Website Legal Notice in Belgium: What the Law Requires

A Belgian company website must always clearly identify your business. In concrete terms that means your official name, your legal form, the address of your registered office, your company number and direct contact details must be easily, directly and permanently accessible. The legal basis for this lies in the Code of Economic Law (CEL), supplemented by company law and privacy rules. In this article we set out which legal notices you need on a website in Belgium, where they come from and how to place them without cluttering your site.

Which legal notices must your website display?

The core is a complete identification of your business. For a company website it comes down to this information:

• the name or trade name of your business
• the legal form (e.g. BV/SRL, NV/SA, VOF/SNC or sole proprietorship)
• the geographic address of your registered office
• your company number (the ten-digit VAT or CBE number)
• direct contact details, including an email address that lets people reach you quickly and directly
• your VAT number if you are VAT-liable
• for a legal entity: the register of legal entities (RLE) with mention of the competent court
• details of the supervisory or licensing authority if your activity is subject to authorisation, and for regulated professions the professional title and professional body

Not every field applies to every business. A sole proprietorship has no legal form like a company and does not have to mention the RLE, but it must still display its company number and address. If you work with VAT, the VAT number is added. The logic is simple: a visitor, customer or authority must be able to find out without effort exactly who they are dealing with. If you work in a regulated profession, additional professional rules often apply on top of this identification duty: read, for example, what a law firm website may and may not say under the deontological advertising rules.

The company number deserves extra attention here. It is the ten-digit number you find in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE), and it acts as the unique key to your business. For VAT-liable parties the VAT number is the same figure, preceded by “BE”. Mention that number correctly and anyone can verify your details, which is precisely the transparency the legislator intends.

Where do these obligations come from?

The obligations stem mainly from the Code of Economic Law, with two books that complement each other.

Book XII CEL deals with the law of the electronic economy and transposes the European e-commerce directive into Belgian law. It requires every provider of an information society service, and a company website falls under that, to give visitors and competent authorities easy, direct and permanent access to its identification data: name, geographic address, quick contact details with email address, and where applicable the company number, the VAT number and the supervisory authority.

Book VI CEL covers market practices and consumer protection. If you address (also) consumers, a broader duty to inform applies: you must make your identity clear, including company number, trade name, geographic address and telephone number, so that the consumer knows who they are contracting with.

On top of that comes the Code of Companies and Associations (CCA). Documents issued by a legal entity, and your website is one of them, mention the name, the legal form, the precise indication of the registered office, the company number and the words “register of legal entities” or the abbreviation “RLE” with the competent court. For most B2B sites these rules largely overlap, so that a well-built colophon meets all three sources at once.

Where do you place the legal notices on your site?

The law requires that the information be easily, directly and permanently accessible, but does not prescribe a fixed location. In practice, a fixed structure works best.

Put the essentials in the footer, which runs on every page: company name, registered office, company number and a contact link. In addition, create a separate page with the legal data, often called “Legal information”, “Colophon” or “Legal notice”, where you list everything in full. Your contact page is the logical place for the direct contact details, and your about page is the right spot for the company identity. That way you meet the “permanently accessible” requirement without stuffing every page with legal text.

A practical tip: the same transparency the law demands is exactly what convinces a B2B visitor. A findable registered office, a real email address and a clear company number are signals that help to build trust on your B2B website. The obligation and your commercial interest run in parallel here.

Which notices do you still need beyond the identification duty?

Beyond business identification, there are two blocks that apply to virtually every site, plus a third for those who sell online.

Privacy policy (GDPR). If you process personal data, and you already do so via a contact form or analytics, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires you to clearly inform your visitors about which data you collect, why, for how long and with which rights. This belongs on a separate privacy statement.

Cookies. If you place non-essential cookies, for example for analytics or marketing, you need prior consent and a cookie policy explaining which cookies you use. Purely functional cookies fall outside this.

Extra information for online sales. If you sell directly through your site to consumers, a layer is added on top of the above: clear information about the price (stating whether taxes and delivery costs are included), the main features, the right of withdrawal and your general terms and conditions. For most B2B lead generation sites this does not apply, because they do not sell on the spot, but it is good to know the distinction.

An important nuance: this article gives an overview, not conclusive legal advice. The exact obligations depend on your legal form, your sector and your target audience. For the precise details you are best off consulting your accountant or a lawyer.

What happens if the notices are missing?

Missing or incorrect legal notices constitute an infringement and can give rise to inspection and sanctions. Enforcement runs through the competent government services and can range from a warning to a fine, depending on the infringement. We deliberately do not cite exact amounts here, because they depend on the specific provision and can change over time.

At least as important is the commercial risk. A website without a clear identity looks untrustworthy, and in B2B, where decisions often involve substantial amounts, a prospect then drops off faster. Making visible who you are is therefore not an administrative burden but a part of your conversion. Whoever communicates honestly and openly lowers the threshold for getting in touch.

The short summary

A Belgian company website must identify your business conclusively: name, legal form, registered office, company number and direct contact details, with VAT number and RLE where applicable. The basis lies in Book XII and Book VI of the Code of Economic Law, supplemented by company law. On top of that come a privacy policy and cookie consent, and for online sales extra information on price and the right of withdrawal. Put the essentials in your footer and the full list on a separate legal page. That way you are not only legally in order, but you also strengthen the trust visitors need to take the step towards contact.

Do you want this set up correctly and conversion-focused from the moment of building? Take a look at our approach to website development or first read the B2B website development guide for the full picture.

Get in touch with us and we will look together at how to get your site legally in order and ready to sell.