The applicant was sentenced for illegal distribution of tobacco products using a vending machine. A  Royal Decree stated that tobacco products could only be sold in vending machines if the machine was placed in an area where tobacco products were sold in a traditional manner and accessible to consumers.  At the request of the applicant, …Read more

Two doctors’ associations sought an action for the retroactive annulment of article 28 of the Law of 14 January 2002, which established the payment of an indemnity for misconduct as concerns the charging of benefits by a care dispenser. The relevant law had already been annulled, but the complainants were concerned that since the annulment …Read more

The French-speaking Community of Belgium’s Decree of February 27, 2003 added a special certification requirement for enrollment in postgraduate healthcare studies beyond the previous requirement that students have a doctor of medicine degree. A transitional measure was planned to grant the special certificates. Petitioners were medical students who challenged the special certificate requirement because they …Read more

A medical provider was accused of having provided unnecessary medical services paid for by the mandatory healthcare and benefits insurance regime of Belgium, in violation of Article 73 of the Law relating to mandatory healthcare and benefits insurance (“Healthcare Law”), which prohibited the provision of unnecessarily expensive or superfluous services. The medical provider contested the …Read more

The Union of Belgian Medical Specialists requested the annulment of certain Belgian laws passed in 1998 regarding medical costs and insurance.

The National Institute for Health and Disability Insurance’s Medical Control Service asked the Court of Arbitration a preliminary question on articles 141, 146 and 156 of the Law relating to mandatory healthcare and benefits insurance (“Law”), concerning their potential violation of articles 10 and 11 of the Belgian Constitution, and correspondingly, of article 6 of …Read more

Illegal migrants who had applied for regularization were de facto condoned on the territory pending their application, but were not entitled to full social services; they were only entitled to urgent medical care. In contrast, asylum seekers who were appealing a rejection and foreigners residing legally in the country were entitled to full social services. …Read more