Terms of use

Terms of use

This website (the ‘Site’) belongs to Astrea BV, with registered office at Posthofbrug 6, Box 1 , 2600 Berchem (‘Astrea’). The use of the Site is subject to the following terms of use. By using this Site, users accept: -these terms of use; -personal data processing by Astrea in accordance with the Privacy Statement.

Content of this site: The information that is made available on or via this Site is general in nature and purely informative. This information is not in any case intended as legal advice, advertising for clients or an offer of services. If you require legal advice, Astrea recommends that you contact one of our lawyers, who will advise you personally. Although Astrea does all that is necessary to keep the content of the Site complete, correct and up-to-date, some information may be incomplete, inaccurate or outdated in spite of those efforts. Astrea does not give any warranty regarding the content of and information on the Site. Astrea will not be held liable for the malfunctioning of the Site as a result of technical defects, viruses or maintenance. Astrea is likewise not liable for any loss or damage that arises from the use of this Site or its manipulation by third parties. Astrea finally disclaims any liability for the content of third-party websites to which users of the Site may be referred. These third-party websites and their content fall exclusively under the liability of their author(s). Links to such websites are only intended to supplement information that is communicated via the Site.

Lawyer-client relationship: Providing and/or receiving information via this Site does not mean that you are or will become an Astrea client. In order to become a client, you need to contact Astrea or one of its lawyers. Astrea’s services are provided on the basis of its General Terms and Conditions.

Intellectual property rights: Astrea is the owner of all copyright and other intellectual property rights on the Site and its content (more specifically the images, logos and texts). You do not acquire any of these rights by visiting our Site. The content of the Site may not be fully or partially used or copied without Astrea’s prior written consent. Any consent that is granted to reproduce part or all of the content of the Site does not extend to copying or reproducing this material in your own work or publications. Requests to use the content of the Site must be addressed to contact@astrealaw.be.

Applicable law and jurisdiction: By using the Site, you agree that its content falls exclusively under and must be interpreted in accordance with Belgian law. In the event of a dispute relating to this Site or its use, only Belgian courts of the judicial district of Antwerp will have jurisdiction, to the exclusion of all other courts.

Contact: For more information about the Site or its content, please mail to contact@astrealaw.be.

General Conditions 

Astrea BV - Applicable as of 1/12/2024

1. The parties - Astrea BV is a limited liability company with its registered office in Antwerp and with company number 0885.184.584, Register of Legal Persons (RPR) of Antwerp, Antwerp Division (hereafter "Astrea"). Any natural or legal person using the services of Astrea is hereinafter referred to as the "Client".

2. The assignment - The agreement between Astrea and the Client is established by an assignment from the Client, whereby these general terms and conditions (hereafter the "Terms and Conditions") are deemed to have been accepted. The Terms and Conditions apply both to the original assignment and to any subsequent assignment, modification, or extension of the assignment. Services provided by Astrea are not subject to anything other than these Terms and Conditions. The possible nullity or inapplicability of one or more provisions of these Terms and Conditions does not affect the remaining Terms and Conditions. If necessary, Astrea and the Client will make substitute agreements that approach the spirit of the void or inapplicable provision(s) as closely as possible. In case of contradiction between the different language versions of the Terms and Conditions, the Dutch text (available on our website) shall prevail, which is the only authentic one.

3. The Lawyers - The partners, lawyers and/or associates, natural or legal persons who are in any way connected to Astrea and who are involved in the provision of services by or on behalf of Astrea (hereafter the "Lawyers") perform their services in the name and on behalf of Astrea. Astrea is the sole contracting party with the Client. All assignments are accepted and performed and all services are provided exclusively by Astrea, regardless of which lawyer at Astrea has been instructed to do so. The Lawyers cannot be held liable in any way. Astrea may assign the Client's cases or certain parts thereof internally depending on, among other things, the nature of the case and the qualifications and experience level of the Lawyers unless expressly opposed by the Client.

4. Deontological rules and alternative dispute resolution - Astrea and its Lawyers respect the deontological rules of the Bar Association where they are registered, including the regulations of the Order of Flemish Bars and the regulations of l'Ordre des barreaux francophones et germanophones de Belgique, and in particular the principles of independence, partiality and confidentiality. The Client was informed by Astrea of the existence of methods of alternative dispute resolution, in particular the possibility of mediation, conciliation and any other form of amicable resolution of disputes.

