How the new Belgian Criminal Code changes penalties for legal entities

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Sep 25 2026

The new Belgian Criminal Code (NBCC) reorganises sentencing through a tiered framework with eight penalty levels, which gives courts more sentencing options and makes proportionality central.

Although corporate criminal liability remains broadly unchanged, the consequences of a conviction may be quite different under the new penalty system introduced by the NBCC.

A new eight-level sentencing architecture

Each offence is assigned a level, and the court selects a principal penalty within the options available at the level of the offence it has established. Depending on the offence, ancillary penalties may be added. The structure is intended to make sentencing more coherent and allows the court to select the response that best reflects the offence and the offender’s circumstances.

For legal entities, a fine remains available at every level, ranging from EUR 200 at Level 1 to EUR 5.76 million at Level 8. These amounts are set directly by the NBCC, replacing the former conversion of an individual prison sentence into a corporate fine. This may mean a reduction, such as the offence of misuse of trust, which falls from a maximum of EUR 1.2 million under the former conversion mechanism to EUR 750,000.

Additional fines

A legal entity may now receive an ancillary fine in addition to its principal fine. The ceiling runs from EUR 6,250 for the least serious offences to EUR 43,750 for the most serious ones, so the more serious the offence, the higher the additional exposure (Art. 52, §1 NBCC).

The key point is that this additional fine cannot be multiplied. Where a company is prosecuted for several offences at the same time, the court still imposes only one principal penalty and one additional fine, whose ceiling follows the level of that penalty. For level 2 to 5 offences, multiple offences may move the principal penalty up one level and therefore increase that ceiling. If the offences are tried separately, a further fine may be imposed, but the total cannot exceed the maximum that would have applied had they been tried together.

The exception to watch for is special provisions, which can set far higher ceilings. For money laundering, the additional fine can reach EUR 2.5 million, or the value of the laundered assets.

Confiscation and profit-based penalties

Art. 53 NBCC now governs confiscation for all offences with the purpose of depriving the convicted person of illicitly obtained assets, rather than acting as a financial punishment or security measure. As before, it may cover objects, instruments, created assets and financial gains, including substituted assets and income. Confiscation of financial gains, previously optional, is now in principle mandatory, although the court may moderate confiscation of certain instruments or gains.

The court may now also impose a monetary penalty for offences intended to generate a financial advantage (Art. 55 NBCC). If the ordinary ancillary fine is insufficient, the court may replace it with a monetary penalty of up to three times the benefit obtained or expected (so even if the intended gain was never realised). Case law will need to clarify how expected profit is established and valued.

A principal penalty, monetary penalty and confiscation may be imposed for the same offence, which means that the company’s total financial exposure may substantially exceed the profit realised or expected.

A wider choice of penalties for legal entities

The NBCC also provides measures that are not financial at all, but that target how a company operates:

Community service and probation for the lower-level offences, if the legal entity consents. The court must first make clear what the penalty will involve before seeking that consent (Art. 56 and 44 NBCC).
A prohibition on the activity that gave rise to the offence, which may be imposed for one to ten years (Art. 57 NBCC). Although it does not necessarily cover all activities of the legal entity prosecuted, its impact may be substantial where the affected activity is central to the business.
Permanent closure of an establishment, whether complete or partial, where provided by law (Art. 59 NBCC). Despite its name, the penalty does not entail the physical closure of the premises: it prohibits the company from carrying out at that establishment any activity like the one that gave rise to the offence. The explanatory memorandum illustrates the point with a café that is closed but may still be used as a storage space. Unrelated activities may in principle continue at the same site. Even a partial closure may affect employees, landlords, creditors and contractual counterparties.
Declaration of guilt without another sentence is possible where the offence is minor or delay makes punishment inappropriate (Art. 51 NBCC).
Dissolution is no longer classified as a penalty, but as a security measure. It is reserved for legal entities that were intentionally created or whose purpose was intentionally diverted to carry out criminal activities.

Proportionality as a guiding principle

Courts must balance the offence and penalty and consider the sentence’s objectives and undesirable effects on individuals, families and society (Art. 27 NBCC). For a legal entity, this may include effects on employees, customers and other third parties.

Proportionality does not remove mandatory consequences. The court may reduce the confiscation of instruments and financial gains, or their valuation by equivalent, where full confiscation would be unreasonably severe (Art. 53, §6 NBCC). That power does not extend to the object of the offence or to assets created by it. The classification of the property, and the interplay between the various financial measures, will therefore matter in corporate proceedings.

Application in time

The NBCC applies to offences committed on or after 1 September 2026. For earlier conduct, harsher rules cannot apply retroactively, while more lenient rules must apply.

Many offences in special legislation have not yet been aligned with the new levels. The temporary conversion rules do not fully address legal entities where legislation provides for imprisonment but no corporate fine. The applicable penalty will require careful assessment until those laws are adapted.

Want to understand the other major reforms introduced by the new Belgian Criminal Code? Explore our other posts in the series:

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