its first steps towards introducing information security legislation in Europe.