In its judgment of 27 February 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the Belgian prohibition on combining accounting activities with certain other activities is incompatible with EU law (case C-384/18). This judgment is the result of an infringement procedure initiated by the European Commission against the Belgian State.
Under Belgian law, certified accountants are not allowed to combine their accounting activities with certain other activities. This prohibition is absolute with respect to the activities of an insurance broker or agent, as well as those of an estate agent, or with respect to any banking and financial services activity. As for artisanal, commercial or agricultural activities, accountants can ask their professional chamber for an exemption from this prohibition.
In the first part of its ruling, the Court of Justice concluded that the prohibition is incompatible with Article 25 of the Services Directive (2006/123/EC), which (essentially) obliges Member States to eliminate restrictions on the combined execution of services unless they can justify that such restrictions are necessary.
As regards the absolutely prohibited activities, the Court rejected the Belgian State’s arguments that the prohibition is necessary to ensure accountants’ independence and impartiality and that less restrictive measures would not be as effective in attaining this objective. The Court in particular pointed out that an ex post review by the professional chamber would be less restrictive and also ensure accountants’ independence and impartiality.
Moreover, the Court found that the system of prior authorisation to carry out certain commercial activities is also unjustified. The Belgian State’s argument that the requests for exemption are, in practice, always granted was not accepted because there are no criteria for dealing with these requests, a situation which gives the professional chamber considerable discretion.
As for the second part of the judgment, the Court ruled that the regulation at issue also restricts freedom of establishment because it may prevent accountants from other Member States from establishing themselves in Belgium. The justifications put forward by the Belgian State were rejected for the same reasons as those set out in the context of the Court’s ruling on Article 25 of the Services Directive.
Please contact Pierre de Bandt or Jeroen Dewispelaere for further information on this case and/or for general legal advice relating to the internal market rules