Ministerial Order of 4 September 2025 setting the maximum reference interest rate for long-term life insurance operations

70340 MONITEUR BELGE — 15.09.2025 — BELGISCH STAATSBLAD

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FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE PUBLIC HEALTH, FOOD CHAIN SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT

[C — 2025/006631]

29 AUGUST 2025. — Ministerial Order amending the Ministerial Order of 23 July 2013 implementing the Royal Decree of 12 October 2010 relating to the fight against Aujeszky's disease

The Minister of Agriculture,

Having regard to the Animal Health Act of 24 March 1987, Article 8, paragraph 1, 1°, and paragraph 2;

Having regard to the Act of 23 March 1998 relating to the creation of a Budgetary Fund for the health and quality of animals and animal products, Article 4, paragraph 1, 1°;

Having regard to the Royal Decree of 12 October 2010 relating to the fight against Aujeszky's disease, Articles 26, § 2, and 30;

Having regard to the Ministerial Order of 23 July 2013 implementing the Royal Decree of 12 October 2010 relating to the fight against Aujeszky's disease;

Having regard to the opinion of the Council of the Budgetary Fund for the health and quality of animals and animal products, given on 1 April 2025;

Having regard to the opinion of the Inspector of Finances, given on 9 April 2025;

Having regard to the consultation between the regional governments and the federal government of 5 May 2025;

Having regard to opinion 77.900/3 of the Council of State, given on 14 July 2025, in application of Article 84, § 1, paragraph 1, 2°, of the laws on the Council of State, coordinated on 12 January 1973;

Decrees:

Sole Article. Article 22 of the Ministerial Order of 23 July 2013 implementing the Royal Decree of 12 October 2010 relating to the fight against Aujeszky's disease is replaced by the following:

"Art. 22. The allowances provided for by this Order are annually indexed on 1 January based on the health index of the month of July of the previous year."

Brussels, 29 August 2025.

D. CLARINVAL

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FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE ECONOMY, SMEs, MIDDLE CLASS AND ENERGY

[C — 2025/006617]

4 SEPTEMBER 2025. — Ministerial Order setting the maximum reference interest rate for long-term life insurance operations

The Minister of the Economy,

Having regard to the Act of 13 March 2016 relating to the status and supervision of insurance or reinsurance undertakings, Article 216, § 1, paragraph 5;

Having regard to the opinion of 3 July 2025 transmitted by the FSMA to the National Bank of Belgium;

Having regard to the proposal of the National Bank of Belgium of 15 July 2025 aiming, in application of the criteria set out in Article 216, § 1, paragraphs 2 and 3, of the Act of 13 March 2016 relating to the status and supervision of insurance or reinsurance undertakings, to set the maximum interest rate for life insurance contracts at 2.5%;

Considering that the proposal of the National Bank of Belgium must be examined on the basis of various principles, including competition rules;

Considering the opinion of the Belgian Competition Authority of 1 June 2015, from which it appears that, for prudential reasons, the National Bank of Belgium may limit competition rules, provided that there are no other measures causing less distortion of competition that could lead to the same result;

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MONITEUR BELGE — 15.09.2025 — BELGISCH STAATSBLAD 70341

Considering that these other measures are in fact limited to imposing recovery measures in the event of solvency deficits, the outcome of these measures being very uncertain;

Considering, on the other hand, the impact that the maximum interest rate has on supplementary pensions;

Considering that Article 24 of the Act of 28 April 2003 relating to supplementary pensions and the tax regime thereof and of certain supplementary benefits in matters of social security provides for a calculation to determine the minimum interest rate at which the contributions provided for in the pension commitment must be capitalized;

Considering that, in the case of supplementary pensions concluded through a group insurance with an insurance undertaking, the contributions are largely invested in life insurance of branch 21; that it is therefore a question of an obvious link between the interest rate for the calculation of the minimum yield guarantee provided for supplementary pensions and the maximum interest rate provided for life insurance of branch 21;

Considering that, in its opinion 58.564/1 of 7 December 2015 relating to the Act of 18 December 2015 aiming to guarantee the sustainability and social character of supplementary pensions and aiming to strengthen the supplementary character compared to retirement pensions, the Council of State highlighted this problem and emphasized that "the range in which the minimum guaranteed rate must be located under the proposed scheme (between 1.75 and 3.75%) does not correspond to the range in which the maximum rate must be located under the proposed prudential regulation (between 0.75 and 3.75%), which may imply that for the same agreement, the minimum guaranteed rate may be higher than the maximum guaranteed rate authorized under prudential legislation."

Considering that, in application of Article 24, § 3, of the aforementioned Act of 28 April 2003, the FSMA calculates and publishes each year, from 2016, the interest rate for the calculation of the minimum yield guarantee;

Considering that the interest rate for the calculation of the minimum yield guarantee provided for supplementary pensions is 2.5% from 1 January 2026 and will also be 2.5% from 1 January 2026;

Considering that by setting the maximum technical interest rate from 1 January 2026 at 3.75% for life insurance contracts referred to in Article 216, § 1, of the Act of 13 March 2016 relating to the status and supervision of insurance or reinsurance undertakings, this interest rate will be higher than the interest rate for the calculation of the minimum yield guarantee provided for supplementary pensions;

Considering that an interest rate maximum that is too low carries the risk that employers will no longer be motivated to develop a supplementary pension scheme for their workers via the group insurance system;

