On 3 March 2026, the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) announced that it was carrying out inspections at the premises of suppliers of road signage and street furniture.

The BCA suspects the possible manipulation of public procurement procedures (“bid rigging”) that gave rise to violations of Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and of the Belgian equivalent statutory provisions.

Tackling bid rigging has become one of the cornerstones of the BCA’s activities. It prepared guidance regarding the application of the competition rules to public procurement and submitted a draft for public consultation which ran until the end of last month (see, VBB Belgian Antitrust Watch of 8 January 2026).

It also pursued a number of cases in that area and most recently issued fines in a case with regard to the distribution of newspapers involving bpost, DPG Media, Mediahuis, PPP, and unidentified individuals (see, VBB Belgian Antitrust Watch of 13 February 2026).