Belgian Competition Authority Publishes Policy and Enforcement Priorities for 2025
- 30/04/2025
- News
The Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) has just published its set of policy and enforcement priorities for 2025 (the Priorities Paper or PP - see, attachment). The PP reflects the mindset of an institution which, over the years, has gained in stature and grown in confidence, helped by an increased budget, larger staffing, and astute hirings. The BCA successfully concluded several high-profile cases and has begun to articulate a direction of travel, not only in the PP, but also on other occasions: only a few days ago it joined five fellow competition authorities of medium-sized EU Member States to speak out in favour of a strong competition policy (see, VBB Belgian Antitrust Watch of 23 April 2025).
The BCA says it will focus on what it calls “essential goods and services” in agriculture and food; construction; healthcare (including pharmaceuticals); “basic” services in energy, finance, transport, and regulated professions; digital infrastructure and services; and telecommunications.
Additionally, in keeping with an approach adopted over the past few years, the BCA will pursue a comprehensive enforcement strategy against bid rigging. The BCA believes that in Belgium alone public procurement markets are worth in excess of EUR 80 billion in sectors as diverse as healthcare and defence. It will not only focus on collusion between bidding companies but also on inappropriate private interference with the design of tender specifications. In 2024, the BCA took important enforcement decisions in this area with regard to private security and fire protection services (see, VBB Belgian Antitrust Watch of 4 July 2024 and of 9 July 2024).
The BCA will also try and convince the federal government to seek in Parliament a change to the applicable statutory competition rules. Its efforts will focus on:
- merger control: revised merger control form; adaptation of the conditions for applying the simplified procedure; and creation of “call-in” merger review powers (see, VBB Belgian Antitrust Watch of 18 April 2025).
- New Competition Tool : like its Dutch counterpart, the BCA wants powers to review an industry and impose measures that rectify market distortions even if no violation of the competition rules took place.
