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An Act To Amend The Act Of 30 July 1981 To Suppress Certain Acts Inspired By Racism And Xenophobia

Original Language Title: Loi modifiant la loi du 30 juillet 1981 tendant à réprimer certains actes inspirés par le racisme et la xénophobie

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10 MAI 2007. - An Act to amend the Act of 30 July 1981 to punish certain acts inspired by racism and xenophobia



ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
Article 1er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 78 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. Articles 1 to 6 of the Act of 30 July 1981 to punish certain acts inspired by racism and xenophobia are repealed.
Art. 3. In the same Act, the following titles, chapters and articles are introduced:
« TITRE Ier
CHAPTER Ier. - Introductory provisions
Art. 1er. § 1er. This Act transposes Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment among persons irrespective of race or ethnic origin.
Art. 2. This Act fulfils the obligations imposed on Belgium by the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination of 21 December 1965.
Art. 3. The purpose of this Act is to create a general framework in the subjects referred to in Article 5 to combat discrimination based on nationality, a so-called race, skin colour, ascending or national or ethnic origin.
CHAPTER II. - Definitions
Art. 4. For the purposes of this Act, it shall be understood by:
1° labour relations: relations that include, inter alia, employment, conditions of access to employment, working conditions and termination regulations, and this:
- both in the public sector and in the private sector;
- both for employee work, and for non-employed work, work presumed under internship, apprenticeship, occupational immersion and first employment agreements or self-employment;
- at all levels of professional hierarchy and for all branches of activity;
- regardless of the contractual or statutory regime of the person performing work;
- with the exception, however, of working relations with the bodies and institutions referred to in articles 9 and 87 of the special law of institutional reforms of 8 August 1980, and labour relations in teaching, as referred to in Article 127, § 1er2° of the Constitution;
2° interest grouping: organizations, associations or groups referred to in section 32;
3° provisions: administrative acts, clauses in individual or collective agreements and collective regulations, as well as clauses in unilaterally established documents;
4° protected criteria: nationality, alleged race, skin colour, ascending or national or ethnic origin;
5° Centre: Centre for Equal Opportunities and Combating Racism, established by the Act of 15 February 1993;
6° direct distinction: the situation that occurs when, on the basis of one of the protected criteria, a person is treated in a less favourable manner than another person is, has been or would be treated in a comparable situation;
7° direct discrimination: direct distinction, based on one of the protected criteria, which cannot be justified on the basis of the provisions of Title II;
8° indirect distinction: the situation that occurs when a seemingly neutral provision, criterion or practice is likely to result in a particular disadvantage in relation to others for persons characterized by one of the protected criteria;
9° Indirect discrimination: indirect distinction based on one of the protected criteria, which cannot be justified on the basis of the provisions of Title II;
10° Harassment: undesirable behaviour that is linked to one of the protected criteria, and that has the purpose or effect of harming the dignity of the person and creating an environment intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive;
11° positive action: specific measures to prevent or compensate for disadvantages associated with one of the protected criteria, with a view to ensuring full equality in practice;
12° injunction to discriminate: any behaviour consisting of enjoining anyone to discriminate on the basis of one of the criteria protected against a person, group, community or one of their members;
13° essential and determining professional requirement: an essential and determining professional requirement identified in the manner specified in Article 8;
14° social security: the legal regimes of unemployment insurance, disability insurance, retirement and survival pension, family allowances, occupational accidents, occupational diseases and annual holidays applicable to employed workers, self-employed workers and public servants;
15° social benefits: the social benefits within the meaning of Article 7, § 2, of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 of 15 October 1968 concerning the free movement of workers within the Community;
16° Complementary social security schemes: plans that are intended to provide workers, employees or independents, grouped within the framework of a company or group of companies, an economic branch or a professional or inter-professional sector, with benefits intended to supplement the benefits of the legal social security schemes or to replace them, whether affiliation with these schemes is mandatory or optional.
