In recent years, the Belgian Parliament has codified substantial parts of Belgian economic legislation into a new Code of Economic Law (“Wetboek van economisch recht” / “Code du droit economique”). The Code of Economic Law consists of 18 Books, including one on payment and credit services (“Boek VII. – Betalings- en kredietdiensten” / “Livre VII. – Services de paiement et de crédit”, “Book VII”).
One large part of Book VII, mainly concerning payments services, entered into force on 29 May 2014 and another large part, mainly concerning credits to consumers, entered into force on 1 April 2015.
From 1 November 2015 (the initial date of entry into force, 1 July 2015, has been changed into 1 November 2015), the remainder of Book VII, which mainly deals with the licence requirements for providers of credit to consumers, will enter into force. As a result, the providers of credit to consumers and intermediaries must take action to remain authorised to provide credit to consumers or to act as an intermediary in Belgium. The type of action such creditors and intermediaries must take is discussed in Section 4 (Grandfathering rules in respect of new rules and procedures on licences and registrations (deadline: 30 April 2017)) below.
