Legal information your Belgian website must show: a checklist

Every business website in Belgium must show who is behind it: your name, the address where you are established, your email address and a second way to reach you, your enterprise number and, if you are registered for VAT, your VAT number. This applies even if you sell nothing online, and also to your business page on Facebook or Instagram. If you have a company, are an independent professional or run a healthcare practice, or if you collect personal data through a form, there is more to add. Here is the full list, with a sample footer and a checklist.

If you know the German Impressum or the French mentions légales: Belgium has its own rules, and templates from those countries do not cover them.

Does this apply if you don't sell online?

Yes. An ordinary website without an online shop is covered too (art. XII.6 of the Belgian Code of Economic Law). The FPS Economy adds that the rules also apply to the liberal professions and to your business page on social media.

Mistakes are common. In checks by the FPS Economy in 2024, 47.7% of 2,158 websites and pages lacked the required company details, and 45.7% did not show an enterprise number.

What must every business website show?

Visitors must be able to find these details easily, at any time:

• Your name or trading name. A sole trader without a trading name uses their own name.

• The address where you are established: a street and number, not a PO box.

• Your email address and a second way to reach you. If you sell or provide services online, the FPS Economy asks for both an email address and a phone number.

• Your enterprise number, your business's number in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (KBO/BCE).

• Your VAT number, if you are registered for VAT: your enterprise number with BE in front, such as BE 0123.456.789.

• The authority that supervises your work, if your activity needs a licence, for example if you install alarm systems.

• Your code of conduct, if you have signed up to your sector's code, with a link to the text.

Put it all together in one place that's easy to find: the footer of every page, or a Contact or Legal information page. Don't hide it in your terms and conditions: according to the FPS Economy, that is not enough.

What does that look like?

Example: the footer of a physiotherapy practice (BV/SRL) in Ghent
Physio Example BV · Voorbeeldstraat 1, 9000 Gent · info@physioexample.be · 09 000 00 00 · www.physioexample.be · Enterprise number 0123.456.789 · RPR Gent, afdeling Gent · Professional title: physiotherapist, obtained in Belgium · Professional rules · Privacy statement

If your practice is a sole proprietorship, the legal form (BV) and the RPR line drop out. If you have a VAT number, add it.

What else applies to a company?

For a BV/SRL, NV/SA, CV/SC or non-profit (vzw/ASBL), the Code of Companies and Associations asks for a little more. The rule covers all of the company's documents, from invoices to emails, which is why it can sound odd on a website. Your site shows:

• the company name, with its legal form (for example BV);

• the exact address of the registered office;

• the enterprise number;

• the letters RPR (Dutch) or RPM (French), for the register of legal entities, followed by the enterprise court of your registered office, for example "RPR Gent, afdeling Gent". If in doubt, ask your accountant;

• the email address and the website address;

• that the company is in liquidation, if it is being wound up.

If these details are missing, whoever worked on the website on behalf of the company, usually the managing director, can be held personally liable for what the company promised on it. This is not automatic: the court looks at the circumstances (art. 2:22 CCA).

What if you're an independent professional?

If you're a lawyer, architect, doctor, pharmacist, vet or accountant (a "liberal profession" in Belgian law), you also show your professional body, your professional title and the country that granted it, and a link to the professional rules (your code of ethics) that apply to you. If professional liability insurance is mandatory for your profession, clients must also be able to find your insurer and where the cover applies.

Many professional bodies also have their own rules on advertising. Check them before your site goes live.

And if you're a healthcare provider?

Healthcare professions are regulated, but not all of them have a professional order: physiotherapists and speech therapists, for example, do not. What should you show then? The law doesn't spell it out. The clear and honest approach is to show: your professional title, that you are licensed and hold a visa (issued by the FPS Public Health), your RIZIV/INAMI number if applicable, and a link to the rules of your profession. If in doubt, ask your professional association what it recommends.

• VAT. If your treatments are exempt from VAT and you therefore have no VAT number, your enterprise number is enough. If you do have a VAT number, add it. Your accountant knows which applies to you.

• Fees. If you show your fees, make clear what the patient pays and whether you are "geconventioneerd"/"conventionné" (you follow the agreed health insurance rates), so nobody is surprised by what the health insurer reimburses.

