“Registration of pledge on movable property and security trustees in Belgium”

by Roel Fransis The law of 11 July 2013 (the “Law”) will reform the common legal regime for security rights in movable property (in addition to the regime applicable to financial collateral governed by the Law of 15 December 2004 implementing Directive 2002/47/EC on Financial Collateral Arrange- ments). The legal regime applicable to mortgages on immovable property and statutory preference rights remains, with a few exceptions, unaffected by the Law. Although the Law’s entry into force is scheduled for 1 December 2014, it is expected that it will be probably postponed until 1 January 2017 the latest. This should allow sufficient time to set up the electronic national pledge register. The Law (i) introduces new rules with respect to a pledge on movable property (whether tangible or intangible, with respect to certain, specific assets or with respect to a pool of assets), (ii) generally recognises the validity and enforceability of reservation of title clauses and (iii) grants a statutory pledge to creditors exercising a right of retention.