Publication
On track to a modernised Belgian Civil Code
Sharpen your contractual tools
Publication
Sharpen your contractual tools
In recent years, the Belgian Civil Code has undergone a significant transformation to better meet the needs of modern society.
The wide-ranging reform, which was launched in 2019, aims to codify and modernise various aspects of private relations between citizens. These include legal concepts with broad application (Book 1), property law (Book 3), obligations (Book 5), extra-contractual liability (Book 6), specific contracts (upcoming Book 7), evidence (Book 8), securities (upcoming Book 9), and prescription (upcoming Book 10). The result will be a new Civil Code consisting of 10 Books, written in clear and simple language to make legal concepts more accessible, transparent, and predictable.
The latest progress in this ongoing exercise consists of (i) the submission of a bill - in February 2025 - regarding Book 7 (specific contracts such as sale, lease, service contract, mandate) and the (ii) the adoption of Title 1 of Book 9 regarding personal securities with an entry into force on 1 January 2026.
We are preparing a series of newsletters to help you navigate the implications of the upcoming Book 7. These will be published here, so please check back regularly for updates.
Please reach out to your usual Linklaters contact, should you have any questions.
Book 1 only contains a dozen articles and is meant to be an introduction to the other nine books of the New Civil Code. Its field of application is very broad as it governs relationships between private persons and relationships between public legal persons and private persons if not subject to other legislations or to the rules of exercise of state authority.
Book 5 covers, completes and restructures Articles 1101 to 1369 of the old Civil Code (i.e. the law of obligations but not non-contractual liability). It includes 270 articles.
For you not to lose track while making your way through books 1 and 5, discover our useful tools below.
Discover the salient points of the Books adopted so far