M. +32 478 82 30 65
M. +32 470 98 34 46
Johan LAMBERS
M. +32 475 26 40 38
Terms and conditions and Privacy policy of the law firm iustica.BE
Terms and conditions
1. Scope
Unless otherwise agreed in writing, the present terms and conditions apply to the relationship between iustica.BE and its clients.
2. Fees and costs
The services of iustica.BE will be invoiced at an hourly rate, ranging from 100,00 € to 350,00 € depending on the seniority and expertise of the handling lawyer.
Depending on the difficulty of the case, the interests at stake, the urgency and the result obtained, the hourly rate may be multiplied by a coefficient agreed upon with the client.
Any other method for determining fees (fixed amount, hourly rate in combination with success fee, …) must be agreed upon in writing.
Administrative and out of pocket expenses can by invoiced on a flat-rate basis or separately as follows:
- Letter, fax, e-mail, incoming and outgoing (per document): 10,00 €
- Word processing (per page): 5,00 €
- Copies (per page): 0,50 €
- Telephone (local, outgoing, per 15 minutes): 1,00 €
- Telephone (international, outgoing, per 15 minutes): 10,00 €
- Consultation legal database (per consultation): 10,00 €
- Car expenses (per km – 0.62 miles): 0,50 €
All other expenses (legal expenses, bailiff, translations, other travelling expenses, downloading …) will be invoiced at cost price.
Lawyer fees and expenses are subject to VAT.
iustica.BE issues invoices (called “statements of fees and costs”) at regular intervals, and may invoice advance payments for services yet to be accomplished.
Subject to prior notice to the client, iustica.BE will subtract invoiced fees and costs from sums recovered on behalf of the client.
3. Legal costs
Depending on the circumstances, certain costs, indemnities and taxes may be due at different stages of a legal procedure.
Upon the filing of a legal procedure, filing costs will be due, depending on the Court before which proceedings are filed, the nature of the case and the manner in which the claim was filed.
In the case of a civil or commercial procedure, the judicial code provides that the losing party must pay a procedural indemnity to the winning party. The amount of the procedural indemnity depends on the amount of the litigation and is a fixed rate determined by royal decree.
In criminal matters, a procedural indemnity can only be due between the plaintiff and the accused.
No procedural indemnity is due for procedures before an administrative jurisdiction.
The losing defendant will also need to pay the cost for issuing the summons and all other legal costs advanced by the claimant.
At the end of the legal procedure, if a ruling has been rendered, a registration tax will be due by the losing party, at the current rate of 3% of the amount that the losing party is sentenced to pay. It is an indirect tax collected by the state upon registration of a deed or a written document in the register held at the ministry of finance.
The registration tax is due when the ruling carries a sentence and when the total amount of all sentences against any one party exceeds 12.500,00 €.
The winning party may be held to the payment of the registration tax due by the losing party if the latter is unable to do so, and this up to half of the amount actually received by the winning party.
The payment of the registration tax for the registration of a ruling takes priority over the payment of the amount due to the winning party according to the same ruling. This means that the losing party will have to pay the registration tax before paying his debt to the winning party.
4. Duty of confidentiality and handling of the case
Within iustica.BE the case will be handled by one or more lawyers.
The consulted lawyer may be substituted, for (part of) the tasks to be accomplished, by another lawyer from iustica.BE, by a member of one of the legal networks of which iustica.BE is a member, or by any qualified lawyer.
iustica.BE will assign to professionals of its choice all tasks not to be accomplished by a lawyer (notary, bailiff, expert, company auditor, accountant, translator etc.).
All lawyers are bound by the ethical duty of confidentiality. The staff of iustica.BE is also contractually bound by a duty of confidentiality.
All document exchanged between lawyers are, in principle, confidential. As the case may be, the client undertakes to respect this confidentiality and not to use in any way the confidential documents that were transmitted to him.
The client agrees that all information and documentation disclosed to iustica.BE during the handling of a case may be stored by iustica.BE, even after the period has ended during which this information must be filed mandatorily.
5. Professional rules and conflict management
The profession of lawyer is subject to professional and ethical rules issued by the bar association of the lawyer’s place of practice.
The lawyers working with iustica.BE are member of the Francophone or the Flemish section of the Brussels Bar Association (see tab “team” on iustica.BE’s website).
It is the local bar association that issues the professional and ethical rules to which the lawyer will be subject.
The rules of the Francophone section of the Brussels Bar Association are available in French on the website www.avocats.be. The rules of the Flemish section of the Brussels Bar Association are available and in Dutch on the website www.advocaat.be.
In case of a problem with regards to a lawyer, member of the Francophone section of the Brussels Bar Association, the client may contact the office of the president of this Bar Association (the “permanence du bâtonnier”) by arranging an appointment with the secretariat: Palais de Justice, Place Poelaert- B-1000 Bruxelles (tel : +32 2 508 66 59). Further information may be found on the website of the French section of the Brussels Bar Association (www.barreaudebruxelles.info).
