The court is composed of thirty judges with life tenure who are nominated by the High Council of Justice of Belgium and appointed by the Belgian federal government.

The Court of Cassation is composed of thirty judges with life tenure (notwithstanding their retirement), who are officially called "counsellors" (Dutch: raadsheren, French: conseillers, German: Gerichtsräte).

The Belgian federal government (officially "the King" as the personification of the executive) will then finally appoint or reject the nominated candidate.[pub.

The prosecutor-general's office furthermore consists of one first advocate-general (Dutch: eerste advocaat-generaal, French: premier avocat général, German: Erster Generalanwalt), who has a deputy position regarding the prosecutor-general, and eleven advocates-general (Dutch: advocaat-generaal, French: avocat général, German: Generalanwalt).

This is the case if the court finds that the decision misjudged or misinterpreted the law, breached essential procedural requirements or ignored formalities prescribed under penalty of nullity.

A cassation without referral can for example occur when the court annuls an arrest warrant because it was issued outside of the statutory time limit.[pub.

Although the particularities differ between criminal and non-criminal cases, these procedures are jointly referred to as "regulation of jurisdiction" (Dutch: regeling van rechtsgebied, French: règlement de juges, German: Bestimmung des zuständigen Gerichts).[7][leg.

7] Under Book IV, Title II, Chapter II (articles IV.86–IV.89) of the Belgian Code of Economic Law, the Court of Cassation must answer any prejudicial question (Dutch: prejudiciële vraag, French: question préjudicielle, German: Vorabentscheidungsfrage) asked by another court concerning a case pending before it.

The federal minister of the Economy of Belgium, the European Commission and the BCA may provide an advisory opinion to the Court as amicus curiae.

8] Belgian law provides for two extraordinary procedures through the Court of Cassation to review old criminal cases, in which a final and (in principle) irrevocable conviction has already been rendered, to correct miscarriages of justice.

9] The second procedure is referred to as "request for revision" (Dutch: aanvraag tot herziening, French: demande en révision, German: Revisionsantrag).

9][10] In any judicial proceedings, any party may request a magistrate (judge or prosecutor) to recuse themself (Dutch: wraking, French: récusation, German: Ablehnung) for a number of causes, such as for an appearance of bias, family ties with any party involved, prior involvement in the case, or a conflict of interest.

If a magistrate refuses to recuse themself upon such a request, the court immediately higher in the Belgian judicial hierarchy will decide on the matter.

A judge or entire court can only be disqualified for a select number of causes, such as for an appearance of bias, or in case a final judgment has not been rendered yet from six months since the proceedings were concluded.

7] Belgian law provides for an extraordinary procedure known as "redress from the judge" (Dutch: verhaal op de rechter, French: prise à partie, German: Richterhaftungsklage) as well.

The Court of Cassation decides in general assembly (see further below) on disciplinary proceedings, concerning suspension or removal from office, against members of the Council of State.[7][leg.

Its function is to provide an advisory opinion to the court regarding the legality and regularity of any contested judgment or ruling, and the manner in which to interpret and apply the law to any case.

It is possible though for attorneys at the court to sign a petition "on request" when they think it has little chances of success, to allow a claimant to start proceedings regardless.

1] However, the first president may require cases to be heard in "full bench" or "plenary hearing" (Dutch: voltallige zitting, French: audience plénière, German: Plenarsitzung), upon the opinion of the prosecutor-general's office and the judge-rapporteur.

In this manner, hearing cases in full bench is meant to promote the uniform interpretation of the law by both sections.[leg.

1] The broadest manner in which the court can convene, is in "general assembly" (Dutch: algemene vergadering, French: assemblée générale, German: Generalversammlung).

A sole exception are any disciplinary proceedings against members of the Council of State, on which the Court of Cassation must decide in general assembly.[leg.

13] In criminal cases, a petition to initiate cassation proceedings needs to be submitted to the clerk's office of the court or tribunal that rendered the contested decision.

In criminal cases, the petition needs to submitted within fifteen days after the contested decision was rendered, save for some exceptions.

9][13] In non-criminal (civil, commercial, ...) cases, the petition needs to be submitted directly to the clerk's office of the Court of Cassation.

9] In criminal cases, the claimant can submit written pleadings (Dutch: memorie, French: mémoire, German: Schriftsatz) to elaborate on the initial petition.

13][14] After the petition and written pleadings have been submitted, the first president of the court designates one of the judges who will hear the case as judge-rapporteur (Dutch: raadsheer-verslaggever, French: conseiller rapporteur, German: Gerichtsrat-Berichterstatter).

If present, however, the attorneys at the court are permitted to bring oral arguments forward in response to the opinion of the prosecutor-general or advocate-general.

If no arguments are brought forward as to why the contested decision needs to be annulled, the court will declare the case to be non-admissible and dismiss it.

In criminal cases however, the court will also verify ex officio whether the contested decision was issued in a regular manner and respected the formalities prescribed under penalty of nullity.