- Participation in General Counsel Belgium (“GCB”) is only open to those who, at the time of application, are employed as an ultimately responsible (in-house) lawyer within a company or organisation in Belgium. Another requirement for participation is that GCs have a law degree from a university and have at least 10 years of relevant work experience. Other senior lawyers, working in companies or organisations that have a law degree from a university and have at least 10 years of relevant work experience, but are not (yet) the final responsible lawyer, can also become a participant of GCB under the conditions mentioned in this paragraph. They must be explicitly nominated to GCB by the GC of the company or organisation where he or she works, and the relevant GC must also be a participant of GCB.
- If and to the extent that a participating GC does not work, or no longer works as a GC, participation by the GC must be terminated by the end of the year in which he or she ceases to work as a GC.
- GCs participating in GCB have access to all elements of GCN’s multimedia platform, as described at www.generalcounsel.be (“the website”). On the other hand, participating GCs are obliged to pay an annual contribution to GCB (“annual contribution”). The amount of the annual contribution is stated on the website. GCs are obliged to ensure that payment of the annual contribution is made within 30 days of receipt of the relevant invoice.
- If a GC registers as a member of GCB in the month of July, August, September or October, the fee for the rest of the calendar year is currently EUR 225.- excl. VAT (year 2026). If a GC registers as a member of GCB in the month of November or December, participation is free for the rest of the calendar year, provided the membership is continued in the following calendar year. In that case, the payment obligation starts on 1 January of the next calendar year.
- Participation in GCB is from 1 January to 31 December of one year and is always automatically extended by one calendar year unless valid notice of termination has been given.
- A GC can validly terminate participation by cancelling the membership by 31 October of a current year at the latest, via info@generalcounsel.be. In the absence of a valid cancellation, the GC is obliged to pay the annual contribution for the following year.
- GCs are not permitted to use GCB for their own business gain or for the gain of the company or organisation where the GC operates – for example, by sending mailings to all GCB participants or offering their own services – either directly or indirectly.
- Participants of GCB are obliged to handle information obtained through GCB with caution, if and to the extent that they can reasonably assume that such information should be handled with caution.
- The management of GCB is entitled to deviate from these regulations where appropriate and/or to ask participants questions about this. If and in so far as participants do not comply with these regulations, GCB’s management is authorised to withdraw their participation with immediate effect without GCB being obliged to refund the annual contribution.
General Counsel International B.V. – Eslaan 13A, 1404 EE Bussum, The Netherlands – Chamber of Commerce 97.56.74.93 – www.generalcounsel.be