New rules for B2C contracts: examples of unfair market practices
16/06/2022
The present article, second in our series, focuses on the extended list of unfair (misleading and aggressive) market practices in a B2C context.
The present article, second in our series, focuses on the extended list of unfair (misleading and aggressive) market practices in a B2C context.
On 1 June 2022, the Belgian law transposing the EU directives on certain aspects of contracts for the supply of digital content and digital services (2019/770) and for the sale of goods (2019/771) will enter into force, thereby ushering in a number of changes.
On 16 February 2022, unbeknownst to most practitioners, the Belgian federal Parliament passed a bill amending article X.13 of the Code of Economic Law, which entered into force on 14 March 2022.
En 2018, nous vous annoncions l’adoption du Décret relatif au bail commercial de courte durée, lequel venait enfin donner un cadre légal aux boutiques éphémères devenues monnaie courante dans notre paysage urbain.
In the future, the European Commission apparently would like to subject dual distribution to additional conditions for being able to benefit from the Vertical Block Exemption Regulation (‘VBER’).
In recent years, the practice of drop-shipping has intensified by taking advantage of the boom in e-commerce. While this way of business is in principle not illegal per se, some sellers who use it are guilty of misleading or even fraudulent practices.
The Law of 4 April 2019 (the “B2B Law”)(1) introduced new mandatory rules that intend to procure that the key terms of contracts between businesses are fair and not abusive (the “B2B Fair Contract Rules”). Under the rules, unfair terms will be deemed to be null and void and thus unenforceable.
As the B2B law is specifically adopted with a focus on the situation of franchisees who could sometimes be faced with unfair terms and conditions, franchise contracts are therefore in the middle of the debate in respect of this new law.
As the B2B law applies to all contracts between businesses, it will generally concern contracts for the provision of services and commercial distribution that are common in business life
U vindt hieronder een overzicht van recente juridische ontwikkeling op Europees en Belgisch niveau.