The Court of Cassation has temporarily suspended full translations of its rulings since last year, according to its 2025 annual report, released on Tuesday.
Translations are now limited to summaries and keywords accompanying rulings, both for Dutch-to-French and French-to-Dutch translations, unless explicitly requested by the relevant chamber.
This is described as a “temporary measure” to deal with “the chronic backlog of translations of rulings and conclusions.”
The country’s highest judicial authority emphasised the critical role its translation service plays in making sure that legal decisions are accessible to both of the main linguistic communities in the nation.
This is not the first time the Court of Cassation has raised concerns about the impact of staffing issues on the justice system. A year ago, it had already warned that a tough budgetary situation could negatively affect citizens’ legal protections.
Despite these challenges, the Court expressed greater optimism this year, attributing this to commitments made by the Executive following a judiciary strike last year.
The Court hopes these promises will result in hiring more judicial staff, including legal advisors, clerks, administrative assistants, translators, and experts in budget management and human resources.
Statistics also reflect this optimism. In 2025, the Court resolved 2,908 cases, surpassing the 2,740 new cases it had received.
By 31 December 2025, the number of pending cases had fallen to 1,380, a 25-year low.
