Belgium's parliament on Thursday approved a bill granting local authorities more power to crack down on businesses involved in destabilising or subversive criminal activities.
The legislation, spearheaded by Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden, is aimed primarily at curbing drug-related insecurity.
The “administrative approach” law will be supported by a royal decree that will identify sectors and economic activities linked to such destabilising crime. Local authorities will then set police regulations relevant to their areas and monitor establishments there.
An integrity investigation will be conducted, during which local authorities can consult certain databases and solicit advice from local police.
A new directorate tasked with conducting integrity assessments for public authorities will be created within the Interior Ministry. It will be able to ask the judicial authorities, anti-money laundering unit, social inspection service and tax inspection department, for example, for access to certain types of information.
If an investigation unveils a link to criminal offences related to organised or destabilising crime, local authorities will be able to shut down the establishment concerned.
The bill’s progress had experienced significant delays due to referrals to the Council of State requested by the opposition.
Municipal associations in Wallonia, Flanders, and Brussels had also issued many criticisms, leading to the amendment of certain articles.
The changes include the limiting of the geographical scope of sectorial inquiries – following a binding, sufficiently justified, opinion – to avoid investigating every establishment in a given sector before closing one of them.
The mandatory prior notification of the opening of an integrity investigation was also removed.
