Constitutional Court Declares Prior Recognition Requirement For Class Action Group Representatives Unlawful

On 17 March 2016, the Belgian Constitutional Court partially annulled Article XVII.39 of the Code of Economic Law (Wetboek van Economisch Recht/Code de droit économique – the "CEL") (Constitutional Court, judgment 41/2016 of 17 March 2016). Article XVII.39 CEL contains a closed list of entities that can act as so-called group representatives for consumer-to-business class actions in Belgium. Class actions were introduced in Belgian law in 2014 (See, VBB on Business Law, Volume 2014, No. 9, p. 10, available at www.vbb.com).

Pursuant to Article XVII.36, 2° CEL, class actions are only admissible if they are introduced by a group representative meeting the requirements of Article XVII.39 CEL. The list of admitted group representatives in Article XVII.39 CEL includes consumer rights associations with legal personality which: (i) are represented in the Consumption Council (Raad voor het Verbruik/Conseil de la Consommation); or (ii) have obtained a prior