2025 is approaching and that will bring some important changes for Belgian companies. Two major changes stand out: the mergers of several municipalities and the transition to the new NACEBEL codes. These developments will inevitably have an impact on your business operations, especially in terms of addresses and business information. In this article, we take a closer look at what exactly these changes mean and how you can prepare.
From 1 January 2025, 13 Flemish municipalities will merge. One merger in Wallonia (Bastogne-Bertogne) will already have taken place in December. Although the impact of the Walloon merger will be limited, we expect that, in Flanders, many companies will have to deal with address changes. Indeed, mergers of municipalities can lead to double street names: e.g. twice Kerkstraat or Stationsstraat in the same municipality. As it can't be done,this means streets will change names. And it may also affect house numbers and bus numbers.
While most municipalities get a double name (e.g. Tongeren and Borgloon merge into Tongeren-Borgloon, Nazareth and De Pinte merge into Nazareth-De Pinte) or merge into a larger municipality (Kortessem also gets the name Hasselt after the merger with Hasselt), we also get a completely new municipality. Indeed, Galmaarden, Gooik and Herne will form the new municipality of Pajottegem.
It is important to remember: these administrative changes do not mean that companies physically move. They are purely formal adjustments, resulting from the new merged municipalities.
It is crucial that you copy these address changes into your records. Invoices you send to the old address may not arrive. It leads to delays in payments or, at worst, non-payment. These changes also coincide with the planned 4% wage indexation in January 2025. This means your costs will rise faster, while payments may come in slower, which in turn will negatively affect your working capital.
In addition, think about registered letters getting lost or summonses ending up at the wrong address. Or the cost of an (expensive) catalogue not reaching its recipient.
Clients using bulk data or marketing information should expect a large flow of address changes in their systems. Although the exact impact is not yet entirely clear, we expect thousands of businesses to be affected by this change. The relevant authorities will come up with the final changes on 16 December. However, GraydonCreditsafe is making every effort to obtain this information earlier.
The second major change concerns the NACEBEL codes. From 1 January 2025, a new structure will be introduced. This change follows from a European decision and is managed in Belgium by Statbel. Statbel - the Belgian Statistical Office - has a preliminary conversion table ready to convert the old codes to the new structure.
Where companies currently still use a seven-digit code from 2008, this will be replaced by a five-digit code. Indeed, codes at seven digits will disappear.
VAT and NSSO will adopt this new structure from 1 January. The Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE) will only follow later, due to the overload caused by the merger of municipalities. Companies established after 1 January 2025 will, however, be included in the new structure immediately.
For companies actively engaged in target group selections or data analysis in specific sectors, this change will have a significant impact. Companies may have to redefine their selections based on the new NACEBEL codes.
For companies receiving new data, e.g. customers with bulk data, there will be a stream of automatic updates updating NACEBEL codes. While this does not mean a direct change in business activities, it may affect the way data is processed.
The automatic conversion will also take place at GraydonCreditsafe on 1 January 2025. It is important to adapt your systems in time so that you do not miss crucial information.
The upcoming changes regarding the new merger municipalities and NACEBEL codes cannot be underestimated. They will affect your address management, billing, data analyses, target group selections, etc. It is important to make timely preparations and ensure that your systems and processes are ready for 1 January 2025.
GraydonCreditsafe will continue to monitor the situation closely. As soon as we receive more details on the exact address changes and final conversion tables, we will inform affected customers immediately. In the meantime, do you have any questions or want to know more about how these changes apply specifically to your business? Then, please, don’t hesitate to contact us.