1. Key Considerations for B2C Businesses
The Act of 22 July 2026, implementing Directive (EU) 2024/825 ("EmpCo"), amends Books I and VI of the Belgian Code of Economic Law with effect from 27 September 2026. The new legislation strengthens pre-contractual information obligations and introduces a series of new prohibitions relating to greenwashing, sustainability claims, repairability, and digital products.
Any business that sells or promotes goods, digital content, or services to consumers should carefully review its advertising materials, packaging, websites, sales processes, and information flows with manufacturers and suppliers. For broader context, we refer to our previous newsletter.
2. What Information Must Be Provided Before a Sale?
The applicable obligations vary depending on the product, the sales channel, and the information made available by the manufacturer. Broadly speaking, they concern four key areas:
- Legal Guarantee: When selling goods, businesses must visibly display a harmonised notice informing consumers of the existence and key features of the statutory legal guarantee. This notice must be presented both in-store and online in accordance with the prescribed format and must include a functioning QR code.
- Repairability: Sellers must communicate the European repairability index where such an index exists and has been provided by the manufacturer. Where no index is available, sellers must instead provide any available information regarding spare parts, estimated repair costs, ordering procedures, and the availability of repair and maintenance instructions.
- Commercial Durability Guarantee: A harmonised label must be displayed where a manufacturer's commercial durability guarantee is provided free of charge, applies to the entire product, and exceeds a duration of two years.
- Distance Sales: For distance-selling arrangements, the new information requirements must also be made available online to consumers. In addition, consumers must be informed of any more environmentally friendly delivery options and, for digital products, of available software updates and their potential consequences.
3. The Twelve Newly Prohibited Practices
Environmental and social characteristics, as well as aspects relating to circularity, durability, repairability, and recyclability, are now expressly taken into account when assessing whether a commercial practice is misleading under Article VI.97 of the Belgian Code of Economic Law.
In addition, twelve new practices have been added to the "black list" set out in Article VI.100 of the Code. These practices are prohibited per se, without any requirement to demonstrate that they actually influenced the consumer's economic behaviour.
The new prohibitions can be grouped into four categories.
Environmental Labels and Environmental Claims[1]:
- using an environmental label that is not based on a certification scheme or recognised by a public authority;
- making a generic environmental claim without being able to substantiate exceptional environmental performance;
- presenting an environmental claim as applying to the entire product or company when it only relates to a limited aspect thereof;
- making climate neutrality or emission reduction claims that rely exclusively on offsetting measures outside the company's own value chain;
- presenting compliance with a legal obligation as a special advantage or distinguishing feature.
Digital Products:
- concealing a known negative impact of a software update;
- presenting a mere functionality enhancement as being necessary to maintain compliance.
Durability and Repairability:
- concealing a feature that limits a product's lifespan;
- making unsubstantiated claims regarding a specific level of durability;
- presenting a product as repairable when it is not.
Consumables, Components and Accessories:
- encouraging consumers to replace a consumable before such replacement is technically justified;
- concealing information regarding the adverse impact that third-party goods, accessories, or consumables may have on the product's functionality.
The practical rule of thumb is straightforward: the scope of a claim must correspond precisely to what can actually be demonstrated. For example, a product should not be marketed as being "made from recycled materials" if only its packaging contains recycled material. Likewise, quantitative claims regarding lifespan or repairability must be supported by reliable evidence and by a genuinely available solution.
4. Entry into Force, Transitional Arrangements and Risks
The new rules entered into force on 27 September 2026. For certain goods that had already been manufactured, packaged, or placed on the market before that date, a transitional period of six months applies. At the end of that period, all goods must comply fully with the new requirements.
Non-compliance may trigger the supervisory and enforcement mechanisms provided for under the Belgian Code of Economic Law, as well as civil actions relating to the newly prohibited black-list practices. Businesses may also face mandatory withdrawal or suspension of marketing campaigns, complaints from consumers or competitors, and reputational damage.
Businesses are therefore well advised to have their current communications, marketing materials, and consumer information processes reviewed against this new legal framework.
[1] The reform adopts a broad definition of an environmental claim. It covers any commercial communication, including text, images, graphic representations, or symbols such as labels, trademarks, company names, or product names, that states or suggests that a product, product category, trademark, or business has a positive or neutral impact on the environment, is less harmful to the environment than other products, product categories, trademarks, or businesses, or has improved its environmental performance over time (Article I.8, 49° of the Belgian Code of Economic Law).