The Association of Corporate Travel Executives is asking the Belgian government to delay penalties for a new program that requires some business travelers to register before entering the country if they work for more than five consecutive days during a single month.
Limosa, the program the Belgian government enacted April 1, carries penalties of $8,000 or imprisonment for noncompliance and "is causing considerable confusion among travel managers in the U.S. and in Europe—even in Belgium," ACTE said today in a statement. The association is asking government officials to suspend the program's penalties until May 1 in hopes to "provide enough time to increase awareness of the Limosa program," ACTE executive director Susan Gurley said in a statement.
Of 57 travel buyers polled this week by the Business Travel Coalition, only two said they were aware of the new Belgian policy prior to its implementation. Yet, 24 respondents said the policy impacts their travelers, while 22 respondents weren't yet sure of the impact, highlighting concerns that Limosa has not been well publicized or clearly spelled out
(BTNonline, April 6). As such, ACTE is inviting a Belgian Social Security Ministry official to clarify Limosa's rules and answer questions from corporate travel managers through a Webcast.
ACTE said, "A number of ACTE members indicated their travel policies were being adjusted to accommodate the Limosa process, though a small percentage claimed they may shorten their business trips to Belgium to less than five consecutive days per month."
According to responses to BTC's online poll, some travel buyers were scrambling to set policies and make their travelers aware of the program. A few said they would limit travel to the country to fewer than five days, while others were working on alerts to send to travelers heading to Belgium. "I will seriously recommend to our travelers that unless it is absolutely critical that they avoid Belgium travel so we don't have to go through this paperwork bureaucracy," one responded.