Belgian Webshop Compliance: Complete Checklist

Running a webshop in Belgium means following a specific set of rules. Some come from Belgian law, others from EU-wide directives. Miss one and you risk fines, chargebacks or lost customer trust.

This checklist covers every legal requirement for Belgian online shops. Go through it item by item. Check each one against your own site. Most fixes take less than an afternoon.

The eleven sections below explain each row in detail.

1. Business identification on your website

Pass criteria: Your ondernemingsnummer, BTW-ID, legal business name and visiting address are visible on every page (typically in the footer).

Belgian law (under WER Boek XII) requires your webshop to display:

• KBO registration number
• BTW-nummer (format: BE0123.456.789)
• The legal name of your business as registered with the KBO
• Your address and place of establishment

A contact form alone is not enough. Visitors must be able to find a real name and real address without submitting a form first.

See our guides on ondernemingsnummer requirements and VAT number display rules for the full details.

2. Order button text

Pass criteria: Your final order button clearly states that clicking it creates a payment obligation.

Under EU consumer law (implemented in WER, WER Boek VI Art. VI.45 BW), the button that places a binding order must say something like "Bestelling met betalingsverplichting" or "Bestellen en betalen." A plain "Submit" or "Continue" button is not legal.

This catches a lot of shop owners off guard. Most e-commerce platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce handle this correctly in Dutch language settings, but check yours. Custom themes or translated shops sometimes break it.

Read more in our order button requirements guide.

3. 14-day withdrawal right (herroepingsrecht)

Pass criteria: Your webshop clearly informs buyers about the 14-day cooling-off period before they complete their order. You provide a model withdrawal form.

Consumers have the right to cancel an online purchase within 14 calendar days, no reason needed. This is called the "bedenktijd" or "herroepingsrecht," and derives from the EU Consumer Rights Directive (2011/83/EU).

You must:

• Inform the customer about the withdrawal right before checkout
• Provide a standard withdrawal form (the EU model form works)
• Accept returns within the 14-day period
• Refund the full amount including original shipping costs within 14 days of receiving the returned product

Some products are exempt: perishable goods, personalized items, sealed hygiene products that have been opened, and digital content after delivery has started with explicit consent.

If you fail to inform customers about the withdrawal right, the cooling-off period extends to 12 months. That's a risk you don't want to take.

4. Price display rules

Pass criteria: All prices include BTW. Shipping costs are stated before checkout. Discounted products show the lowest price from the previous 30 days.

Belgian pricing rules for webshops are strict:

• BTW included. Every price a consumer sees must include VAT. If you sell B2B too, you can show ex-BTW prices separately, but the consumer-facing price must include tax.
• No hidden costs. Shipping, handling and any other fees must be visible before the customer enters the checkout process.
• Omnibus directive. When you advertise a discount, you must show the lowest price from the 30 days before the promotion started. Saying "Was €99, now €59" without that reference price is a violation. The FOD Economie (Authority for Consumers and Markets) actively checks this.

5. Delivery information

Pass criteria: Expected delivery time is clearly stated on product pages or in the checkout flow, before the order is placed.

You must tell customers when they can expect their order. "Ships within 1-3 business days" is fine. Having no delivery estimate at all is not.

If you can't deliver within 30 days, you need to inform the buyer. And if delivery is going to be later than promised, the customer has the right to cancel.

6. Payment methods

Pass criteria: Available payment methods are clearly visible before checkout, ideally in the footer or on a dedicated info page.

Belgian consumers expect to see Bancontact. Beyond that, clearly listing your accepted payment options helps build trust and reduces cart abandonment.

Display payment method logos in your footer or on your checkout page. Don't make people start the checkout process just to find out if they can pay with their preferred method.

7. Privacy policy and cookie consent

Pass criteria: You have a GDPR-compliant privacy policy linked from every page. Your cookie banner blocks non-essential cookies until consent is given.

This is where many webshops fall short. You're collecting names, addresses, email addresses and payment information. That's a lot of personal data.

Your privacy policy must explain what data you collect, why, who processes it and how long you keep it. Our GDPR compliance checklist walks you through every element.

For cookies, you need a consent banner that actually blocks tracking and marketing cookies until the visitor says yes. A banner that just says "We use cookies, OK?" doesn't meet the standard. See our cookie banner requirements guide for what the GBA (Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit) expects.

8. Terms and conditions (algemene voorwaarden)

Pass criteria: Your general terms are available to download or save before the customer places an order. The customer must actively agree to them.

