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News and developments

Europe harmonises national insolvency law of the Member States: The Directive had been approved

On 30 March 2026, the Council of the European Union gave its final approval to a new Directive 2022/0408 (COD) harmonising certain key aspects of insolvency law across the European Union.

This approval follows the earlier adoption of the text by the European Parliament on 11 March 2026.

With this Directive, the European legislator takes a further step towards the harmonisation of substantive insolvency law within the Member States, alongside the existing European frameworks on international jurisdiction (Regulation (EU) 2015/848) and judicial restructuring (Directive (EU) 2019/1023).

The Directive aims to strengthen the EU internal market and the Capital Markets Union by reducing significant divergences between national insolvency laws. Such divergences generate legal uncertainty and create barriers to cross‑border investment, as the duration and outcome of insolvency proceedings remain difficult to predict.

In order to increase the efficiency of insolvency proceedings and facilitate access to business financing, the EU introduces common minimum standards, including in particular:

  • Avoidance actions (the so-called “Actio Pauliana”), setting out the conditions under which transactions entered into by the debtor prior to the opening of insolvency proceedings may be challenged, in order to protect the insolvency estate and creditors;

  • Asset tracing and recovery across borders, notably through enhanced access for insolvency practitioners to bank account registers and other asset registers;

  • Pre‑pack proceedings, allowing the sale of all or part of a business in financial difficulty to be prepared and negotiated before the formal opening of insolvency proceedings, in order to facilitate a going‑concern transfer and preserve enterprise value and goodwill;

  • Directors’ duties, requiring directors to file for the opening of insolvency proceedings in a timely manner in the event of serious financial distress;

  • Representation and involvement of individual creditors in insolvency proceedings, inter alia through creditors’ committees, a mechanism that is currently largely unknown under Belgian bankruptcy law;

  • Transparency, requiring Member States to make clear and accessible information on their national insolvency rules publicly available via the EU e‑Justice Portal.

    • Following its official publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, Member States will have a transposition period of two years and nine months.

    The concrete impact on Belgian insolvency law will depend on the manner in which this minimum‑harmonisation directive is transposed into Belgian national law.

    We are closely monitoring the further publication and implementation of this Directive and will keep you informed as soon as the first outlines of its Belgian transposition become clear.

    Would you like to know more about what these changes may mean for your organisation?

    Please do not hesitate to contact our Insolvency & Restructuring team.