Belgium
Status
No steps taken to implement new legislation at a national level. (In light of upcoming EU-wide legislative amendments).
Is the country considering regulation?
No. (In light of upcoming EU-wide legislative amendments).
Current state of regulation regarding BNPL?
As it currently stands Belgian consumer credit law is already applicable to BNPL services.Belgium has standards for providers of consumer credit regulated under Book VII of the Belgian Code of Economic Law (CEL), which transposes the European Consumer Credit Directive (CCD).
This legal framework applies when a credit agreement is entered into between a consumer and a credit provider, including through a credit intermediary.
The relevant definitions (of consumer, credit provider, credit intermediary, consumer credit) are contained in Book I of the CEL.
‘Consumer credit’ is broadly defined in the CEL, and therefore likely to capture any kind of credit that is provided to a consumer, ranging from more traditional credits (e.g. loans, overdraft facility) to mere deferred payments.
However, certain consumer credits are excluded from the scope of the CEL, either in full (which means that the credit will not be subject to any legal requirement) or in part (which means that the credit will be subject to only certain legal requirements). The most relevant exclusion[1] is available when all the following conditions are met:
- the credit must be repaid within maximum two months (which is one month fewer than the period signaled in the CDDs Article 2(2)(f) exception), and
- the credit must be granted free of interest, and
- only insignificant charges must be payable.
The above exclusion is the Belgian transposition of Article 2(2)(f) of the CCD.
Lastly, there is also an exclusion for credit agreements involving an amount that does not exceed EUR 200. However, this exclusion is only “partial”, which means that such credit would still be subject to certain rules of conduct.
Outline the proposals to change regulation?
None.
