GUBERNA - Monitoring Studies

The study shows that companies comply with 93.8% of the Code's provisions, providing explanations for deviations in 5.9% of cases. This confirms that the flexibility of the "comply or explain" principle is rarely utilised, as observed in previous studies. A positive finding is that only 0.3% of the provisions are not applied without explanation, a significant improvement compared to 4% in 2020.

For the seventh time, GUBERNA and VBO FEB have conducted a joint study on compliance with the Belgian Corporate Governance Code ('Code'). This new edition is the first to focus on the 2020 Code. The results of this study can be summarised as follows: companies simply apply 89.9% of the provisions of the Code and for 6.4% of them they explain why they deviate from them. This indicates that listed companies make little or no use of the flexibility offered by the 'comply or explain' principle, as has already been found in previous studies. A less positive finding is that 4% of the Code's provisions are not applied, without explanation.

GUBERNA and the VBO, in their sixth joint study, observe that compliance with the Belgian Corporate Governance Code remains consistently high. Listed companies largely adhere to the code and make little use of the flexibility offered by the ‘comply or explain’ principle.

This report examines the compliance with the 'formal' aspects of the 2009 Code, based on the most recent publicly available information from the companies, such as annual reports (2014), Corporate Governance Statements, and Corporate Governance Charters. The research is conducted for the 78 listed companies from the three main stock indices (BEL 20, BEL Mid, BEL Small).

"GUBERNA and the VBO regularly research compliance with the Belgian Corporate Governance Code, now in its fourth study. This report examines compliance with the 'formal' aspects of the 2009 Code, based on publicly available information from 83 listed companies in the BEL 20, BEL Mid, and BEL Small indices."

GUBERNA, in collaboration with the Belgian Federation of Enterprises (VBO), regularly conducts research on the formal compliance with the key corporate governance recommendations from the Belgian Corporate Governance Code. This research covers all listed companies, using publicly available information. GUBERNA and VBO examined compliance with the Code 2009 using the latest annual reports, including Corporate Governance Statements and Charters.

In 2009, VBO and GUBERNA carried out a study on the extent to which listed companies complied with the formal aspects of the Belgian Corporate Governance Code. The study showed that companies were becoming increasingly aware of the importance of implementing the provisions of the Code. It was, in fact, the first genuine monitoring study.