Belgium's competition watchdog has signed an agreement with the State's Federal Ombudsman to share reports about potential competition law breaches and provide greater protection to whistleblowers.
In November 2022, the Federal Government approved new laws to provide greater protection to whistleblowers in the private sector, bringing Belgium in line with an EU directive introduced in 2019.
Employees looking to report anti-competitive behaviour within their companies were given three protected channels under the new Whistleblower Act: via a designated procedure within the company, by going to the authorities, or by going to the press.
By a royal decree in January 2023, the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) was designated as a competent authority to receive reports about violations of national and European competition rules. Meanwhile, the Whistleblower Act put the Federal Ombudsman in charge of coordinating reports of whistleblowing in the private sector.
The BCA has now signed a memorandum with the Ombudsman, agreeing to cooperate and share information and reports. The federal Ombudsman will deliver whistleblower reports on competition law violations committed within companies to the BCA, while the BCA will transmit reports that do not fall within its jurisdiction to the Ombudsman.
The collaboration aims to strengthen the reporting framework and protections for whistleblowers in Belgium.
Anonymous reporting and leniency programme
Since October 2022, the BCA has also been operating an online portal for whistleblowers to report infringements of competition rules quickly, securely and anonymously.
It complements the leniency programme operated by the competition watchdog, which grants companies full or partial immunity from fines (and individuals immunity from prosecution) if they report the existence of a secret cartel and cooperate with investigations.
Companies wishing to report their knowledge of or their participation in a cartel, and potentially obtain an exemption from or a reduction of fine, can contact the BCA’s Prosecutor General at AUD@bma-abc.be.