5. Fees - Astrea is as transparent as possible with regard to its fees and costs charged. The fees cover the lawyer's services such as, but not limited to, the provision of advice, preparation and conduct of proceedings, representation before court, time required for travel, preparation and editing of letters, pleadings and documents, research, organisation of meetings and telephone consultations. The know-how built up by Astrea and used by the Client will also be charged in the form of fees. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, all services are remunerated via hourly rates, as communicated to the Client, determined in function of experience and knowledge of the Lawyers. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, hourly rates may be changed by Astrea during the term of the agreement. The Client declares to be familiar with the Act of 21 April 2007 on the recoverability of legal fees and costs related to the assistance of the lawyer, as well as the fact that legal fees are only recoverable from the defeated party(ies) up to the amount of the court fees awarded under this act. Astrea may use the court fees to cover its fees and expenses.

6. Statements of fees and costs - Statements of fees and costs, in the shape of an invoice, will be prepared regularly after the performance of services, describing the services and charges passed on for the total amount charged, if applicable subject to 21% VAT. Provisions for future services may be requested at any time and Astrea is entitled to suspend all or part of its services at any time until one or more such provisions or statements of fees and costs have been paid, without incurring any liability. Statements of fees and costs are payable by the Client even if the latter designates a third-party payer. Invoices will be sent electronically, which the Client accepts, to the Client’s e-mail address. 

7. Administrative costs - A fixed percentage for administrative and other office costs (including cost of printing and copying, postage and miscellaneous office expenses) of up to 10% may be charged on the amount of invoiced fees, without prejudice to Astrea's ability to separately charge the Client for external expenses incurred on the Client's behalf (including amounts payable to government agencies, registers and databases, searches, third-party service providers...).

8. Payment terms and dispute - All statements of fees and costs are payable within 7 days of their dispatch. In the event of a dispute, the statement of fees and costs must be protested with mention of the reasons by registered letter within 7 days of its dispatch. In any event, any dispute cannot lead to non-payment or withholding, in full or in part, of the statement of fees and costs in question.

9. Consequences of non-payment - In the event of failure to pay (in full) or late payment, the outstanding amount of the statement(s) of fees and costs shall be increased by operation of the law and without any prior notice of default being required, by a fixed compensation of 10% of the amount due.  In addition, interest on arrears in accordance with the Act of 2 August 2002 on combating late payment in commercial transactions (published in the Belgian Official Gazette of 7 August 2002) shall be payable on the outstanding invoice amount by operation of the law and without any prior notice of default being required. In the event of overdue payment of one or more statements of fees and costs, all statements of fees and costs shall become immediately due and payable and Astrea shall be entitled at any time to suspend all or part of its services for as long as all the statements of fees and costs so due have not been paid, without incurring any liability.

10. If the Customer is a consumer, in case of non-payment (in full) or late payment a first free reminder will be sent by Astrea. For liquidated damages and default interest, the conditions and ceilings laid down in Article XIX. 2 and XIX. 4 Economic Law Code apply. More specifically, after the expiry of a period of 14 calendar days starting on the 3rd working day after sending a first free reminder by registered mail, or the 1st calendar day after sending such reminder by e-mail, a lump-sum compensation will be due in the amount of a) 20 euros if the balance due is less than or equal to 150 euros, b) 30 euros plus 10% of the amount due on the instalment between 150.01 and 500 euros if the balance due is between 150.01 and 500 euros, or c) 65 euros plus 5% of the amount due on the instalment above 500 euros with a maximum of 2000 euros if the balance due is above 500 euros. Furthermore, from the above-mentioned time, any unpaid invoice will be increased by default interest on the outstanding invoice amount at the interest rate in accordance with the Act of 2 August 2002 on combating late payment in commercial transactions (published in the Belgian Official Gazette of 7 August 2002).

11. Third party services - Astrea may, during the provision of services, call upon any third party (including but not limited to bailiffs, technical and other experts, accountants, statutory auditors, notaries, third party lawyers, etc.) that it deems useful in the name and on behalf of the Customer. Astrea is not liable for services, acts and/or omissions by such third parties not operating under Astrea’s name, nor is Astrea liable for any payment to such third parties. Services by such third parties are, unless otherwise agreed in writing, invoiced directly by the relevant third party to the Client, who undertakes to pay such invoices or statements, costs or fees on time and in full. Furthermore, Astrea is not liable for fees or costs of any lawyer who has performed any services for the Client prior to Astrea's intervention, even if Astrea has succeeded such lawyer.

12. Limitation of liability - Astrea shall not be liable for any direct or indirect consequences of force majeure situations, including but not limited to riots, popular movements, civil wars and other wars, natural disasters, terrorism, pandemics, strikes and/or lockouts. Liability is also not accepted for any defects and/or damage to equipment or software, including transmission of viruses, malware, spyware or similar incidents resulting from electronic communication with Astrea.

