In a series of 3 rulings handed down on 20 May 2026, the Belgian Council of State (highest administrative court) confirms what most legal practitioners have been saying for a long time : the restriction of sales periods to the months January and July, as set out in the Belgian Code of Economic Law, is unlawful.
Hence : sales should be allowed all year long.
The facts can be summarized as follows: a shop did use the word “sales” outside the legally permitted sales periods (January and July) and was fined for that by the Ministry of Economical Affairs.
The shop invoked the incompatibility of the restriction under Belgian law of the sales periods to January and July with European Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices. That Directive achieves maximum harmonisation of unfair practices towards consumers: in other words, if not prohibited under the Directive, a commercial practice can be used to promote the sale of their products; national laws cannot prohibit other practices.
The administration, for its part, took the view that the rule restricting sales to January and July was intended solely to ensure fair competition between businesses, and not to protect consumers. The restriction therefore does not fall within the scope of the European Directive.
The Belgian government argued, among other things, that a formal statement of purpose had been introduced into the preparatory works at the time the sales legislation was codified into the Code of Economic Law, indicating that the rules on sales were solely intended to protect competition between businesses (not to protect consumers).
The shop has put forward no fewer than 13 arguments to demonstrate that the sales regulations were in fact concerned with consumer protection.
The Council of State noted in particular that:
- The explanations in earlier parliamentary works (when the restriction was first introduced under Belgian law) revealed a dual purpose, explicitly including consumer protection.
- The fundamental condition of a sale — a genuine price reduction — provides consumers with a guarantee as to the authenticity of the discounts advertised, which undeniably serves a consumer-protection function.
- The case law of the Court of Cassation (judgments of 2012, 2015 and 2016) and the Ghent Court of Appeal (2020) had recognized that similar rules on waiting periods and sales pursue an objective of consumer protection, bringing them within the scope of the Directive.
- The prevailing legal doctrine converges almost unanimously on the conclusion that Belgian sales regulations are incompatible with the Directive, and that a mere formal adjustment to the ratio legis cannot suffice to remove a rule from the harmonized scope of the Directive.
The Council of State therefore concludes that the simple addition of a formal clause in the preparatory works is not sufficient to change the reality of the situation : given its objective of consumer protection — even if only indirect — the prohibition on sales outside the limited authorized periods falls within the scope of the Directive.
As the Directive does not provide for an absolute prohibition on sales outside certain periods, such prohibition is therefore incompatible with the Directive and cannot be applied.
The consequences are significant:
(i) sales are now in principle permitted throughout the year- caveat: it remains to be seen if the judicial courts will follow the position of the administrative courts, but the reasoning followed by the Council of State is convincing ;
(ii) the same reasoning could be applied to other marketing practices having an effect on consumers: if it is not prohibited under the Directive 2005/29, it cannot be prohibited under Belgian law. And formally indicating that a prohibition is aimed at another goal than consumer protection, without regards for the real effects of it, will not fly !
At MVVP we assist marketing teams and advertising agencies regarding all kind of commercial practices and advertising and help them to build successful campaigns.
For more information contact Jan Ravelingien, Peter Marx, Olivier Sasserath or Michel Segers.