The present newsletter is the first issue of a series of five,
which will explore the large piece of legislation recasting the
Belgian Criminal Code. Our two first issues will discuss the
general spirit of the reform, as well as the modifications brought
to general principles of criminal law. The three next publications
will focus on the new regime of specific white-collar offences.
The Criminal Code that Belgian criminal courts apply everyday
dates back from 1867. In its more than 150 years of existence, the
Criminal Code has been amended many times to reflect the shift of
social values and to apprehend the repressive needs of the modern
society. These multiplied amendments severely undermined its
overall readability, which makes the criminal law arsenal very
difficult to understand for citizens and corporates.
