Belgium: Proposed Amendment to combat predatory innovation

On July 18, members of the Belgian Socialist Party proposed law amending the Belgian Economic Law Code, relating to predatory innovation. The purpose of this amendment is to combat predatory innovation practices, which is defined in the proposal as the alteration of one or more technical elements of a product whose sole purpose is to restrict or eliminate competition.

The amendment was put forward by Emir Kir, Fabienne Winckel, Paul-Olivier Delannois, Karine Lalieux, and Jean-Marc Delizee, members of the bicameral Belgian Federal Parliament. Their proposal argues that sanctioning predatory innovation will make it possible to consecrate the principle of “think small first” and promote real innovation for the benefit of the consumer.

With a focus on SMEs, these politicians argue that devoting such a regime to predatory innovation will help SMEs in two ways: (i) protecting them from anti-competitive practices that are now partially exempt from sanctions; and (ii) by unifying a case law that has now been broken, which will improve their legal security.

Full Content: Lachambre

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