E-commerce store regulations
Online Store Terms and Conditions - Belgium. Expansion into the Belgian market.
Belgium has stable legal frameworks and a highly developed digital infrastructure. Furthermore, its strategic location allows for easy access to affluent consumers in Western Europe and enables efficient logistics in the Benelux region.
However, it's important to remember that this is also a country where consumers value clear and transparent rules, and consumer protection is quite strong. Therefore, it's important to be aware of the differences that may determine the success of your expansion.
Laws regulating e-commerce in Belgium
The most important regulations governing e-commerce include:
- Act of 28 February 2013 – Code of Commercial Law (Code de droit économique );
- Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (General Data Protection Regulation).
- Code of Commercial Law
First of all, the seller is obliged to provide the consumer with so-called pre-contractual information in a form adapted to the distance communication technique and in clear and understandable language.
This contractual information includes in particular : the main features of the goods, data identifying the entrepreneur - in particular the address of its registered office or business activity, telephone number and e-mail address, consumer complaint address, terms of payment, delivery and performance of the contract, as well as the time limit within which the entrepreneur undertakes to deliver the goods.
Furthermore, the seller is obliged to inform the consumer about the possibility of withdrawing from the contract, specifying the conditions for such withdrawal and the form that the consumer can use.
Withdrawal from the contract
The consumer has the right to withdraw from the contract within a period of no less than 14 days from the date of receipt of the goods. If the seller fails to inform the consumer of the right of withdrawal, the withdrawal period is extended by 12 months, and the consumer is not liable for any loss of value of the goods. There are also 14 exceptions to the right of withdrawal, including the delivery of goods made to the consumer's specifications or clearly personalized.
Complaints
The seller is generally liable for non-conformity of goods with the contract for two years from the date of delivery. The consumer should inform the seller of the defect as soon as possible. The contract may specify a deadline for reporting the defect to the seller. However, this deadline cannot be shorter than two months.
The consumer should then file a claim with the seller. This can generally be done within one year of discovering the defect .
If the goods do not conform to the contract, the consumer has the right to have the goods repaired or replaced free of charge. However, if the repair or replacement proves to be disproportionately expensive or impossible to complete within a reasonable time, the consumer is entitled to a price reduction or refund.
Personal data protection
Belgium, as a Member State, applies the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The authority supervising the processing of personal data is the Belgian equivalent of the Personal Data Protection Office, the Data Protection Authority ( Autorité de protection des données ).
Consumer protection
Consumer rights in Belgium are overseen by the Federal Economic Inspection Service ( Direction générale de l'Inspection économique ) (the equivalent of the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection), and in particular by two of its agencies: the General Directorate for Economic Inspection and the General Directorate for Quality and Safety . However, these are not the only bodies enforcing consumer rights. There are also other public bodies dedicated to ensuring compliance with consumer protection regulations, which are dedicated to specific sectors, such as food, pharmaceuticals, and financial services.
Extrajudicial dispute resolution
The seller should also inform the consumer about the possibility of out-of-court dispute resolution. Since the European Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platform was withdrawn on July 20, 2025, the consumer can use the consumer dispute resolution entity in the relevant Member State, in this case Belgium. The list of entities is available at the following link.
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