Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-sjtt6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-21T01:36:04.508Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

18 - Antitrust Enforcement in Belgium

from Part II - Country Reports

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2022

Tihamer Tóth
Affiliation:
Pázmány Peter Catholic University (Budapest, Hungary)
Get access

Summary

Belgian antitrust enforcement has gradually been strengthened. Applicable provisions are mostly copied from EU law, but national accents remain. Sanctions on natural persons were introduced, and abuse of relative dominance (abuse of economic dependency) was recently prohibited. Some provisions, such as the extension of the scope of EU exemptions to purely national cases, were innovative. Also creative is also the National Competition Authority (NCA)’s hybrid institutional structure, largely separating investigation and fining within one institution. No criminal antitrust sanctions currently exist. Room for improvement remains. The NCA clearly faces budgetary and human resource constraints. The power balance appears to be gradually moving towards the Auditorat. The settlement rate is very high and fines are generally low, weakening the deterrent effect of enforcement. As to private enforcement, there is a long tradition of injunctive relief, although applicants may face a high burden of proof, especially in dominance cases. Belgium duly implemented the EU Damages Directive, introducing the envisaged advantages for claimants but also the hurdles, such as the ‘passing-on defence’.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×