Over the past few years, Belgian economic legislation has been considerably reformed. From now on, the legislation will be gathered in the Code of Economic Law which, at present, is envisaged to have 18 Books.
The various Books of the Code of Economic Law have not all been implemented at the same time. The technique of "built-on legislation" has been used. The different acts that introduce the Books have been submitted in phases. This means that different commencement dates apply for the different Books.
Books I – "Definitions", II – "General Principles", V – "Competition and price evolution", VIII – "Quality of products and services", IX – "Safety of products and services" and XV – "Enforcement" entered into force on 12 December 2013.
Book III – "Freedom of establishment, services and general obligations of traders" entered into force on 9 May 2014.
Book IV – "Protection of competition" entered into force on 6 September 2013.
Book VII – "Payment and credit services" entered into force on 29 May 2014.
Books VI – "Market practices and consumer protection", X – "Commercial agency agreements, commercial cooperation agreements and distribution agreements, XII – "Law of the electronic economy", XIV – "Market practices and consumer protection regarding practitioners of professions" and XVII – "Specific procedures" entered into force on 31 May 2014.
Book XIII – "Consultation" and Book XVIII – "Measures for crisis management" entered into force on 30 April 2014.
Book XVI – "Extrajudicial resolution of consumer disputes" entered into force on 13 May 2014.
Book XI – "Intellectual property" will enter into force on 1 January 2015.
However, generally the Books did not enter into force in their entirety on the above-mentioned dates. This is a consequence of the "built-on legislation" technique, on the basis of which a new act can have an influence on an existing Book.
In detail, this gives the following picture: