Our criminal lawyers in Belgium defend individuals accused of crimes as well as people who were victims of crimes. Through our work, we ensure that our client’s rights are protected during the criminal legal proceedings.
The Belgian Penal Code includes the relevant provisions and rules for the prosecution of crimes in this country. The changes brought to this document in recent years are summarized below by our lawyers in Belgium.
Table of Contents
The Belgian Code of Criminal Procedure
The Penal Code classifies offences into three categories and provides information on the actions that arise from these offences, along with how these are prosecuted and how mediation can be used.
Our criminal lawyers in Belgium provide several examples of offences, based on the three categories, below:
- Infractions: this subset includes generally minor crimes such as petty theft, minor vandalism or some traffic offences. Our Belgian criminal lawyers also offer assistance for these minor crimes;
- Misdemeanours: more serious theft, discrimination, and others;
- Crimes: murder, rape, assault and battery, terrorism – this is the most severe category punished by imprisonment.
For the purpose of criminal proceedings, the Penal Code is divided into three sections:
- Preliminary title, which includes general rules applying to criminal law;
- Book I with information on the criminal offences in Belgium. Our criminal lawyers in Belgium can give you details on these articles upon request;
- Book II which includes information on the exercise of public prosecution in respect of crimes.
Understanding one’s rights (both when accused of a crime and when a victim of one) is an essential step and the role of a criminal lawyer in Belgium, such as one from our law firm in Belgium, is important during the preliminary stages. If you need legal services in other countries, such as Portugal, we can put you in touch with our local partners.
Criminal accountability in Belgium
The Belgian Penal Code provides for several types of punishments for criminal acts, including fines (for infraction and misdemeanour) and varying imprisonment times for crimes. Life imprisonment is also possible in Belgium, and it is reserved for very serious crimes such as assassination.
At the same time, the Social Criminal Code addressed violations of labour law, illegal employment, and other matters. Our criminal lawyers in Belgium can also offer assistance if you have been the victim of labour-related crimes or are an employer in Belgium who is being accused of one.
Some of the most important changes included in Book I of the Social Penal Code in 2024 targeted the increase of social penalties. These are administrative and criminal fines for certain types of offences.
Our criminal lawyers in Belgium list examples of the types of fines below:
- Administrative fines for level 3 sanctions between EUR 100 and EUR 1,000;
- Criminal fines for level 3 sanctions between EUR 200 and EUR 2,000;
- Administrative fines for level 4 sanctions of EUR 3,500 in most cases;
- Criminal fines for level 4 sanctions with a value of EUR 7,000.
Examples of level 3 sanctions include the illegal employment of workers or the non-payment of wages. Money laundering is also a level-3 sanction, and so is the non-payment of social security contributions. The latter is mandatory for those who open a company in Belgium.
These values should only be used for exemplification purposes, as surcharges also apply for administrative and criminal fines. A multiplication coefficient of eight is currently used.
Other changes to the Penal Code include new time limits for repeat crimes, decreased from 3 years to 1 year.
Other services offered by our lawyers in Belgium
In addition to our solutions for criminal proceedings, our lawyers in Belgium can also assist those who have questions about the residence permit in Belgium or citizenship in Belgium.
Contact us for more information about the services provided by our criminal lawyers in Belgium and the complete list of solutions offered by our Belgian law firm.