CHAPTER III. - Scope of application
Art. 5. § 1er. With the exception of matters within the jurisdiction of the Communities or Regions, this Act applies to all persons, both for the public sector and for the private sector, including public bodies, with respect to:
1° access to goods and services and the provision of goods and services to the public;
2° Social protection, including social security and health care;
3° social benefits;
4° supplementary social security schemes;
5° labour relations;
6° the mention in an official document or in a report;
7° the affiliation to and commitment to an organization of workers or employers or any other organization whose members exercise a particular profession, including the benefits of such organizations;
8° access, participation and any other exercise of an economic, social, cultural or political activity accessible to the public.
§ 2. With respect to the working relationship, this Act applies, inter alia, but not exclusively, to:
1° conditions for access to employment, including, but not limited to:
- job offers or job announcements and promotion opportunities, regardless of how they are published or disseminated;
- the setting and application of selection criteria and selection paths used in the recruitment process;
- the setting and application of recruitment criteria used in recruitment or appointment;
- the setting and application of the criteria used in the promotion;
- affiliation as a partner to independent companies or associations of professions;
2° provisions and practices concerning working conditions and remuneration, including, inter alia, but not limited to:
- the regimes contained in employment contracts, independent agreements, statutory administrative law regimes, internship and apprenticeship contracts, collective labour agreements, collective plans for independents, working regulations, and unilateral decisions of the employer and unilateral decisions imposed on an independent;
- awarding and fixing wages, fees or remuneration;
- the granting and fixing of all current or future benefits in cash or in kind, provided that they are paid, even indirectly, by the employer to the worker, or by committing them to the independent, of the head of his employment, whether in accordance with a convention, in accordance with legal provisions, or voluntarily;
- working hours and working hours;
- plans for holidays and Sunday rest;
- Night work regimes;
- Young workers ' employment schemes;
- the plans for business councils, occupational prevention and protection committees, trade union delegations and similar boards and committees in the public sector;
- promoting the improvement of the work and wages of workers;
- classification of professions and functions;
- paid education leave and training leave;
- credit-time plans;
- annual vacation and holiday toll plans;
- the regimes for the welfare of workers when performing their work;
3° provisions and practices in the breaking of labour relations, including, inter alia, but not exclusively:
- the decision to terminate;
- the setting and application of the terms and conditions of termination;
- setting and applying criteria in the selection of termination;
- award and fixing of compensation following termination of the employment relationship;
- measures taken following the termination of the professional relationship.
§ 3. With respect to supplementary social security schemes, this Act applies, inter alia, but not exclusively, to:
- the determination of the scope of these regimes, as well as conditions of access to these regimes;
- the obligation to contribute and the calculation of contributions;
- the calculation of benefits and the duration and maintenance of the right to benefits;
- identification of persons admitted to participate in a supplementary social security regime;
- the binding or optional nature of participation in such a regime;
- the setting of rules for entry into the plans or relating to the minimum period of employment or affiliation to the plan for obtaining benefits;
- the setting of rules for reimbursement of contributions when the affiliate leaves the plan without having fulfilled the conditions that guarantee it a deferred right to long-term benefits;
- the setting of conditions for the granting of benefits;
- the retention or acquisition of rights during periods of suspension of the employment contract;
- fixing rights to deferred benefits when the affiliate leaves the plan.
Art. 6. The provisions of this Act shall not apply in the case of harassment in labour relations with the persons referred to in Article 2, § 1er1° of the Act of 4 August 1996 on the welfare of workers in the execution of their work. In cases of harassment in the context of labour relations, such persons may only resort to the provisions of the aforementioned law.
PART II. - Rationale of distinctions
CHAPTER Ier. - Justification of direct distinctions
Art. 7. § 1er. Any direct distinction based on a so-called race, skin colour, ascending or national or ethnic origin, constitutes direct discrimination, except in the assumptions referred to in Articles 8, 10 and 11.
§ 2. Any direct distinction based on nationality constitutes direct discrimination, unless objectively justified by a legitimate purpose and the means to achieve this objective are appropriate and necessary.
Paragraph 1 does not, however, justify a direct distinction based on nationality that would be prohibited by the law of the European Union.
