The Omnibus Directive is now incorporated into the Belgian Code of Economic Law (“CEL”). Since 28 May 2022, businesses must therefore comply with new obligations, the main objective of which is to protect consumers, particularly in the context of the digital economy (price reductions, additional information for distance contracts, new obligations for online marketplaces, new sanctions, etc.).

Among the many new features, the so-called ‘black list’ (the CEL list of commercial practices considered unfair in all circumstances) has been supplemented by four new provisions. Practices that have the object of :

• not informing that the ranking of products in search results is the result of paid advertising or payment made specifically to obtain a better ranking ;
• claiming that product reviews are from consumers who have actually used or purchased the product without reasonable and proportionate verification that this is the case ;
• sponsoring false reviews or recommendations, or misrepresenting reviews or recommendations, to promote products; or
• reselling tickets for events to consumers, if the company has acquired them by using an automated means to circumvent any limit on the number of tickets a person may purchase or any other rule applicable to the purchase of tickets.

Article VI.98(3) of the CEL prohibits a misleading practice, which refers to “any marketing activity concerning a good in one Member State as identical to a good marketed in other Member States, when that good has a substantially different composition or characteristics, unless this is justified by legitimate and objective factors”. The legislator intends to respond to the difficulties generated by the “dual quality of goods”, in particular for foodstuffs.

As a result of these changes to the CEL, businesses must review their contractual terms and conditions, as well as some of their promotional or sales practices.

For more information on the subject, please feel free to contact Mr. Guillaume RUE

With our best regards.
The Cairn Legal team