Any liability of Astrea is limited to the amount effectively paid out by the liability insurance of the Order of Flemish Bars (currently limited to 2,500,000.00 EUR per claim) or of the l'Ordre des barreaux francophones et germanophones de Belgique (currently limited to EUR 2,500,000.00 per claim) and Astrea's supplementary liability insurance (currently limited to 30,000,000 EUR per claim, after exhaustion of the aforementioned insurance policies). The legal provisions on extra-contractual liability shall, to the extent permitted by law, neither apply between the parties nor between a party and an auxiliary (first and further degree) of a party

13. Third party accounts - Astrea has one or more third party accounts into which all amounts received on behalf of the Client are deposited. Astrea transfers such amounts to the Client as soon as possible. Astrea may deduct from such amounts received on behalf of the Client any sums to cover provisions, costs or fees owed by the Client, even if they are not yet due and payable. Astrea will notify the Client of such deductions in writing. The foregoing is without prejudice to the right of the Client to dispute all statements of fees and costs and claim payment of any amounts withheld.

14. Confidentiality and intellectual property - The advice, memorandums, notes, (draft) agreements, procedural documents and other intellectual work prepared by Astrea, or the content of conversations that take place between Astrea and the Client, electronically or otherwise, may not be distributed by the Client, made public or used in any other way without Astrea's prior written and express consent. All rights relating to the intellectual achievements which Astrea develops or uses in carrying out the assignment entrusted to it, including advice, working methods, contracts, draft procedural documents, belong to Astrea, insofar as they do not already belong to third parties. Except with the express, prior and written consent of Astrea, the Client is prohibited from distributing, disclosing or exploiting the intellectual achievements or recordings thereof or in any way whatsoever.

15. Processing of personal data - The Client's (and possible third parties’) personal data will be processed by Astrea as controller in accordance with Astrea's Privacy Policy, which is always available in its most recent version on Astrea's website https://www.astrealaw.be/en/privacy-statement/).

16. Financial information processing and money laundering prevention - Astrea is subject to the legislation on the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism and on the restriction of the use of cash in accordance with the Act of 18 September 2017 (Published in the Belgian Official Gazette of 6 October 2017). Pursuant to the aforementioned legislation, Astrea is obliged to identify its Clients, for which the Client will provide all requested identity and other data (including such data of its mandataries) upon first request. Astrea reserves the right to terminate the relationship with the Client and/or services without further notice if such requested information is not provided within two weeks. The information provided by the Client under this article may be passed on by Astrea to the competent authorities, including the authorities of the bar associations, without informing the Client and without Astrea accepting any liability in this respect.

17. Co-operation of the Client - The Client ensures that throughout the entire cooperation with Astrea under the agreement, punctually all information required to enable the optimal performance of the services is handed over to Astrea and also ensures that questions from Astrea are answered promptly. The Client warrants the accuracy, completeness and reliability of the data, information and documents provided by or on behalf of him to Astrea. Lack of adequate and timely cooperation or provision of incorrect information is a ground for Astrea to suspend its activities or terminate the agreement with the Client. Any drafts submitted to the Client will be reviewed by the Client without delay so that Astrea can take any comments into account and process them in a timely manner. Lack of a (timely) reply may be interpreted by Astrea as a tacit agreement by the Client.

18. Termination - Both the Client and Astrea may at any time, with immediate effect and without justification, terminate the agreement (which is of indefinite duration) by notifying the other party in writing. In case the Client is a consumer within the meaning of the Economic Law Code, Astrea can only terminate the agreement by giving two weeks' notice (without prejudice to Astrea's right to suspend its activities in case of default of the Client, or to terminate the agreement for contractual default). Astrea is not liable for any damages that would result from the termination of the agreement with the Client. On first request Astrea will return to the Client the documents of the file, except for confidential correspondence which for reasons of deontological rules can only be delivered to a possible new lawyer. After each assignment Astrea archives the file and keeps it for five years, after which it is permanently destroyed. Original documents are returned to the Client for archiving or destruction.

19. Amendment - Astrea reserves the right to amend these terms and conditions (including the fee rates referred to in article 5) at any time. In case of any amendment Astrea will notify the amended text to the Client and in the absence of written notification within fourteen calendar days after notification of the amended text, the Client will be deemed to have agreed to the amended text and this amended text will be binding upon the Client from the date of the aforementioned notification.

20. Applicable law and competent courts - Only Belgian law, including the deontological rules of the competent Bar Association, is applicable to the legal relationship between Astrea and the Client. Disputes that cannot be settled amicably by the competent Bar Association (regarding fee disputes – cfr dispute resolution as laid down in art. 54 of the Bar of the Province of Antwerp Codex) will be exclusively brought before the courts of the judicial district of Antwerp, Antwerp Division unless mandatorily prescribed otherwise by law.