Arts. 315 and 315 bis of the Income Tax Code require that the books and records necessary to determine the amount of taxable income must be kept by companies for seven years following the taxable period. The documentation must be kept in the taxpayer's professional or private premises where the administration can carry out the necessary inspection.

The European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) provides a comprehensive framework for data protection that applies to all EU Member States. Belgium implemented the GDPR in 2018 through the Act on the Protection of Natural Persons with Regard to the Processing of Personal Data.

The Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) is the legal basis governing the liability of Internet Services Providers (ISPs) in the EU Member States and includes a conditional safe harbour. Not all Member States have transposed the relevant articles consistently, leading to divergent national case law that could cause legal insecurity on an EU level.
Book XII of the Belgian Code of Economic Law transposes the Directive 2000/31/EC. Chapter 6, "Liability of intermediary service providers", of the Belgian Code of Economic Law includes specific provisions related to a safe harbour for information service providers providing mere conduit, caching and/or hosting activities.
The Belgian Code of Economic Law does not require service providers to remove illegal content as long as they are unaware of its illegal nature. As soon as the provider is aware of the illegal content, there is an obligation to remove the content. Internet intermediaries are thus passive in their responsibility and liability for the content on their platforms.

The Directive 2000/31/EC (E-Commerce Directive) is the legal basis governing the liability of Internet Services Providers (ISPs) in the EU Member States and includes a conditional safe harbour. Not all Member States have transposed the relevant articles consistently, leading to divergent national case law that could cause legal insecurity on an EU level.
Book XII of the Belgian Code of Economic Law transposes the Directive 2000/31/EC. Chapter 6, "Liability of intermediary service providers", of the Belgian Code of Economic Law includes specific provisions related to a safe harbour for information service providers providing mere conduit, caching and/or hosting activities.
The Belgian Code of Economic Law does not require service providers to remove illegal content as long as they are unaware of its illegal nature. As soon as the provider is aware of the illegal content, there is an obligation to remove the content. Internet intermediaries are thus passive in their responsibility and liability for the content on their platforms.

Providers of electronic communication services have the legal obligation to identify their customers, as regulated by the Electronic Communications Act.

Art. 17 of Directive 2019/790 on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (DSM Directive) mandates that providers of content-sharing services seek authorisation from rights holders and implement technical solutions to remove and prevent unauthorised uploads by their users (so-called upload filters), under penalty of losing their liability safe harbour. Further arrangements are envisaged for complaints and dispute resolution mechanisms. Such upload filters are reported to be a significant cost for online platforms. Graduated exemptions are expected to be put in place for new providers active in the EU for less than three years with a turnover under EUR 10 million and with fewer than five million users. The provision is subject to a challenge in the Court of Justice by Poland (C-401/19)
In 2022, the Chamber of Representatives adopted the Law Transposing Directive (EU) 2019/790, therefore making online content-sharing service providers partially liable for copyright violations on their platforms.

It is reported that the Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications, the executive authority for the supervision and administration of services in the telecommunications sector, is independent from the government in the decision-making process.

All incoming and outgoing invoices must be stored on Belgian territory for seven years. However, invoices which are stored electronically and which guarantee full online access to the data concerned in Belgium may be stored in another Member State of the European Union on condition that the fiscal administration is informed of this in advance (Art. 60 of the VAT Code). Moreover, taxpayers who are not established in Belgium must provide a Belgian address to the authorities where books, (copies of) invoices and other documents can be provided upon the request of the authorities (Art. 61, § 1 of the VAT Code). This also applies to digital documents.

Art. 85 of the Utilities Directive (2014/25/EU) contains provisions allowing contracting public entities to reject foreign goods not covered by any EU international commitments from its tender procedures. In these cases, a tender submitted for the award of a supply contract may be rejected where the proportion of the products originating in third countries exceeds 50% of the total value of the products constituting the tender (Art. 85.2). Additionally, in cases of equivalent offers, the provisions provide for a preference for European tenders and tenders covered by EU's international obligations. In practice, this possibility has rarely been used.
The Public Procurement Act transposes the Utilities Directive into law. Where two or more bids are equivalent under the award criteria of Art. 81, preference is given to those bids that do not contain more than 50% of products from third countries (Art. 61). However, tenders with at least 50% of products from third countries are allowed when competing tenders require equipment with technical characteristics that differ from those of the contracting public authority and which could result in incompatibility or disproportionate costs.

The regulatory environment does not impose control limits on foreign companies. The country does not have a specific investment law, however investment is regulated within the framework of the Belgian Companies and Associations Code (the "BCCA"), enacted by the Belgian parliament in February 2019.

In November 2022, the Belgian federal and regional governments formalised a cooperation agreement to establish a screening mechanism for foreign direct investment (FDI), which was implemented in July 2023. Subsequently, in May 2023, the Federal Public Service of Economy released draft guidelines to elucidate the scope and procedural framework of this FDI screening mechanism in Belgium. According to these guidelines, the regime is applicable to FDI, which may affect national security, public order, or the strategic interests of Belgium and its federated entities. Under this mandatory regime, strategic non-EU investors are required to notify and obtain prior approval for FDI projects, with the potential for ex officio assessments up to two years post-transaction. The regime encompasses various types of investments, including transactions that result in the acquisition of at least 25% of voting rights in a Belgian target company engaged in critical infrastructures, digital infrastructures, media, data processing or storage, as well as investments in technologies and raw materials essential for strategic sectors such as AI, robotics, semiconductors, cybersecurity, aerospace, defence, energy storage, quantum and nuclear technologies, and nanotechnologies.

The Cabinet Decision Amending the Law of 21 March 1991 on the Reform of Certain Public Economic Enterprises made it possible for private investors to invest in telecom provider Proximus to the extent that the government's stake could fall below 50%+1 share with a resolution approved by the Council of Ministers. This is also explicitly mentioned in Art. 54/6 of the Law of 21 March 1991 on the reform of certain public economic enterprises. Although private, including foreign, investment in Proximus is possible, the government screens the investment guided by the strategic importance of a stake in the company concerned, the need for Belgian anchoring, the essential contribution that the company can make to the pursuit of sustainable economic growth, its social usefulness and its impact on employment.

According to Title 1, Chapter 3 of Book XI of the Belgian Code of Economic Law (Art. XI.62), natural persons and legal entities who do not have a residence or actual establishment in an EU Member State must be represented by an authorised agent when appearing for the Invention Patent Office to file a request for a Belgian patent.

Belgium is a signatory of the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

There is no general principle for the use of copyright-protected material comparable to the fair use/fair dealing principles. Directive 2001/29/EC defines an optional but exhaustive set of limitations from the author´s exclusive rights under the control of the “three-step test” in line with the Berne Convention that establishes three cumulative conditions to the limitations and exceptions of a copyright holder’s rights. The Directive has been transposed by Member States with significant freedom.
The Belgian economic code (Title 5 or Book XI) includes various exceptions to copyright. They only apply to lawfully published work. The interpretation is restrictive and follows the three-step test, although it is not literally incorporated into Belgian copyright law.