We drafted and communicated a notification about the European Commission’s Rule of Law Report 2025 on Belgium containing a factual error and confusing an announced Government initiative and a law proposal already introduced in Parliament for the transposition of the EU anti-SLAPP Directive 2024/1069.

The notification informed the European Commission (Rule of Law DG Just, the Belgian Minister of Justice and the Federal Institute for the protection and promotion of Human Rights (FIRM)) about the erroneous statement on page 14 in the Rule of Law Report 2025 that the Belgian Government has decriminalized defamation. As a matter of fact neither the Government, nor Parliament have decriminalized defamation. In the new Criminal Code that will go into force in April 2026 defamation, insult and slander are still listed as criminal offences, that can be punished with a variety of sanctions or measures (but no longer with imprisonment).

This observation and rectification is of particular relevance in relation to the references in the EU Rule of Law Report 2025 about the actual anti-SLAPP policy in Belgium. The fact that defamation (- and insult and slander -) is not decriminalized in the new Belgian Criminal Code is an additional argument to guarantee effective protection against SLAPPs also in criminal procedures. Belgium is one of the countries in the EU where private persons can directly initiate criminal proceedings. The notification expresses the expectation and hope that the anti-SLAPP law proposal the Minister of Justice and the federal Government is planning to submit for adoption in Parliament will indeed include anti-SLAPP measures in criminal procedures. The notification was made for the Belgian anti-SLAPP Working Group.