Sales in Belgium: key points to keep in mind before launching a promotional campaign

While promotions now run all year round, the traditional sales periods remain, for many businesses, a key moment to boost sales, clear stock and attract new customers through promotions and reduced prices. They are, however, periods of increased scrutiny : supervisory authorities and consumer organisations closely monitor price reduction claims and messages such as "limited stock" or "great deals".

Below, we outline the most frequent risks relating to promotional campaigns, and in particular during the sales periods, to help businesses anticipate and manage them.

1. When can you call it "sales"?

In Belgium, "sales" is not just a marketing slogan. It has a specific legal definition and is tied to fixed dates set by law.

In practice, the term "sales" (or any expression considered equivalent by case law) can only be used during two legally defined periods, winter and summer, with dates determined in advance (subject to limited adjustments when the start date falls on a Sunday).

During these sales periods, companies are exceptionally allowed to sell products at a loss, i.e. below cost price, which is in principle prohibited during the rest of the year, save for very specific situations.

Outside the sales periods, companies can still run promotional campaigns, "shock prices" or "reduced prices", or organise special operations such as "Black Friday" or "Cyber Monday". However, these actions cannot be presented as "sales".

Note also that a company may not use the term "liquidation" (or an equivalent expression) to announce a promotion or sales campaign. As with "sales", the use of "liquidation" is strictly regulated by Belgian law.

Conditions for products sold in sales

Not all products in an assortment can "magically" be put on sale overnight. For a product to be sold as part of the sales, two conditions must be met, relating on the one hand to when the product was offered for sale, and on the other to the reality of the stock at the start of the sales period.

In practical terms, it is not allowed to create fake "sales" by introducing last‑minute products that were never offered at full price and labelling them as "sales".

The logic is straightforward: the reduction must be real compared to a pre‑existing sales price, and not purely artificial.

2. The "waiting period" (pre‑sales): a pitfall in certain sectors

In several sectors (such as clothing), the law goes further and imposes an additional rule known as the "waiting period".

Concretely, the month preceding each sales period is more sensitive, and certain practices are restricted. The dates vary depending on whether it is the summer or winter sales, but the idea is the same: to avoid the "real" sales being undermined by a succession of early promotions and to ensure that all players within the same sector start the sales on an equal footing.

During this waiting period, among other things, it is prohibited:

• to announce price reductions that take effect during that period (the prohibition does not cover all other types of price reduction announcements);
• to distribute vouchers or coupons giving entitlement to a price reduction during that period.

There is an exception for certain locally organised "clearance sales", subject to strict conditions, particularly in terms of their duration (limited to a few days).

However, during the waiting period, it is still permitted to run promotions in the form of tied offers (for example "buy one, get one free", "2 for the price of 1", "second item at half price").

3. Sales = price reductions: which rules apply?

During the sales, the general rules, in addition to the specific sales rules, continue to apply, in particular the rules on price reduction announcements. These must therefore also be complied with.

The reference price: the cornerstone

As soon as companies announce a price reduction – whether in the form of a discount (e.g. "– €10"), a percentage reduction ("–40%" or "up to –50%"), wording such as "promo", "special offer", "sales", or a crossed‑out price next to a new price (e.g. "€99 €79") – they must comply with two essential obligations:

1. Identify the correct reference price
2. Calculate the reduction on that reference price, and only on that price

The reference price is the lowest price that the company has actually charged for that product during the 30 days preceding the reduction (or a shorter period for "new goods" placed on the market less than 30 days earlier).

Companies may not calculate a reduction, for example "–50%", based on a recommended price, a price the company "usually" displays, or an artificial previous price (e.g. a price only charged for a few hours).

For a single continuous promotional campaign, a company may progressively increase its reductions over a 30‑day period (for example going from –20% to –30% and then –50% for the same product), while keeping the same initial reference price, without recalculating it at each step.

After 30 days, the company may maintain the last reduction applied during the promotional campaign, but not indefinitely. If this reduction remains in place for too long after the 30‑day period, there is a risk it will be considered misleading: the reduced price may have become the new permanent price and the indicated advantage is no longer a real benefit. The boundary between a temporary reduction and a new "normal" price can be difficult to assess, which is why it is advisable to secure major campaigns with specialist advice.

How should reductions be advertised ?

