Belgium
Van Hool's bankruptcy is now unavoidable, crisis manager Marc Zwaaneveld (appointed in early 2024) said in an interview with De Standaard, Sustainable Bus reported. Production of trambuses for Paris is a high risk as well, as he specifically stated that those buses "cost too much to make.” Van Hool announced its plan to stop production of city buses (and relocating business in Macedonia) on 11th March. Later on, the company asked for protection from creditors.
Under Belgian law, criminal and civil judges can impose a prohibition on both individuals and corporate entities to prevent them from performing certain management functions in a company (management prohibition) upon conviction or in the context of insolvency, Linklaters reported. In practice, however, these management prohibitions often remain a dead letter, as persons who are prohibited from taking up a directorship are still appointed directors due to a lack of monitoring of compliance with these prohibitions.