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Accueil > Belgium : General Overview of Belgian Corporations and Partnerships : preliminary

Preliminary Remarks

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The rules concerning partnerships and corporations in Belgium can be found in the Belgian Companies Code (hereinafter: "BCC"). There are eleven different types of partnerships and corporations in Belgium: 

  1) the general partnership: maatschap/société de droit commun;
  2) the temporary company: tijdelijke handelsvennootschap/société momentanée;
  3) the silent partnership: stille handelsvennootschap/société interne;
  4) the unlimited partnership: vennootschap onder firma/société en nom collectif (VOF/SNC);
  5) the limited partnership: gewone commanditaire vennootschap/société en commandite simple (Comm. V./SCS);
  6) the private limited liability company: besloten vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid/société privée à responsabilité limitée (BVBA/SPRL);
  7) the co-operative company: 

     a) the unlimited liability co-operative company: coöperatieve vennootschap met onbeperkte aansprakelijkheid/société cooperative à responsabilité illimitée    (CVOA/SCRI);
     b) the limited liability co-operative company: coöperatieve vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid/société cooperative à responsabilité limitée (CVBA/SCRL); 

  8) the public company limited by shares: naamloze vennootschap/société anonyme (NV/SA);
  9) the limited partnership by shares: commanditaire vennootschap op aandelen/société en commandite par actions (Comm. VA./SCA);
  10) the agricultural partnership: landbouwvennootschap/société agricole (LV/S.Agr.);
  11) the (european) economic interest grouping: (europees) economisch samenwerkingsverband/groupement d’intérêt économique (européen) (E(E)SV/G(E)IE).

 

The general partnership (1), the temporary company (2) and the silent partnership (3) are merely contractual forms of cooperation and have no legal personality which implies inter alia that they cannot own assets in their own name.

The agricultural partnership (10) and the (european) economic interest grouping (11) are types of partnerships with specific purposes.

In order to simplify matters and make the text more legible, we will hereinafter only refer to their respective French abbreviations when describing the legal entities, i.e.: 

   • the unlimited partnership: SNC; 
   • the limited partnership: SCS; 
   • the private limited liability company: SPRL; 
   • the unlimited liability co-operative company: SCRI; 
   • the limited liability co-operative company: SCRL; 
   • the public company limited by shares: SA; 
   • the limited partnership by shares: SCA.

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