Company Domiciliation in Tournai: Registered Providers and Addresses

Key takeaways

• Domiciling in Tournai is legal as long as the provider is registered with the SME Policy Directorate-General of the FPS Economy (law of 29 March 2018); failing to register carries a fine of 250 to 100,000 euros.
• Tournai lies in the French-language Region, in Hainaut, which places the articles of association and the deed of incorporation under the obligation to use French, with no particularity.
• The city is one of the founding cities of the Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai Eurometropolis, a cross-border cooperation grouping created in 2008, and lies in the immediate vicinity of the French border.
• Tournai is the urban centre of Wallonie picarde, driven by a major historical heritage and an economy oriented towards trade and services.
• Registering the registered office with the CBE is done at a rate set by royal decree, indexed every year and identical throughout Belgium, to ask the approved business counter about.

Choosing Tournai as the registered office of a company means anchoring its legal identity in the urban centre of Wallonie picarde, on the border between Wallonia and the north of France. Company domiciliation in Tournai answers a precise logic: a founding city of the Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai Eurometropolis, a recognised historical heritage that supports local attractiveness, and a commercial positioning oriented towards the cross-border French market. This guide sets out what makes Tournai specific, recalls the legal framework common to all of Belgium, and details the steps to register your Tournai registered office.

Tournai, the heart of Wallonie picarde

Tournai occupies a strategic position in the west of Hainaut, on the Scheldt, just a few kilometres from the French border. The city is considered one of the oldest in Belgium, with a historic centre marked by Notre-Dame Cathedral and the belfry, two monuments listed as UNESCO World Heritage.

This age and this heritage make it the reference urban centre of Wallonie picarde, the sub-region that covers the Tournai-Mouscron district. In terms of territorial cooperation, Tournai is one of the founding cities of the Lille-Kortrijk-Tournai Eurometropolis, a European grouping of territorial cooperation (EGTC) created in 2008, bringing together French, Flemish and Walloon local authorities around the Lille metropolitan area.

What company domiciliation is

Every Belgian company has a registered office: the official address entered in its articles of association and with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE). This is not necessarily a place where you work day to day; it is the company's legal address, the one where it receives its official mail and to which it is administratively attached.

Domiciliation consists in setting that statutory office at the address of a specialised provider rather than at your private home or premises you rent alone. The Code of Companies and Associations (CCA), in force since 1 May 2019, requires every company under Belgian law to have its statutory registered office on Belgian territory; a domiciliation address in Tournai fully satisfies this requirement. The provider makes the address available and, depending on the contract, receives and manages your mail.

To decide between setting your registered office at your private home or entrusting it to a dedicated provider, see our guide on domiciliation or home address as registered office.

What the law says about domiciliation in Tournai

Domiciling a company is legal. Professionally providing a registered office address to companies, however, has been a regulated activity since 2018.

The law of 29 March 2018 on the registration of service providers to companies requires every domiciliation provider to register with the SME Policy Directorate-General of the FPS Economy before operating. Article 11 of this law punishes the absence of registration with a fine of 250 to 100,000 euros. In practice, once the address is chosen, the registered office is entered with the CBE through an approved business counter, at a rate identical throughout the country.

As Tournai lies in the French-language Region, the Code of Companies and Associations requires the articles of association and the deed of incorporation to be drafted in French, with no particularity compared with the rest of Wallonia (unlike domiciliation in Flanders, where Dutch is required).

Domiciling in Tournai: advantages and points of attention

Strictly speaking, from a legal standpoint a Tournai address confers the same rights and obligations as an address in Mouscron, Mons, or elsewhere in Wallonia. The choice turns on the cross-border positioning and the image of the city.

Tournai naturally compares with Mouscron and the rest of Wallonie picarde. To broaden your comparison, read our overview of company domiciliation in Wallonia, which covers the whole region.

Steps to domicile your company in Tournai

The procedure is the one that applies throughout Belgium, with no extra language-related step since French is the language of the region.

1. 1

   Choose a provider registered with the FPS Economy

   Step 1

   Check the provider's registration in the FPS Economy's public register before signing. An unregistered provider is not in compliance.

2. 2

   Sign the domiciliation contract

   Step 2

   The contract formalises making the Tournai address available. Check the minimum duration terms and termination conditions with the approved business counter before signing.

3. 3

   Execute the deed of incorporation before a notary

   Step 3

   The deed of incorporation and the articles of association are drafted in French, the language of the Walloon Region. No additional language formality is required.

4. 4

   State the address in the articles of association

   Step 4

   The Tournai registered office appears in the articles of association and is published in the Annexes to the Belgian Official Gazette.

5. 5

   Register the registered office with the CBE

   Step 5

   The address is entered with the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises through an approved business counter, at a rate set by royal decree and identical throughout Belgium.

To check before signing

• The provider's registration with the FPS Economy

  The register is public; an unregistered provider is not in compliance and could put your registered office at risk.

• The contract's duration and termination terms

  Check the minimum duration requirements with the approved business counter and the early-exit terms.

• The scope of services included

  Making the address available, receiving, scanning and forwarding mail: compare like-for-like between Tournai providers.

• The relevance of the cross-border positioning

  If your activity targets French customers through the Eurometropolis, check the actual accessibility of the address from the north of France.

If your company already exists and you want to transfer its registered office there, the process is different: see our guide on transferring a registered office in Belgium for the applicable procedure.

Domicile your company in Tournai

A recognised registered office address in Wallonie picarde, with a registered provider, including mail management and administrative support.

See our addresses in WalloniaAll our domiciliation plans

Going further

• Company domiciliation in Wallonia: rules, cities and practical steps: the regional Walloon framework that Tournai falls under
• Domiciliation or home address as registered office: to decide between a private address and a dedicated one
• Transferring a company's registered office in Belgium: if your company already exists and you want to domicile it in Tournai
• The official framework for the registration of service providers to companies on the FPS Economy website