Considering that an interest rate that is too low risks creating an impossibility for employers to still conclude a group supplementary pension insurance covering their legal commitments in terms of yield guarantee;

Considering that such a situation would affect the purchasing power of workers as well as the precarious balance on which agreements between social partners rest;

Considering the importance, for insurance undertakings, of being able to maintain a minimum margin between the interest rate they must offer at minimum on supplementary pension insurance, on the one hand, and the maximum interest rate they can offer on long-term life insurance, on the other hand;

Considering that the reference rate to be set concerns a maximum rate and that the undertakings concerned are free to use, for long-term life insurance operations, an interest rate lower than the maximum reference rate,

Decrees:

Sole Article. The maximum technical interest rate for life insurance contracts, referred to in Article 216, § 1, of the Act of 13 March 2016 relating to the status and supervision of insurance or reinsurance undertakings, is increased to 3.75%.

Brussels, 4 September 2025.

D. CLARINVAL

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FEDERAL PUBLIC SERVICE ECONOMY, SMEs, MIDDLE CLASS AND ENERGY

[C — 2025/006617]

4 SEPTEMBER 2025. — Ministerial Order setting the maximum reference interest rate for long-term life insurance operations

The Minister of the Economy,

Having regard to the Act of 13 March 2016 on the status of and supervision over insurance or reinsurance undertakings, Article 216, § 1, fifth paragraph;

Having regard to the opinion of 3 July 2025 transmitted by the FSMA to the National Bank of Belgium;

Having regard to the proposal of the National Bank of Belgium of 15 July 2025, to apply the criteria set out in Article 216, § 1, second and third paragraphs, of the Act of 13 March 2016 on the status of and supervision over insurance or reinsurance undertakings, to set the maximum interest rate for life insurance contracts at 2.5%;

Considering that the proposal of the National Bank of Belgium must be tested against various principles, including competition rules;

Considering the opinion of the Belgian Competition Authority of 1 June 2015 from which it appears that the National Bank of Belgium may, on prudential grounds, limit competition rules insofar as there are no other less competition-distorting measures that can lead to the same result;

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MONITEUR BELGE — 15.09.2025 — BELGISCH STAATSBLAD 70341

Considering that these other measures are in fact limited to imposing recovery measures in the event of solvency deficits, the outcome of these measures being very uncertain;

Considering, furthermore, the impact that the maximum interest rate has on supplementary pensions;

Considering that Article 24 of the Act of 28 April 2003 relating to supplementary pensions and the tax system of those pensions and of certain supplementary benefits regarding social security provides for a calculation to determine the minimum interest rate at which the contributions provided for in the pension commitment must be capitalized;

Considering that in the case of supplementary pensions, which are concluded via a group insurance with an insurance undertaking, the contributions are largely invested in branch 21 life insurance; that there is therefore a clear link between the interest rate for the calculation of the minimum yield guarantee provided for supplementary pensions and the maximum interest rate provided for branch 21 life insurance;

Considering that the Council of State in its opinion 58.564/1 of 7 December 2015 regarding the Act of 18 December 2015 ensuring the sustainability and social character of supplementary pensions and strengthening the supplementary character compared to retirement pensions has pointed out this problem and states that "the range within which the minimum guaranteed interest rate must be located under the proposed scheme (between 1.75 and 3.75%) does not correspond to the range within which the maximum interest rate must be located under the proposed prudential regulation (between 0.75 and 3.75%). This may lead to the fact that for the same agreement the guaranteed minimum interest rate is higher than the maximum guaranteed interest rate allowed under prudential legislation."

Considering that in application of Article 24, § 3, of the aforementioned Act of 28 April 2003, the FSMA calculates and publishes annually from the year 2016 the interest rate for the calculation of the minimum yield guarantee;

Considering that the interest rate for the calculation of the minimum yield guarantee provided for supplementary pensions amounts to 2.5% from 1 January 2025 and will also amount to 2.5% from 1 January 2026;

Considering that by setting the maximum technical interest rate from 1 January 2026 at 3.75% for life insurance agreements referred to in Article 216, § 1, of the Act of 13 March 2016 on the status of and supervision over insurance or reinsurance undertakings, this interest rate will be higher than the interest rate for the calculation of the minimum yield guarantee provided for supplementary pensions;

Considering that a maximum interest rate that is too low entails the risk that employers will no longer be motivated to develop a supplementary pension scheme for their employees via the system of group insurances;

Considering that an interest rate that is too low entails the risk that employers will no longer be able to offer an additional collective pension insurance that covers their legal obligations regarding yield guarantee;

Considering that such a situation has an impact on the purchasing power of employees as well as on the precarious balance on which agreements between social partners rest;

Considering the importance, for insurance undertakings, of being able to maintain a minimum margin between the interest they must offer at minimum on supplementary pension insurances, on the one hand, and the maximum interest they may offer on long-term life insurances, on the other hand;

Considering that the reference interest rate to be set concerns a maximum and that the undertakings concerned are free to apply a lower interest rate for long-term life insurance operations than the maximum reference interest rate,

Decrees:

Sole Article. The maximum technical interest rate for life insurance agreements referred to in Article 216, § 1, of the Act of 13 March 2016 on the status of and supervision over insurance or reinsurance undertakings, is increased to 3.75%.

Brussels, 4 September 2025.

D. CLARINVAL