Towards a more sustainable e-commerce policy: online sellers must offer consumers at least two delivery optionsPartners obtain right of opposition: Greater legal certainty for partnerships, be they simple, general or limited

An important amendment to the Code of Economic Law (CEL) came into force on 21 September 2024. The Act of 9 February 2024, which contains various provisions concerning the economy, aims, through the insertion of the new Article VI.45/2 into the CEL, to impose a right of choice on online sellers
in order to guarantee the best possible delivery method to consumers who buy from them.

What exactly does the right of choice entail?

Remote sellers must offer the consumer at least two methods for the delivery of goods they have ordered. Businesses remain free to decide which delivery methods they wish to propose. These can therefore be postal points, the webshop’s local points of sale, delivery to neighbours, home delivery, delivery to your workplace, etc. They are also free to offer different rates for the different delivery options that they suggest. For many companies this is probably not the most drastic change, as the majority of webshops already offer alternative delivery methods (e.g. home delivery or collection from the nearest post office).

Why is this new obligation important?

Given the rise and huge success of e-commerce, consumers are not always aware of its impact on the environment and road safety. This amendment to the law seeks to bring about a change in consumer behaviour. Webshops should therefore increasingly offer sustainable delivery options. Various parameters are taken into account here (CO2 emissions, air quality, traffic accidents, noise pollution, infrastructure, traffic congestion, etc).

Exempted companies

However, this obligation does not apply to all companies established in Belgium. The following businesses are exempt from it:

• Sellers who, for objective reasons, can only offer one method of delivery. This mainly concerns goods which, due to their nature, can only be delivered at home. Examples include large or heavy orders (e.g. furniture), home delivery of ready meals and valuable goods that require a high degree of confidentiality.
• Companies that exclusively supply goods abroad. In fact, this new regulation concerns only online sale of goods for delivery in Belgium.
• Young companies established less than three years ago. Legislators want to give start-ups time to get their delivery and collection systems up and running. This allows them to find out, in terms of logistics, which delivery options best suit the company and are most suitable for the products they offer.

What does this mean for your business?

Are you a business that sells goods remotely to consumers? If you are, you need to check for yourself whether you (1) deliver the goods in Belgium, (2) have been established for more than three years or not, and (3) can only offer one mode of delivery for objective reasons or not.

If you do not fall under one of the three exceptions, you will have to inform consumers correctly about the different delivery options. You can do this by updating your general terms and conditions on your order page.

Our PKF BOFIDI Legal experts are ready to help you

For further questions concerning e-commerce, feel free to contact our PKF Bofidi Legal team and we will be pleased to help you.

This article was written by Lauranne Piotrowski, a specialist in intellectual property, ICT, data protection and privacy.