From 27 May 2024, the Belgian register of European Certificates of Succession (ECS) will be able to query and be queried by the French, Luxembourg, and Dutch registers, which are already interconnected by the European Network of Registers of Wills (ENRW).
The interconnection of ECS registers facilitates the implementation of European Regulation 650/2012 on cross-border successions, which has been in force in 25 EU Member States since 17 August 2015. The Regulation introduced the ECS to make life easier for heirs and legatees in their cross-border transactions. The purpose of this European instrument is to establish the qualities of the persons called upon to participate in the liquidation of a succession (Article 63 of the Regulation).
The regulation also requires signatory states to keep information relating to ECSs. Each Member State has defined a jurisdiction and a competent authority for the purposes of issuing the ECS (article 78(c)) and the procedures for recording and storing ECS. In November 2023, the CNUE recommended that the EU should consider requiring Member States to create a public register to record ECSs and to interconnect it via the ENRWReport on the application of the European RegulationRecommendation #15).
