Overview

On 1 July the Code on Social Criminal Law was published in the Belgian Official Journal. It will enter into force at the latest on 1 July 2011.
This new Code will lead to a more efficient and uniform sanctioning of employers who infringe the Belgian labour and social security legislation.
Most of the Belgian social laws carry criminal sanctions for infringement.

Penalties range from fines to imprisonment. Until now, the sanctions were spread out in various pieces of legislation giving rise to incoherency and a lack of legal certainty. Moreover, there was no uniformity between different types of infraction and their corresponding sanction.

This is the context in which a Government Commission was established in 2001, to reform the social criminal law. A number of reforms, such as the establishment of specialised social sections in the criminal tribunals, were introduced. The most important reform is however the recent introduction of this new Code on Social Criminal Law.


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