New Guidelines For The Belgian Rules On Foreign Direct Investment

Since 1 July 2023, the Belgian rules on the screening of foreign direct investments ("FDI") have been in force. As the decisions of the Interfederal Screening Commission ("ISC") are not published, the rules' application and interpretation still raise a lot of legal uncertainty. On 4 April 2024, the ISC published guidelines to provide further clarification.

Since 1 July 2023 a mandatory notification procedure has been in place in Belgium for transactions involving a non-EU investor investing in a Belgian target active in certain specific sensitive sectors. This notification procedure is in addition to other, already existing, requirements like mandatory merger notification to and approval by the competition authorities. In particular, transactions by a foreign investor acquiring either control over or 10% or 25% of the voting rights in a Belgian target – depending on the target's activities – must be notified to and approved by the ISC before they can be