Publié le 25/06/2012
Legality of the black list and blocking measures in belgium
In order to enforce the Belgian Gaming Act (BGA) and give the regulator the means to efficiently sanction illegal gambling, the Belgian Gaming Commission (BGC) has published a list of illegal gambling operators on its web site available at http://www.gamingcommission.fgov.be/website/jsp/main.jsp?lang=FR. Services providers such as ISPs or financial institutions which have signed a protocol with the BGC are to block all transactions and access to illegal web sites marked on the black list. However, the legal grounds alleged by the Gaming Commission for the publication of the black list (Article 48, §2, 5°) clearly state that measures undertaken to ensure player protection (such as issuance of a black list) shall be set by Royal Decree. No such Royal Decree was adopted. Thus, the legality of the black listing and blocking measures deriving there from have been questioned until a decision of the President of the Brussels Court of First Instance of 13 June 2012 in the BwinParty case.