The Company offers Defined Contribution Plan funded through group insurances to its employees of the Israel entity. The total expense recognized in the consolidated income statement for contributions under this plan amount to €260,000 (2021: €260,000).

The Company offers a pension plan with a minimum return guaranteed by law to its employees of the Belgian entity. The contributions to this plan amount to minimum 7 % of the salary, partly paid by the employer and partly by the employees. As explained hereafter, this pension plan qualifies as Defined Benefit Plan under IFRS. As a result, a provision of €0,000 (2021: €80,000) has been recorded for the net benefit obligation in 2022.

As a consequence of the law of December 18, 2015, minimum returns guaranteed by the employers are as follows:

The insurance companies managing these plans for the Company also guarantee a minimum return on the reserves as well as on future contributions for some portions of the plan. They have evolved as follows: 4.75 % until 1998, 3.25 % from 1999 till 2012 and between 0.50 % and 2.25 % since 2013. They are currently set between 0.50 % and 1.50 %. The assets of the plan are entirely managed by external insurance companies “qualifying third party” which do not have any link with the Company.

The weighted average duration until the pension age for the Belgian plan is 17 years as at December 31, 2022. In view of the minimum legal returns guaranteed, this pension Plan qualifies as Defined Benefit Plan under IFRS. Indeed, it induces a financial risk for the Company during periods of declining market interest rates when the returns guaranteed by the insurance companies are lower than the minimum legal returns, which is currently the case. In this case, the intervention of the insurance company is limited, and the Company shall fund the balance between the return delivered by the insurance company and the legal return.

A complete actuarial calculation has been performed for this plan by external actuaries based on the “Projected Unit Credit Method without future contribution” according to the IAS 19,115 as follows:

●	Projection of the minimum return guaranteed by the law till the retirement date and discounting of this amount with the discount rate used for the valuation (rate of high-quality corporate bonds);

●	The discounted net obligation is the maximum between this discounted projection and the projection of the accrued reserves discounted at the discount rate used for the valuation (rate of high-quality corporate bonds).

The net defined benefit obligation was established at €0,000 as of December 31, 2022 (2021: €80,000):


(in EUR 000)	2022	2021
Net defined benefit liability at January 1	80	37
Defined benefit cost included in profit or loss	166	95
Total remeasurement included in OCI	(70)	68
Employer contributions	(176)	(120)
Net defined benefit liability at December 31	—	80

The gross defined benefit liability is as follows:


(in EUR 000)	2022	2021
Gross defined benefit liability at January 1	494	248
Current service cost	166	95
Interest cost	7	—
Administrative expenses	(3)	(1)
Taxes on contributions	(7)	(14)
Insurance premiums for risk benefits	(10)	—
Actuarial gain due to change in financial assumptions	(69)	(87)
Actuarial loss due to change in experience assumptions	5	253
Gross defined benefit liability at 31 December	583	494

The fair value of the plan assets is as follows:


(in EUR 000)	2022	2021
Fair value plan assets at January 1	414	211
Interest income	7	—
Employer contributions	176	120
Administrative expenses	(3)	(1)
Taxes on contributions	(7)	(14)
Insurance premiums for risk benefits	(10)	—
Actuarial gain on fair value of the plan assets	6	98
Fair value plan assets at December 31	583	414

The number of members and the average age of the members is as follows:


	For the year ended December
	31
	2022	2021
Active members	35	24
Average age	40	41

All plan assets are invested in an insurance contract with guaranteed interest rate (branch 21 product). The defined benefit calculation has been performed based on the below assumptions:


	For the year ended December 31
	2022		2021
Discount rate	4.2	%	1.4	%
Inflation rate	2.2	%	2.0	%
Salary increase (in excess of inflation)	1.0	%	1.0	%
Withdrawal rate based on age (minimum)	0.0	%	0.0	%
Withdrawal rate based on age (maximum)	12.0	%	12.0	%

The discount rate was derived from the EIOPA term structure on each valuation date, considering the weighted average duration of liabilities. The inflation rate is based on the long-term objective of the European Central Bank. Retirement age assumption is in line with current legal requirements. The withdrawal rate and the salary increase rate reflect the expectations of the company on a long-term basis.

A sensitivity with reasonable possible changes on the discount rate will impact the net defined benefit liability as follows (positive = increase net defined benefit liability / negative = decrease of net defined benefit liability):


	For the year ended December 31
	2022	2021
Increase of 0.25% in the discount rate	—	(17)
Decrease of 0.25% in the discount rate	—	18

The expected employer contributions for the year 2023 amounts to €183,000.

The total expected benefit payments are:


		As at
		December 31,
(in EUR 000)		2022
In the next 12 months		9
Between 2 and 5 years		70
Between 6 and 10 years		22
Expected total benefit payments		101