BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Peter L’Ecluse, Koen T’Syen and Amirsalar Kavoosi, Van Bael & Bellis
• evidence that the works council of each party was informed of the concentration in accord - ance with applicable regulations; • contact details of employee representatives; and • internal documents assessing the concentra - tion in terms of market shares, competitive conditions, competitors, the rationale for the concentration, potential for revenue growth or expansion into other product or geographic markets and/or general market conditions. Simplified notifications must be submitted by completing the less comprehensive “Form CONC C/C-V/S”, as annexed to the BCA’s Com - munication of 8 June 2007 on the specific rules for the simplified notification of concentrations. Notifications must be submitted in either Dutch or French, which determines the language of the procedure before the BCA. Annexes to the notification must be submitted in their original language. If that language is neither a national language (Dutch, French or German) nor English, a translation into the language of the notification must be provided. If considered necessary, the BCA may also require translations of documents submitted in English (Article 3 (3)-(4) of the Royal Decree of 30 August 2013 on the notification of concentrations of undertakings). The notification and its annexes must be sent by e-mail, addressed to the Prosecutor General, to the email address of the secretariat (Article 3 (2) of the Royal Decree of 30 August 2013 on the notification of concentrations of undertakings). 3.6 Penalties/Consequences of Incomplete Notification Article IV.82 (1) of the CEL empowers the BCA to impose fines of up to 1% of the undertak -
ings’ annual turnover for submitting incomplete information. In 2015, the BCA fined Belgacom EUR75,000 for providing incomplete information in response to a request for information made during the pro - cedure concerning its acquisition of The Phone House (Decision No 2015-C/C-31 of 30 Sep - tember 2015). The BCA noted that Belgacom’s infringement had no significant impact on the assessment of the concentration, which justified the modest fine. 3.7 Penalties/Consequences of Inaccurate or Misleading Information Article IV.82 (1) of the CEL also authorises the BCA to impose fines of up to 1% of the under - takings’ annual turnover for submitting inaccu - rate or misleading information. 3.8 Review Process Under the standard procedure, as opposed to the simplified procedure, the BCA’s review pro - cess consists of a Phase I review and, if neces - sary, a Phase II review. Phase I The Phase I review period generally lasts 40 working days, starting from the day following the receipt of a complete notification. This time limit may be extended by 15 working days if the undertakings concerned submit or amend commitments, or if they modify the transaction. Furthermore, the BCA may extend the time limit at the request of the notifying parties for the duration which they propose. If no duration is specified, the BCA must grant an extension of 15 working days. At the end of Phase I, the BCA may take one of the following decisions:
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