Belgium

Summary

RELEVANT LEGISLATION AND STATUTORY STANDARDS

The Belgian Competition Act

Merger control was introduced in Belgium in 1991 but was substantially overhauled by the Act on the Protection of Economic Competition of 15 September 2006 (‘the Competition Act’ or CA). The Competition Act has brought major changes to the substantive law on merger control, including a new merger test and increased turnover thresholds for notification to the Competition Council. One of the Competition Act’s purposes was to decrease the number of concentrations subject to the Competition Council’s control, thereby enabling the authority to dedicate more resources to the investigation of anti-trust infringements.

On procedural matters, the Competition Act sets out to align Belgian legislation with EU merger control rules, notably by removing the notification time limit and by allowing the parties to offer commitments during the Competition Council’s first phase review of the transaction. Procedural amendments also include the introduction of a preliminary reference mechanism enabling the Competition Council to seek guidance from the Belgian Supreme Court.

Necessary implementing Royal and Ministerial Decrees were adopted on 31 October 2006. Due to the delay in adoption, they went into effect retrospectively from the date on which the Competition Act entered into force (i.e. 1 October 2006).