In case of a problem with a lawyer, member of the Flemish section of the Brussels Bar Association, the client may contact the president of this Bar Association to report the issue. Correspondence may be addressed to “Stafhouder van de balie Brussel, Gerechtsgebouw-Poelaertplein, B-1000 BRUSSEL (tel : +32 2 508 67 62, e-mail orde@baliebrussel.be). Further information may be found (in Flemish) on the website of the Flemish section of the Brussels Bar Association: www.advocaat.be.
However, effective client-lawyer communication being essential to conflict resolution, the client is invited to report to the lawyer any issues he may have with the services rendered before initiating proceedings before the Bar Association.
6. Obligation to disclose – deadlines
The client undertakes to disclose to the lawyer – on his own initiative or at the lawyer’s request – all required and useful information and documentation.
The client is liable for all damages or inconveniences that may result from a late, incorrect or incomplete disclosure of information or documents.
In this respect, the client expressly discharges the handling lawyer and iustica.BE from any liability.
If the client has or should have knowledge of a deadline or an important date, he is under the obligation to inform the lawyer handling the case immediately and to disclose all documents and all information in this respect.
The lawyer handling the case verifies that all legal deadlines are respected.
If a client wishes for a case to be handled within a certain period, this should be expressly agreed upon.
The client can terminate the mandate of the lawyer at any time. The Lawyer will endeavour to terminate his intervention and to issue a final statement of fees and costs as soon as possible after the unequivocal instruction from the client terminating the mandate of the lawyer.
7. Limitation of liability
Lawyers of iustica.BE that are member of the Francophone section of the Brussels Bar Association have taken out professional liability insurance with the insurance company ETHIAS at B-4000 Liège. Their liability is limited to a maximum of 1’250’000,00 € per claim with geographic coverage throughout the world except for the USA and CANADA.
Lawyers of iustica.BE that are member of the Flemish section of the Brussels Bar Association have taken out professional liability insurance with the insurance company “Amlin” at B-1210 Brussels. Their liability is limited to a maximum per claim of 2’500’000,00 € for civil cases and 6’850’000,00 € for non-contractual cases with geographic coverage throughout the world except for the USA and Canada.
8. Payment terms and conditions
iustica.BE’s statements of fees and costs are due to be paid within 30 days as from their date.
In case of a late payment, interest at the applicable statutory rate will be due without prior reminder or notice.
In case of late payment, a fixed indemnity equal to 10% of the invoiced amount will be due, with a minimum of 500,00 €, without prejudice to any indemnity for legal expenses which may be attributed in case of legal proceedings.
In case of late payment, iustica.BE reserves the right to suspend its services.
The client will be liable for any damages that may result from such suspension.
9. Jurisdiction – applicable law
In case of a dispute between iustica.BE and the client, the Brussels courts will have exclusive jurisdiction. iustica.BE reserves the right to bring the client before the courts of his place of residence.
Only Belgian law will apply, including the professional ethics code to which the lawyers of iustica.BE are subject.
10. Specific consumer information
When iustica.BE is mandated by a consumer (according to art. I.1, 2° Belgian Economic Code, a natural person acting for purposes outside his trade or profession) by means of a distance contract or a contract concluded away from the premises of iustica.BE’s offices, the client is granted a right of withdrawal during 14 days as from the day of conclusion of the contract with the lawyer. If the consumer wishes iustica.BE to initiate its mission before this term of 14 days is terminated, he must explicitly instruct iustica.BE to do so.
People with limited financial resources may resort to the system of legal aid, (entirely or partially) assisting them to meet the cost of legal representation or proceedings. Further information on the conditions for access to legal aid and the designation of a pro bono lawyer, can be found on the website of the “Bureau d’aide juridique” as well as on the contact list of the different bureaus in Belgium: www.aidejuridiquebruxelles.be,www.avocats.be,www.baliebrussel.be
11. Privacy policy
iustica.BE’s privacy policy can be consulted online at www.iustica.be/en/terms-conditions/.
Privacy policy
1. Introduction
This document serves to explain how iustica.BE collects, uses and retains personal data.
Under this document, iustica.BE refers to CVBA IUSTICA.BE, with company number BE 898.134.888 and registered office at B-1050 BRUSSELS (Belgium), Avenue Louise 109.
The processing of your data is subject to the Belgian legislation and the European Regulation 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data, the so called ‘GDPR’, and all amendments thereof.
Personal data in the meaning of this Privacy policy are defined as: any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’). Are considered an identifiable natural person, those who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.
You are kindly asked to read this Privacy policy thoroughly. It is updated regularly. The most recent version is freely available in four languages (English, Dutch, French and German) at all times, on our website www.iustica.be.
More general information about the protection of personal data can be requested at the Data protection authority. For further questions concerning the processing of your data you can contact iustica.BE, by post to B-1050 BRUSSELS (Belgium), Avenue Louise 109 or via e-mail to info@iustica.be.
The software packages that are used are regularly updated and the access to the data is protected by variant, frequently changing passwords.
The access to the physical office is limited to authorised people.
The technical and organisational protective measures, such as the Anti-Virus program, the firewalls, the access control and the thorough selection of staff, employees and suppliers are used to prevent unauthorised access, loss or disclosure of your data.
3. Rights of the data subject
You dispose of certain rights related to the personal data processed by iustica.BE.
These rights can be exercised by means of a dated, signed request, submitted by post to iustica.BE, B-1050 BRUSSELS (Belgium), Avenue Louise 109 or via e-mail to info@iustica.be.
A. Rights of information
This Privacy policy informs you about the method of iustica.BE obtaining, handling and processing your personal data and about the rights you have concerning the processing of your personal data by iustica.BE.
You have the right to withdraw your consent to the data processing at any time. This does not affect the lawfulness of the data processing up until the moment of withdrawal.
For questions concerning the processing of your data you can contact iustica.BE, by post to B-1050 BRUSSELS (Belgium), Avenue Louise 109, via telephone: +32 2 548 29 72 or via e-mail to info@iustica.be.
B. Right of access
You have the right to obtain from iustica.BE confirmation as to whether or not personal data concerning you are being processed, and, where that is the case, access to the personal data and the following information:
- the purposes of the processing,
- the categories of personal data concerned,
- the recipients or categories of recipient to whom the personal data have been or will be disclosed, in particular recipients in third countries or international organisations,
- where possible, the envisaged period for which the personal data will be stored, or, if not possible, the criteria used to determine that period,
- where the personal data are not collected from the data subject, any available information as to their source.
You can request iustica.BE to provide a copy of the personal data undergoing processing. For any further copies requested by the data subject, iustica.BE may charge a reasonable fee based on administrative costs. Where you make the request by electronic means (Online), and unless otherwise requested, the information shall be provided in a commonly used electronic form.
C. Right to rectification
You have the right to request iustica.BE to rectify inaccurate personal data concerning you or to complete incomplete data concerning you.
iustica.BE will respond to this request within 1 month. This delay of one month may be extended by two further months.
As long as the accuracy of your personal data is under discussion and a request for rectification is pending, you can ask iustica.BE to restrict the processing (no processing at all, no transferring to third parties…).
D. Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”)
You have the right to obtain from iustica.BE the erasure of personal data concerning you. iustica.BE will erase the data without undue delay, where one of the following grounds applies:
- the personal data are no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed,
- you withdraw consent on which the processing is based and there is no other legal ground for the processing,
- you object to the processing and there are no overriding legitimate grounds for the processing,
- the personal data have been unlawfully processed,
- your personal data have to be erased for compliance with a legal obligation in Union or Belgian law.
- For exercising the right of freedom of expression and information.
- For compliance with a legal obligation which requires processing by Union or Belgian law or the performance of a task carried out in the public interest. iustica.BE is obliged to keep records of all files until five years after closing them.
- For the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
E. Right to object
You have the right to object to processing of personal data concerning you at any time.
iustica.BE shall no longer process the personal data unless compelling legitimate reasons can be demonstrated for the processing, which override your interests, rights and freedoms or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
F. Right to restriction of processing
You have the right to request from iustica.BE restriction of processing where one of the following applies:
- You are contesting the accuracy of the personal data, for a period enabling iustica.BE to verify the accuracy of the personal data.
- The processing is unlawful and you oppose the erasure of the personal data and request the restriction of their use instead.
- iustica.BE no longer needs your personal data for the purposes of the processing, but they are required by you for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
- You have objected to processing pursuant to the previous article pending the verification whether the legitimate grounds of iustica.BE override yours.
In case you have obtained restriction of processing, you shall be informed by iustica.BE before the restriction of processing is lifted.
G. Right to data portability
You have the right to request iustica.BE to receive the personal data concerning you in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to transmit those data to another controller where the processing is based on consent and the processing is carried out by automated means.
iustica.BE will respond to this request within 1 month. This delay of one month may be extended by two further months.
4. Disclosure and breaches of personal data
When the personal data breach is likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons, iustica.BE shall communicate the personal data breach to you without undue delay.
The communication shall not take place if iustica.BE has implemented appropriate technical and organisational protection measures, and those measures were applied to the personal data affected by the personal data breach, in particular those that render the personal data unintelligible to any person who is not authorised to access it, such as encryption, when subsequent measures have been taken which ensure that the high risk to your rights and freedoms is no longer likely to materialise, or when it would involve disproportionate effort. In such a case, you will be informed as far as reasonably possible by means of a notification on the website www.iustica.be.
When you need to be notified about a disclosure or breach of personal data, this notification shall describe the nature of the personal data breach, the nature of the concerned data, the name and contact details of the contact point where more information can be obtained, the likely consequences of the personal data breach and the measures taken or proposed to address the personal data breach.
5. Data Protection Officer (DPO) and Data protection impact assessment
Because iustica.BE does not process data of the nature to be likely to result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons, no Data protection impact assessment must be carried out.
6. Register of data processing
A register of potential breaches of data will be equally kept.
iustica.BE makes no use of direct marketing.
You can also file a complaint with the Data protection authority per post: B-1000 BRUSSELS (Belgium), Drukpersstraat 35, via e-mail to commission@privacycommission.be, or via telephone to +32 2 274 48 00.