You need algemene voorwaarden (general terms and conditions) and you need to make them available to the customer before the sale. This means:

• A link or downloadable PDF in the checkout process
• A checkbox where the customer confirms they've read and accepted them
• The terms must be sent with the order confirmation email or attached as a PDF

Using a standard set of terms from a legal template service is perfectly acceptable. BeCommerce and many legal providers offer Belgian-specific templates for webshops.

9. ODR platform link

Pass criteria: You are aware that the EU ODR platform closed on 20 July 2025 and have removed the link if you still had one.

The EU's Online Dispute Resolution platform has been discontinued. If your webshop still has a link to ec.europa.eu/odr in the footer or terms, remove it. The link goes nowhere and looks sloppy.

Read more about the ODR platform removal and what to use instead if you need alternative dispute resolution.

10. Accessibility under the European Accessibility Act

Pass criteria: Your webshop meets basic WCAG 2.1 AA requirements. You're working toward full EAA compliance by the June 2025 deadline (already passed).

The European Accessibility Act (EAA, Directive 2019/882) applies to e-commerce websites in the EU. This means your webshop needs to be accessible to people with disabilities.

The practical basics:

• Sufficient color contrast for text
• All images have alt text
• Your shop can be used with a keyboard only
• Form fields have proper labels
• Error messages are clear and specific

The EAA deadline was June 28, 2025, so enforcement is already active. The FOD Economie handles enforcement in Belgium. Fines are possible, though the focus so far has been on larger businesses.

Don't rely on accessibility overlay widgets. They don't make your site compliant and can actually make things worse.

11. Trust marks (optional but recommended)

Pass criteria: If you display a trust mark, it's a genuine, verifiable membership. Consider BeCommerce Trustmark or Webwinkelkeur.

Trust marks are not legally required, but they increase conversion. Belgian consumers recognize BeCommerce Trustmark and Webwinkelkeur. Both offer buyer protection programs and dispute resolution.

If you display a trust mark logo, it must be a real, active membership. Displaying a logo without being a member is misleading commercial practice and can lead to FOD Economie enforcement.

BeCommerce Trustmark membership starts around €35/month for small webshops. Webwinkelkeur has a free tier with basic features. Both require your shop to meet their quality standards, which overlaps heavily with this checklist.

How to check all of this quickly

Going through 11 categories manually is time-consuming. You can scan your webshop with our free tool to catch the technical issues automatically. It checks your cookie consent, privacy policy, SSL, accessibility basics and business identification in under a minute.

For the legal content items (terms, withdrawal policy, pricing rules), you'll need to review those yourself or have them checked by a legal advisor. Our scan flags where required pages are missing or hard to find.

Frequently asked questions

Do all these rules apply to small webshops too?

Yes. There's no minimum revenue threshold or size exemption. Whether you sell handmade candles from your kitchen or run a large online store, the same consumer protection rules apply. The only difference is enforcement priority. Regulators focus on larger businesses first, but complaints from customers can trigger investigations at any size.

What fines can I expect for non-compliance?

The FOD Economie's Economic Inspection can impose administrative fines under the tiered sanction system in Boek XV of the Code of Economic Law, with widespread cross-border infringements subject to a minimum cap of 4% of annual turnover under Directive (EU) 2019/2161. In practice, fines for small webshops are much lower, typically a few thousand euros. The GBA can issue separate fines for GDPR violations. The bigger risk for small shops is often chargebacks and lost customer trust rather than regulatory fines.

I use Shopify/WooCommerce. Am I automatically compliant?

Platforms handle some requirements out of the box, like the order button text in Dutch language settings. But they don't write your privacy policy, set up your cookie consent properly, or add your ondernemingsnummer. You still need to configure and check everything on this list. The platform gives you the tools. Using them correctly is your responsibility.

Do I need a lawyer for all of this?

For a straightforward webshop, no. Standard templates for terms and conditions, privacy policies and withdrawal forms are widely available in Dutch. BeCommerce, the KBO website and various legal template providers offer good starting points. If you sell regulated products (food, health products, financial services) or operate across multiple EU countries, professional legal advice is worth the investment.

How often should I review my compliance?

Review your full setup whenever you add new features, change payment providers, add tracking tools or switch platforms. Beyond that, a quarterly check is reasonable. EU consumer law and privacy regulations change, and what was compliant last year might not be today.