VBB On Belgian Business Law | Volume 2023, NO 3

COMPETITION LAW COMMERCIAL LAW

Default Commercial Interest Rate Increases for First Time Since 2016

On 17 March 2023, the Belgian Official Journal (Belgisch Staatsblad / Moniteur belge) published the bi-annual default interest rate for commercial transactions which will amount to 10.5% during the first semester of 2023. This marks a strong increase over the rate of 8.0% which had been applicable since the second semester of 2016.

Pursuant to the Law of 2 August 2002 on combating late payment in commercial transactions (Wet van 2 augustus 2002 betreffende de bestrijding van de betalingsachterstand bij handelstransacties / Loi du 2 août 2002 concernant la lutte contre le retard de paiement dans les transactions commerciales), the default commercial interest rate for commercial transactions applies to compensatory payments in commercial transactions (handelstransacties / transactions commerciales), i.e., transactions between companies or between companies and