This had already been the subject of public consultations in October and November 2025 (see, VBB Belgian Antitrust Watch of 6 October 2025). The Guidelines follow closely the guidance which the European Commission offered on the subject in its “horizontal cooperation agreement guidelines” and also build on the exclusion from the application of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union that applies to specific sustainability agreements of agricultural producers. Additionally, the Guidelines draw inspiration from work undertaken by the Dutch competition authority in 2023 and by the French competition authority in 2024.

The Guidelines define sustainability agreements as arrangements that pursue one or more objectives of sustainable development which is the ability of a community to use the resources available today to satisfy the needs of current generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. While drafting the Guidelines, the BCA has had occasion to review specific cases, most recently a joint commitment by suppliers of roasted coffee to commercialise only industrially compostable coffee pods (see, VBB Belgian Antitrust Watch of 22 December 2025).

Interestingly, Autoriteit Consument & Markt, the Dutch competition authority (ACM), which has amassed years of experience on sustainability, submitted its comments on the BCA’s draft Guidelines during the public consultation. It made three suggestions regarding (i) compliance agreements; (ii) agreements that counter environmental harm; and (iii) the possible ex post intervention by the BCA against cooperation agreements for sustainability in agriculture. Regarding compliance agreements, the BCA followed the recommendation of the ACM to specify that such agreements will not only be allowed to ensure the observance of international rules, but also to guarantee compliance with European Union or national rules, provided such rules are not entirely implemented or enforced in the EU or Belgium. The proviso did not feature in the BCA’s draft Guidelines.

The BCA expressly encourages the business community to avail itself of the statutory possibility to seek an informal point of view from the President of the BCA (Voorzitter/Président) or to obtain informal guidance from the office of the chief competition prosecutor (auditoraat/auditorat).