A 'user-friendly' version of Belgian governance code is on the way

Corporate governance codes have become longer, with more suggestions and prescriptions as the struggle to find a formula for better boards drags on. Belgium, which took a bumpy path to its 2004 code, revised it last year in the wake of the financial crisis and soon found that companies needed something a bit easier to use. Now the Corporate Governance Committee, reconstituted with some new members, has decided to do something to make it easier for corporations to respond to the code. It set out a work plan that involves:

• User-friendly instrument: The committee will produce a user-friendly instrument to help listed companies apply that country's revised company law and the 2009 Belgian Code on Corporate Governance.
• Pay reports: The committee will draw up a model remuneration report and review the remuneration grid for the managers of listed companies, based on the new law.
• Risk reports: The committee will design an instrument to clarify how listed companies can meet the requirements on internal risk control mechanisms.

Also on the agenda is trying to find ways to ensure that women are more adequately represented on boards.

Source document: The news release gives details of the committee's new membership in a three-page pdf file.