As was the case in previous years (see Van Bael & Bellis Life Sciences News and Insights of 24 July 2023 and Van Bael & Bellis Life Sciences News and Insights of 16 May 2022), the Belgian Competition Authority (BCA) again indicated that the pharmaceutical industry would be a major enforcement target in 2024. In the attached enforcement priorities note (which does not yet exist in English), the BCA identified the pharmaceutical industry and the broader healthcare sector as key areas for the proper application of the competition rules. The BCA will not only keep a watchful eye on consolidation in the hospital sector (despite the curtailment of its merger control powers in that regard – see, VBB Belgian Antitrust Watch of 29 March 2024) but will also monitor the practices of healthcare institutions and healthcare professionals in unregulated matters.

As regards pharmaceuticals, the BCA used once more the phraseology of previous enforcement priorities notes stating that it would continue checking all links in the value chain, including suppliers (especially with regard to pricing issues); wholesaler-distributors; and pharmacists (as regards innovation).

The pharmaceutical industry will also come under BCA scrutiny in indirect ways, for example when the conduct of private parties responding to public tender procedures organised by hospitals is at stake. In that area, the BCA will update guidance published in 2017; develop tools to discover bid rigging; and help authorities with unearthing suspicious behaviour.