• Health data. If your online booking tool or form asks about a complaint or a referral, you are processing health data, which is subject to stricter rules (art. 9 GDPR). Ask for no more than you need, say so in your privacy statement, and choose a booking tool whose provider protects the data well and signs a data processing agreement with you.

• Advertising. Healthcare providers face strict rules on advertising, both in the law and in their professional ethics. Check them before you put promises or patient testimonials on your site.

Prices: with or without VAT?

Always make it clear whether VAT is included. For consumers, show the total price, including VAT and all compulsory charges, in euros (art. VI.4 CEL). If you only work for businesses, you may show prices excluding VAT, as long as you add "excl. VAT".

Do you need a privacy statement?

Yes, as soon as you collect personal data: through a contact form, a newsletter or online booking. Visitors must be able to read your privacy statement at the moment you ask for their data, for example through a link below your form. That is what the GDPR requires (art. 13). According to the Belgian Data Protection Authority (DPA), you state, among other things:

• who you are and how to reach you;

• what you use the data for, and why you are allowed to, for example because you need it for an appointment;

• who you share it with, and how long you keep it;

• that people can see, correct or delete their data, and complain to the DPA.

Write your privacy statement in your visitors' languages. In 2019, the DPA found fault with a website whose privacy statement was only in English, while the site was aimed at Dutch and French speakers.

Using cookies that are not strictly necessary, for example for Google Analytics or advertising? Then you also need consent. Read when you need a cookie banner.

Do you show customer reviews?

Then say whether and how you check that they come from real customers. Posting fake reviews, or having them posted, is always prohibited (art. VI.100 CEL).

Selling online?

An online shop, or online bookings where the customer pays straight away, requires much more: among other things the right to withdraw from the purchase within 14 days and, in Belgium since 14 August 2026, a button labelled "withdraw from contract here" or similar. Accessibility rules have also applied since 28 June 2025; in Belgium, businesses with fewer than 10 employees and at most €2 million in turnover or balance sheet total have until 28 June 2030. According to the FPS Economy, a simple reservation, such as booking an appointment, is not covered. Everything is in its e-commerce guide (in French and Dutch).

What are the risks?

The Economic Inspection can first send you a warning. If you don't fix the problem, you face a criminal fine of €26 to €10,000, or up to 4% of your annual turnover if that is higher (art. XV.119 CEL). On top of that come the "opdeciemen"/"décimes additionnels", a multiplier that applies to every criminal fine in Belgium, so the actual fine is several times higher.

The checklist

On your website and on your business page on social media:

• name or trading name, and address (street and number);

• email address and a second way to reach you;

• enterprise number, and your VAT number if you are registered for VAT;

• the supervisory authority, if you need a licence;

• your code of conduct, if you signed up to one.

For a company: legal form, registered office address, RPR/RPM with the court, email address and website.

For an independent professional or healthcare provider: your professional title and where you are licensed, your professional order if you have one, a link to your professional rules, and your insurer if that insurance is mandatory.

Also: consumer prices including VAT, a privacy statement in your visitors' languages (with extra care for health data), consent for cookies that are not strictly necessary, and an explanation of your customer reviews if you show them.

At Kintsu, your legal information appears in every language of your site. And we count your visitors without cookies, so you don't need a cookie banner for that. How it works.

This article is general information, not legal advice. If you are unsure about your own site or your professional rules, ask a lawyer, your accountant or your professional association.

Sources

All sources accessed on 4 November 2026.

• Code of Economic Law, art. III.74, VI.4, VI.61/2, VI.99, VI.100, XII.6, XV.31, XV.70 and XV.119 (Justel, in Dutch and French)

• Code of Companies and Associations, art. 2:20 and 2:22 (Justel, in Dutch and French)

• FPS Economy: Company website and social media accounts, mandatory identification details (in Dutch)

• FPS Economy: Information obligations in e-commerce, guide (version of 28 September 2026, in French)

• FPS Economy: Legal framework on the accessibility of banking services and e-commerce, with the guide on accessible e-commerce (version of 7 October 2026, in French)

• Forum for the Future: FPS Economy figures on the 2024 checks (in Dutch)

• Data Protection Authority: The right to information (in Dutch)

• Data Protection Authority: Decision on the merits 12/2019 of 17 December 2019 (in Dutch)

• General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), art. 9 and 13 (EUR-Lex)