Art. 8. § 1er. In the field of labour relations, a direct distinction based on a so-called race, skin colour, ascending or national or ethnic origin can only be justified on the basis of an essential and determinant professional requirement.
§ 2. It can only be a question of an essential and determining professional requirement when:
- a specific characteristic, linked to a so-called race, skin colour, ascending or national or ethnic origin, is essential and decisive because of the specific nature of the relevant professional activity or the context of its execution, and
- the requirement is based on a legitimate objective and is proportionate to it.
§ 3. It is up to the judge to verify, on a case-by-case basis, whether such a particular characteristic constitutes an essential and determining professional requirement.
§ 4. The King may establish, by deliberate order in the Council of Ministers, after consultation with the bodies referred to in Article 10 § 4, an exemplative list of situations in which a specific characteristic constitutes, in accordance with § 2, an essential and determinant professional requirement.
In the absence of one of the organs consulted to make a statement within two months of the application, the notice is deemed positive.
CHAPTER II. - Rationale of indirect distinctions
Art. 9. Any indirect distinction based on one of the protected criteria constitutes indirect discrimination, unless the apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice that is based on this indirect distinction is objectively justified by a legitimate objective and the means to achieve this objective are appropriate and necessary.
CHAPTER III. - General justification
Art. 10. § 1er. A direct or indirect distinction based on one of the protected criteria is not considered in any form of discrimination, where this direct or indirect distinction is a positive action.
§ 2. A positive action measure can only be implemented through the following conditions:
- there must be manifest inequality;
- the disappearance of this inequality must be designated as an objective to promote;
- the positive action measure must be of a temporary nature, being likely to disappear as soon as the objective is reached;
- the affirmative action measure must not unnecessarily restrict the rights of others.
§ 3. In accordance with the conditions set out in § 2, the King determines, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, the assumptions and conditions under which a positive action measure can be implemented.
§ 4. In the area of labour relations and supplementary social security schemes, the royal decrees referred to in § 3 are adopted:
- in respect of the public sector, after consultation, as the case may be, of the competent consultation or negotiation committee referred to in the Act of 19 December 1974 organizing relations between the public authorities and the trade unions of agents under these authorities, or of the designated body of trade union consultation for the administrations, services and institutions to which the latter law does not apply.
- in the private sector, after consultation with the National Labour Council.
In the absence of one of the organs consulted to make a statement within two months of the application, the notice is deemed positive.
Art. 11. § 1er. A direct or indirect distinction based on one of the protected criteria shall not be considered in any form of discrimination prohibited by this Act when this direct or indirect distinction is imposed by or under a law.
§ 2. However, paragraph 1 does not prejudge the conformity of direct or indirect distinctions imposed by or under a law with the Constitution, European Union law and international law in force in Belgium.
PART III
CHAPTER Ier. - Prohibition of discrimination
Art. 12. In areas within the scope of this Act, any form of discrimination is prohibited. For the purpose of this title, discrimination means:
- direct discrimination;
- indirect discrimination;
- the order to discriminate;
- Harassment.
CHAPTER II. - Protection devices
Art. 13. The provisions that are contrary to this Act are null and void, as well as the contractual clauses that provide that one or more contractors shall waive the rights guaranteed by this Act in advance.
Art. 14. § 1er. Where a complaint is filed by or for the benefit of a person because of a violation of this Act in another area than that of labour relations and supplementary social security schemes, the person against whom the complaint is directed may not take a detrimental action against the person concerned, except for reasons that are outside the complaint.
§ 2. In the sense of § 1er, it is necessary to hear by complaint:
- a substantiated complaint filed by the person concerned with the organization or institution against which the complaint is directed, in accordance with the procedures in force;
- a reasoned complaint filed for the benefit of the person concerned by a group of interests or by the Centre;
- a legal action brought by the person concerned;
- a legal action brought to the benefit of the person concerned by a group of interests or by the Centre.
The reasoned complaint referred to in paragraph 1er, first and second dash is dated, signed and notified by registered letter to the position, in which grievances to the author of the alleged discrimination are exposed.
