Draft Bill On Reform Of Belgian Competition Law Moves Forward

On 16 November 2018, the Belgian Council of Ministers adopted a draft Bill (the "Draft Bill") bringing about a wholesale change of the competition law provisions of the Code of Economic Law ("CEL") (see, Van Bael & Bellis on Belgian Business Law, Volume 2018, No. 11, p. 3, available at www.vbb.com). When the Belgian government became a caretaker government a few weeks later, the Draft Bill seemed moribund. However, members of parliament recently converted it into a private members' bill which was introduced in the Federal Chamber of Representatives at the end of February 2019.

The Draft Bill will not bring about major substantive or procedural changes to the current competition rules and will also maintain the prevailing institutional architecture. Still, a new text will replace in full Book IV of the CEL entitled "Protection of Competition". New definitions will also be added to Book I of the CEL. Finally, the Draft Bill will modify Book XV of the CEL which governs