A few practical principles should be kept in mind:

• If a company displays a percentage reduction in connection with a sales price, it must be able to demonstrate, in case of an inspection, the reference price on which that percentage was calculated. Otherwise, the reduction may be challenged as misleading.
• Even if the company does not display a percentage reduction but uses terms such as "promotion", "special offer", "liquidation" or "sales", it is deemed to be announcing a price reduction. There must therefore be a real decrease compared to the reference price, and not merely the impression of a good deal.
• If the company does not indicate any price in the general announcement (for example: an SMS stating "Up to –50% in store and online"), it is not required to mention the reference price in the announcement itself, but it must apply the reference price correctly at product level in‑store and/or online, and the announcement must not be misleading (there must in fact be a significant volume of products at –50%).

These rules may seem simple, but they are in practice quite technical to apply on a day‑to‑day basis. Given the heightened vigilance of the authorities in relation to commercial practices, many companies choose to have their major promotional campaigns reviewed or tested in advance to reduce the risk of disputes afterwards.

4. Comparing with a recommended retail price: opportunity or trap?

Many retailers do not only announce reductions compared to their own prices, but also compare their prices to the "recommended retail price", "national recommended price" or "RRP" suggested by the supplier. This is, in principle, an accepted practice, but it follows a different logic from that of price reduction announcements.

In such cases, the message is no longer about a reduction of the company’s own prices, but about a price comparison. This implies that:

• The recommended price cannot be used as the "reference price" in order to claim a reduction in the sense of the price reduction rules.
• The communication must clearly indicate that it is a comparison (for example: "Recommended retail price: €8,500 – Our price: €8,000" or "10% cheaper than the recommended retail price"), and must not suggest that this is a reduction of the company’s previous price.

The authorities are particularly sensitive to the risk of confusion. Some visual elements can turn a mere comparison into a price reduction announcement, triggering the additional legal constraints that go with it. For example:

• A recommended price shown as a crossed‑out price next to the sales price will very easily be perceived as the seller’s former price.
• A percentage preceded by a minus sign ("–40%") suggests a reduction in the consumer’s mind, not a comparison.
• Using terms such as "discount", "reduction", or graphic design typical of a sales campaign reinforces this impression.

The assessment is made from the perspective of the average consumer.

Companies should therefore design their visuals so that the message is clear and unambiguous: either they are presenting a genuine reduction of their own price (and then must strictly comply with the rules on price reduction announcements compared to the reference price), or they are presenting a price comparison, with the necessary safeguards and clarifications to avoid the comparison being perceived as a price reduction.

5. "Limited stock" and time‑limited offers: beware of undue pressure

Messages such as "limited stock", "hurry now", "offer valid while stocks last" are central to the concerns of the authorities, as they can exert pressure on the consumer and may therefore be considered unfair commercial practices.

Two principles guide the authorities’ assessment:

1. No bait advertising: a company may not advertise a product at an attractive price while knowing that it does not have a reasonable quantity of that product, given the scope of the campaign and the price.
2. No false urgency: a company may not falsely claim that a product or offer is only available for a very limited time or in very limited quantities for the sole purpose of pushing the consumer to make an immediate decision.

In practice, this implies in particular that:

• If a company indicates "limited stock", the stock must actually be limited, or at the very least, the company must be able to justify this.
• A "time‑limited" offer must actually end on the stated date; otherwise it risks falling within the scope of misleading commercial practices.
• The offer should not be structured in such a way that it deprives the consumer of a reasonable time to think (constantly repeating very short "flash sales" can become problematic).

Specific rules also apply to campaigns disseminated outside the store (leaflets, digital campaigns, SMS).

6. What are the sanctions for non‑compliance?

If the rules outlined above are violated, companies face several types of risk:

• A cease‑and‑desist action, which may be brought by, for example, a competitor, a consumer, a consumer protection association or the FPS Economy;
• Criminal sanctions, with fines that can reach several tens of thousands of euros;
• And, where applicable, the obligation to compensate consumers for the damage caused by the unlawful practice.

In other words, beyond reputational damage, the legal risks are very real, which is why it is important to secure advertising campaigns in advance with expert input.

7. Conclusion: turning a constraint into a competitive advantage

The rules on sales and price reductions have become sufficiently complex that a simple wording error, ambiguous visual or poorly calibrated campaign may be enough to trigger an inspection, a complaint or an action for unfair commercial practices. The good news is that, once the framework is mastered, it remains perfectly possible to design campaigns that are both attractive to consumers and robust from a legal perspective.

We regularly assist companies with structuring their pricing policies, validating their sales campaigns, drafting internal guidelines for marketing teams and, where necessary, managing interactions with the FPS Economy or consumer associations. Our experts are available to support you upstream, to avoid a campaign lasting only a few weeks turning into a sensitive matter that drags on for months.