§ 3. When a detrimental action is taken against the person concerned within 12 months of the introduction of the complaint, it is up to the person against whom the complaint is directed to prove that the detrimental measure has been adopted on grounds that are outside the complaint.
Where a legal action has been brought by or for the benefit of the person concerned, the 12-month period referred to in paragraph 1 is extended by a period of three months following the day that the decision reached has passed into force of evidence.
§ 4. When it was found that a detrimental measure was adopted in contravention of § 1er, the author of the measure must pay to the person concerned damages, the amount of which corresponds to the choice of the person, either to the lump sum compensation referred to in Article 16, § 2, or to the damage that the person actually suffered. In the latter case, it is up to the person concerned to prove the extent of the harm she suffered.
§ 5. The protection referred to in this article is also applicable to persons who intervene as witnesses by the fact that, as part of the in-struction of a complaint referred to in § 2, they are known to the person to whom the complaint is filed, in a document dated and signed, the facts that they have themselves seen or heard and that are in relation to the situation that is the subject of the complaint, or by the fact that they are witnesses in court.
§ 6. At the request of the respondent party, the judge who is seized of the application referred to in § 2 may decide to shorten the time limits referred to in § 3.
Art. 15. § 1er. Where a complaint is filed by or for the benefit of a person because of a violation of this Act in the area of labour relations and supplementary social security schemes, the employer may not adopt a detrimental measure against that person, except on grounds that are alien to that complaint.
§ 2. For the purposes of this article, a detrimental measure includes the rupture of the working relationship, the unilateral modification of the working conditions or the detrimental measure that occurred after the termination of the working relationship.
§ 3. For the purposes of this article, a complaint must be heard:
- a reasoned complaint filed by the person concerned at the level of the company or the service that handles it, in accordance with the procedures in force;
- a substantiated complaint filed by the Directorate General Control of the Social Laws of the Federal Public Service Employment, Labour and Social Concertation, for the benefit of the person concerned, against the company or the service that handles it;
- a reasoned complaint filed for the benefit of the person concerned by a group of interests or by the Centre to the company or the service that handles it;
- a legal action brought by the person concerned;
- a legal action brought to the benefit of the person concerned by a group of interests or by the Centre.
The reasoned complaint referred to in paragraph 1er, first to second dash is dated, signed and notified by registered letter to the position, in which grievances to the author of the alleged discrimination are exposed.
§ 4. When the employer adopts a detrimental measure against the person concerned within twelve months of the introduction of the complaint, it is up to the person against whom the complaint is directed to prove that the detrimental measure was adopted on grounds that are outside the complaint.
Where a legal action has been brought by or for the benefit of the person concerned, the twelve-month period referred to in paragraph 1 shall be extended until a period of three months following the day the decision reached has passed into force of a judgment.
§ 5. When the employer adopts a detrimental measure against the person concerned in contravention of § 1er, that person or group of interests to which he or she is affiliated requests his or her reinstatement in the company or service or to let him perform his or her duties under the same conditions as previously.
The application shall be filed by a registered letter to the position within 30 days after the date of notification of notice, termination without notice or unilateral change of working conditions. The employer must take a position on this application within thirty days of its notification.
The employer who reintegrates the person into the business or in its previous service or lets him perform his or her duties under the same conditions as previously, is required to pay the lost remuneration as a result of termination or modification of the working conditions, and to pay the contributions of employers and workers related to that remuneration.
This paragraph does not apply where the detrimental measure occurs after the termination of the working relationship.
§ 6. Failure to reinstate or allow him to perform his or her duties under the same conditions as previously specified in § 5, paragraph 1erand where the detrimental measure was found to be contrary to the provisions of § 1er, the employer must pay the person concerned equal compensation, according to the choice of the person, either to a lump sum corresponding to the gross remuneration of six months or to the actual injury suffered by the person concerned, to the person concerned to prove the extent of the injury, in the latter case.
