Legal basis: Article 1022 Judicial Code and Royal Decree

The main legal texts governing the procedural indemnity are:

1. Article 1022 of the Judicial Code: Basic principles of the procedural indemnity.More info
2. Royal Decree of 26 October 2007, as amended by the Royal Decree of 16 May 2024 (Belgian Official Gazette, 5 June 2024): specifies the exact amounts and rules for the procedural indemnity.More info

These legal texts can be viewed on the official Belgian legislation website.

Article 1022 of the Judicial Code provides, among other things, that the procedural indemnity is owed by operation of law to the prevailing party, as a lump-sum contribution toward its attorney costs. The article also lists the criteria that the judge must weigh when deciding whether to deviate from the base amount (see section 2). Importantly, the judge cannot refuse the indemnity entirely unless the law expressly so provides — unlike the former situation where the judge had full discretion.

The rates in the Royal Decree are not identical for all courts. There are separate brackets for the general rate (justices of the peace, police courts, courts of first instance, commercial courts, courts of appeal, etc.) and a different calculation scheme for labour-related procedures (labour court and labour court of appeal). This division reflects the different nature of the cases heard by each type of court.