Entry into force reform of security rights postponed
26/11/2014
The Commission of Justice recently adopted a (draft) bill postponing the entry into force of the Law with more than three years.
As mentioned in our legal flashes of 29 August 2013 and 28 February 2014, the Law of 11 July 2013 regarding the reform of security rights over moveable assets (Belgian Official Gazette 2 August 2013 and hereinafter referred to as the “Law”), which provides for a thorough modernization of the Belgian pledge regime over moveable assets, was scheduled to enter into force at the latest on 1 December 2014.
The most profound change of the Law is the abolishment of the requirement to dispossess of the pledged moveable asset(s) in order for the pledge to be enforceable. This dispossession requirement is being replaced by a system of publicity through a fully electronic pledge register (i.e. the pledge will be enforceable vis-à-vis all parties as of the moment of registration of the pledge in this register and the dispossession of the pledged asset shall hence no longer be required).
The electronic pledge register is in the process of being set up by the Mortgages Service of the Federal Public Service of Finance (“Dienst Hypotheken van de Federale Overheidsdienst Financiën”/”Service des Hypothèques du Service Public Fédéral Finances”). Since the development of the electronic pledge register is taking more time than initially anticipated, it has become clear that this register cannot be operational by 1 December 2014. Consequently, the Commission of Justice recently adopted a (draft) bill postponing the entry into force of the Law with more than three years: it will now enter into force on a date still to be determined by Royal Decree, but at the latest on 1 January 2017.