On December 23, 2025, the Council of Ministers approved a bill transposing the EU Anti-SLAPP Directive 2024/1069. The text of the government’s bill is not yet public, but from the short press release it can be derived that the bill only provides anti-SLAPP safeguards in civil proceedings. The Federal Institute for Human Rights (FIRM) previously noted this as the “biggest shortcoming” in failing to provide for the protection of victims of SLAPP in criminal proceedings, while defamation and insult are still criminal offences in Belgium. The FIRM emphasized: “Although the Directive does not mandate it, the absence of such a provision remains problematic.” Also the High Council of Justice formulated a similar comment in its advisory opinion on an earlier preparatory version of the bill. With the Belgian anti-SLAPP Working Group we will be following from closeby the forthcoming parliamentary proceedings. The Working Group advocates for a robust and effective transposition of the EU Directive, and of the implementation of the anti-SLAPP Recommendation 2022/758 of the EU Commission and the Council of Europe anti-SLAPP Recommendation 2024/2.
In a recent article published in De Juristenkrant we referred to some developments in the Belgian jurisprudence in showing more awareness on the issue of SLAPPs (Rechter wijst vordering af wegens SLAPP-kenmerken, De Juristenkrant 2025/519, 10).
Links: www.slapp.be ; https://news.belgium.be/nl/omzetting-slapp-richtlijn ; https://federaalinstituutmensenrechten.be/sites/default/files/2025-12/2025-FIRM-IFDH-Advies-SLAPP-Voorontwerp-10-2025-NL.pdf ; https://justitiebelgie.blogspot.com/2025/12/richtlijn-eu-20241069-van-het-europees.html ; https://hrj.be/admin/storage/hrj/20251001-advies-hrj-slapp.pdf ; https://www.dekamer.be/FLWB/PDF/56/0728/56K0728001.pdf ; https://www.slapp.be/slappadd/Juristenkrant519.pdf ; https://www.sustainabilityinbusiness.blog/2025/04/belgium-as-frontrunner-on-rules-to-protect-against-strategic-lawsuits-against-public-participation-slapp-what-you-need-to-know/ https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32022H0758 ; https://rm.coe.int/0900001680af2805