Recent news: the central register of economic indicators
September 2021 – In order to detect companies in difficulty more quickly, the Minister of Justice introduced a new register at the beginning of July: the central register of economic indicators. This register is intended to enable the company courts to react more quickly, or even proactively, when things are likely to go wrong. In this way, the damage can be limited, but also the situation can be reversed, if this is still possible.
Why a central register?
The 'task' of detecting companies in financial difficulties is defined in Book XX of the Economic Law Code (ELC). In order to achieve this task, this code gives the government the necessary powers to communicate and manage personal data and information of a financial or economic nature relating to companies, whether they are legal entities or natural persons.
The ultimate aim is to enable the enterprise court (and more specifically the chambers for enterprises in difficulty) to identify the enterprises whose situation they have to examine. They can do two things with the data collected:
either find that the situation is irretrievably compromised (the public prosecutor will then cite these companies in bankruptcy);
or encourage the companies concerned to take appropriate measures to avoid bankruptcy.
In order to enable the fastest possible reaction, institutional creditors (tax authorities, NSSO) who have open claims against companies are required to communicate their data to a central point from the outset. By analysing the collected data, the competent body can react in time.
Indicators
The data and information that give rise to a registration in the central register of economic indicators are already available. This includes default judgements, social security debts, audit data from the accountant or auditor, collective debt settlement, etc.
This information is linked to the company number and is thus introduced into the new register.
The relevant indicators are personal data and information of a legal or economic nature. This should be understood as :
the amount of sums owed that must legally be communicated to the company's courts, such as social security debts, VAT debts or open withholding tax debts, and attachment notices;
the financial health indicator calculated by the National Bank of Belgium;
the number of employees in the company (in order to assess the relative weight of a debt in relation to the extent of the social consequences);
regular changes of registered office (considered as an indicator of possible fraud).
The register also contains data on the identification of the company, such as the company number, the legal form and the legal status of the company.
These indicators are kept for five years from their registration in the central register of economic indicators.
A first important remark here is that, according to the Minister, only data and information from companies with at least one open debt are processed. It is not the intention to create a register to assess the reliability of all companies.
Moreover, this open debt can only come from legally identified data providers, who are obliged to pass on this information to the court of the company, or from an authentic reliable source (financial health indicator calculated by the NBB).
Second important point: the collected data/information is linked in the register to the ECB number of the company. The ECB number is used as the only authentic source of descriptive information on enterprises. Personal data such as the name and address of the enterprise are not included in the register.
Access
The registries and judges of the chambers for companies in difficulty have access to the information, but only with regard to companies within their jurisdiction.
The public prosecutor also has access.
Finally, the judge-rapporteurs can consult this information, but this access is limited to the cases for which they have been appointed by the insolvency chamber to carry out a more in-depth examination.
Discretion
The main purpose of the central register is to gather data from different public services in order to monitor companies.
The decree issued by the Minister of Justice is particularly focused on discretion with regard to the information collected. The information is centralised around the company number, without further identification of the person behind it. Moreover, access to the information is very limited.
The question is, of course, whether the information collected in this way will not be expanded in the years to come, in order to increase the impact and efficiency of the chambers of commerce.
