Global Competition Law is primarly a practitioner's guide presenting the most salient aspects of the major competition laws country by country, giving an overview of their structure and most charasteristic elements.
Global Competition Law also provides insight into possible future developments in the field.

Global Competition Law

The prohibition only applies to practices that restrict or distort competition on the relevant Belgian market or a substantial part thereof. Restrictive agreements or abusive practices must result from undertakings directly or indirectly exercising their activity on the Belgian market regardless of their place of establishment. According to Section IV.1 of the Code de droit économique (CDE), compe …

Scope

Competition law in Belgium was initially governed by the Act of 5 August 1991, “On the Protection of Economic Competition”, which repealed the law of 27 May 1960 on the abuse of dominance, and established the basis of Belgian competition law. The adoption of this Act aligned Belgian competition law with the principles of EU competition law. The law was amended by two coordinated acts in 1999. Belgian law then entered a second phase of evolution bringing it into line with European competition legislation which had been significantly revised in the first few years of the new millennium. Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 of 16 December 2002 on the implementation of the rules of competition law laid down in Articles 101 and 102 TFEU was first transposed by Royal Decree of 25 April 2004 into national law. Then in 2006 Belgian competition law underwent a complete overhaul with a view to the creation of a new, financially independent competition authority and to the pursuit of harmonization, in particular with regard to Regulation No 139/2004 of 20 January 2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings. Two laws of 10 June 2006, one of which instituted the Competition Council (Conseil de la concurrence) and the other relative to the protection of economic competition (the LPCE Act of 2006), published in the Belgian Official Gazette on 29 June 2006 and coordinated by a royal decree issued on 15 September 2006, came into force on 1 October 2006. The 2006 LPCE Act was followed by fourteen implementing decrees. It repealled and replaced the Act of 5 August 1991 and imposed on the national competition authorities the duty to assess restrictive practices that may affect trade between Member States in light of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. 

On 3 April 2013, a new Competition Act was passed (Belgian Official Gazette 26 April 2013). Applicable since September 2013, it now forms books IV and V of the new Belgian “Code de droit économique” (CDE). The reform redesigns the Competition Authority as an independent administrative body, as opposed to its former status as administrative tribunal and lays down new procedural rules. The provisions of the Code were supplemented by a Royal Decree of 30 August 2013 on proceedings in competition matters.

On 6 June 2017, the Belgian Parliament adopted an act (Belgian Official Gazette 12 June 2017) transposing into national law EU Directive No 2014/104 on damages actions for competition law infringements (New Title 3 in Book XVII of the "Code de droit économique").

On 4 April 2019, a new act introduced the sanction of abuse of economic dependence into Belgian law, as well as the prohibition of unfair terms and unfair market practices in B2B relations.

Lastly, on 2 May 2019, the legislator overhauled all book IV of the CDE, without bringing major changes to the competition rules, except to the ceiling of the fine.

Belgian competition law was amended on i) 17 March 2022, by the Act of 28 February 2022, which transposes the ECN+ Directive, and ii) 19 January 2024, by Royal Decree of 11 December 2023, which simplifies and updates several procedural rules of the Belgian Competition Authority. 

Context

The prohibition only applies to practices that restrict or distort competition on the relevant Belgian market or a substantial part thereof. Restrictive agreements or abusive practices must result from undertakings directly or indirectly exercising their activity on the Belgian market regardless of their place of establishment. According to Section IV.1 of the Code de droit économique (CDE), competition law applies to undertakings i.e. any natural or legal person pursuing an economic objective in a sustainable manner. The scope of the competition rules is broad as they also apply to public undertakings and undertakings to which the public authorities grant special or exclusive rights insofar as the application of such rules does not obstruct the performance, in law or in fact, of the particular tasks assigned to them (Section IV.12).

Global Competition Law

31. Scope

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les notions juridiques connexes

31. Scope

Demandez un accès gratuit au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les notions juridiques connexes

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise