Enforcement of policies against illicit trade in tobacco products in Belgium

This chapter investigates how ITTP is tackled in Belgium, considering the relevant policies, the legal framework as well as the law in action. The aim is to provide a nuanced and comprehensive analysis, which points out both the strengths and the weaknesses of the Belgian system.
As the analysis shows, the Belgian legal landscape in terms of law enforcement is scattered, encompassing many administrative and judicial authorities. That said, at present, the main law enforcement practice in the area of ITTP rests with the customs and excise authorities (GACE). The GACE not only has both administrative and criminal investigative powers, it also holds the monopoly to prosecute criminal offences falling within its exclusive material competence. Moreover, the legal regime applicable to customs and excise substantially derogates from the general rules of criminal law and criminal procedure. On the one hand, this enables the GACE to better deal with the technical and cross-border nature of customs and excise offences, such as cigarette smuggling. On the other hand, though, the derogatory rules require special expertise and create many challenges in case of combined investigations, covering customs and excise offences as well as other offences (such as money laundering or organised crime).
While coordination between the various competent authorities is essential, current institutional relations appear to be quite conflictual due to diverging policies and fundamentally different enforcement objectives. These tensions in multi-agency cooperation are, inevitably, also reflected at European and international level.