The Market Court was established by the Law of 25 December 2016 which effected various changes to Belgium's judicial system (Wet van 25 december 2016 tot wijziging van de rechtspositie van de gedetineerden en van het toezicht op de gevangenissen en houdende diverse bepalingen inzake justitie/Loi du 25 décembre 2016 modifiant le statut juridique des détenus et la surveillance des prisons et portant des dispositions diverses en matière de justice) (the “Law Pot-Pourri IV”). The Market Court will hear cases in relation to specific regulated markets which already fall under the jurisdiction of the Brussels Court of Appeal.
These are appeals against decisions of the Belgian Competition Authority (Belgische Mededingingsautoriteit/Autorité belge de la Concurrence), the Financial Services and Markets Authority (Autoriteit voor Financiële Diensten en Markten/ Autorité des services et marchés financiers), the Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications (Belgisch Instituut voor Postdiensten en Telecommunicatie/Institut belge des Services Postaux et des Télécommunications), and the Commission for the Regulation of Electricity and Gas (Commissie voor de Regulering van de Elektriciteit en het Gas/ Commission de Régulation de l’Électricité et du Gaz)
The creation of the Market Court within the Brussels Court of Appeal is marked by two important developments.
Amendments to Commercial Code
On 20 February 2017, the Belgian Official Journal published a law (Wet tot wijziging van het Wetboek van Economisch Recht en de Wet van 25 december 2016 tot wijziging van de rechtspositie van de gedetineerden en van het toezicht op de gevangenissen en houdende diverse bepalingen inzake justitie/Loi modifiant le Code de droit économique et la loi du 25 décembre 2016 modifiant le statut juridique des détenus et la surveillance des prisons et portant des dispositions diverses en matière de justice) (the “Law”) in order to correct errors contained in the Law Pot-Pourri IV.
The Law Pot-Pourri IV failed to refer to the new term "Market Court" in the relevant articles of the Commercial Code. Instead, the Commercial Code still used the old terms "Brussels Court of Appeal" and "Court of Appeal". The Law rectifies this error. In addition, the Law also deletes another article of the Law Pot-Pourri IV which was reproduced twice.
Update of Brussels Court of Appeal's Internal Rules
The internal rules of the Brussels Court of Appeal (the “Rules”) have been updated in order to reflect the creation of the Market Court. The Rules, which were adopted on 8 February 2017, now provide that the Market Court will be constituted of two chambers within the Brussels Court of Appeal: Chamber 19A and Chamber 19B.
The practical impact of these changes remains to be assessed. At the moment, it would appear that the judges who will sit in Chamber 19A are the same as those who currently man Chamber 18 of the Brussels Court of Appeal (which – before the creation of the Market Court – already heard cases in relation to specific regulated markets). In addition, while the Rules provide that the allocation of cases between Chamber 19A and 19B will rest in the hands of the first president of the Brussels Court of Appeal, it would seem that Chamber 19B will only be handling cases for which Chamber 19A is unable to sit (such as cases in which Chamber 19A has already adopted a judgment which was later annulled by the Supreme Court and which must be referred back to the Market Court).
