A website in Belgium: legal notice, cookies and obligations to comply with

The principles are close to those in France, since many rules come from European law. But the vocabulary, the reference texts and a few obligations differ. Here’s what the website of a company established in Belgium must contain. This article is a practical guide: for a specific situation, consult a lawyer or your professional federation.

1. Information about the company

The Code of Economic Law requires online service providers to make a series of information easily accessible, generally on a dedicated page linked from the footer:

• the name or company name and the legal form;
• the geographic address of the establishment;
• contact details allowing quick contact, including an email address;
• the company number assigned by the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE);
• the VAT number, if the business is subject to VAT;
• for a regulated profession (lawyer, architect, real estate agent, accountant…): the professional order or institute, the professional title and the applicable rules.

2. Data protection (GDPR)

The GDPR applies in the same way as in France. In Belgium, the supervisory authority is the Data Protection Authority (DPA). As soon as your website collects data (contact form, newsletter, customer account), publish a privacy policy explaining what data is collected, why, how long it’s kept, who has access to it and how to exercise one’s rights.

3. Cookies

As in France, non-essential cookies (non-anonymised analytics, advertising, social media pixels, embedded videos) can only be placed after free and informed consent. The DPA has published recommendations to that effect:

• no non-essential cookies before the visitor makes a choice;
• refusing must be as easy as accepting;
• no pre-ticked boxes and no consent inferred from simply continuing to browse;
• the ability to change one’s choice at any time.

To limit banners, favour privacy-friendly audience measurement tools, and only load third-party content on click.

4. For online stores

• Prices including VAT clearly displayed, with shipping costs and any additional charges.
• Terms and conditions of sale accessible before ordering.
• 14-day right of withdrawal for consumers, with its exceptions and a model form.
• Order summary and an explicit confirmation button.
• Two-year legal guarantee of conformity for goods sold to consumers.
• Contact details of the mediation service competent for consumer disputes.

The other specifics of selling online in Belgium (Bancontact, delivery, VAT) are covered in our guide to creating an online store in Belgium.

5. Languages

As a general rule, there’s no obligation to make a commercial website bilingual. But your terms of sale must be understandable by your customers: if you sell to Dutch speakers, offer them in Dutch too. See our article on website languages in Brussels.

6. Accessibility

The European Accessibility Act has applied in Belgium, as in France, since 28 June 2025 for certain services, notably e-commerce, with an exemption for service micro-enterprises. See our article on accessibility obligations.

The differences with France, in short

• A CBE company number instead of the SIREN or RCS.
• The Data Protection Authority instead of the CNIL.
• The Code of Economic Law instead of the Consumer Code and the French law on confidence in the digital economy.
• A language question that comes up more often, especially in Brussels.

Do you also do business in France? Our article on legal notices, GDPR and cookies in France complements this one. All the websites we design for our Belgian clients include these elements from the start: discover our web agency services in Brussels.