§ 7. The employer is required to pay the same compensation, without the person or group of interests to which it is affiliated having to apply the application referred to in § 5 for reinstatement in the business or service or for the performance of its duties under the same conditions as previously:
1 where the competent court has considered the facts of discrimination that form the subject of the complaint to be established;
2° where the person concerned breaks the working relationship, because the employer's behaviour is contrary to the provisions of § 1er, which, according to the person concerned, constitutes a reason to break the working relationship without notice or to terminate it before its expiry;
3° where the employer has broken the employment relationship for serious reasons, and provided that the competent court has found this unfounded breach in contradiction with the provisions of § 1er.
§ 8. When the detrimental measure occurs after the termination of the working relationship and is deemed to be contrary to § 1er, the employer is required to pay the compensation provided for in § 6.
§ 9. The protection referred to in this article is also applicable to persons who intervene as witnesses by the fact that, in the course of the investigation of a complaint referred to in § 3, they are known to the person in whom the complaint is filed, in a document dated and signed, the facts that they themselves have seen or heard and that are in relation to the situation that is the subject of a complaint or by the fact that they intervene in court.
§ 10. The provisions of this Article shall also apply to persons other than employers who occupy persons in employment relations, or who assign duties to them.
Art. 16. § 1er. In the event of discrimination, the victim may claim compensation for his or her injury under the law of contractual or extra-contractual liability.
In the following circumstances, the person who contravened the prohibition of discrimination must pay the victim a corresponding compensation, depending on the choice of the victim, either to a lump sum fixed in accordance with § 2, or to the damage actually suffered by the victim. In the latter case, the victim must prove the extent of the harm suffered by the victim.
§ 2. Damage and flat interest referred to in § 1er are set as follows:
1° excluding the following hypothesis, the lump-sum compensation for the moral damage suffered as a result of discrimination is set at a sum of 650 euros; This amount is increased to Euro1,300 in the event that the offender cannot demonstrate that the adverse or disadvantageous litigious treatment would also have been adopted in the absence of discrimination, or because of other circumstances, such as the seriousness of the moral injury suffered;
2° if the victim claims compensation for the moral and material damage that she suffered as a result of discrimination in the context of labour relations or supplementary social security schemes, the lump-sum compensation for material and moral damage is equivalent to six months of gross remuneration, unless the employer demonstrates that the adverse or disadvantageous litigation would also have been adopted in the absence of discrimination; in the latter case, lump-sum compensation for material and moral damage is limited to three months of gross remuneration; if the material damage resulting from discrimination in the context of labour relations or supplementary social security regimes may nevertheless be repaired through the application of the penalty of nullity provided for in Article 13, the lump-sum damages shall be fixed according to the provisions of point 1°.
Art. 17. The judge may, at the request of the victim of discrimination, the Centre or any of the groupings of interest, or the Public Prosecutor's Office or the Labour Auditor's Office when he or she has taken the jurisdiction pursuant to Article 15 of the Law of 10 May 2007 adapting the Judicial Code to the legislation to combat discrimination and punishing certain acts inspired by racism or xenophobia, condemning the payment of an offence against discrimination The judge shall rule in accordance with articles 1385bis to 1385nonies of the Judicial Code.
Art. 18. § 1er. At the request of the victim of discrimination, the Centre, one of the groupings of interest, the Public Prosecutor's Office or, depending on the nature of the act, the auditorate of the work, the President of the Court of First Instance, or, depending on the nature of the act, the President of the Labour Court or the Commercial Court, finds the existence and orders the termination of an act, even criminally repressed, which constitutes a breach of the law.
The president of the court may order the lifting of the termination as soon as it is proven that it has been terminated.
§ 2. At the request of the victim, the president of the court may award the lump sum compensation referred to in Article 16, § 2.
§ 3. The President of the court may prescribe the posting of his or her decision or the summary that he or she prepares, during the period that he or she determines, both outside and within the institutions of the offender or the premises of the offender, and order the publication or dissemination of his or her judgment or the summary of the judgment by newspapers or in any other way, at all costs of the offender.
These advertising measures may only be prescribed if they are likely to contribute to the termination of the offence or its effects.
§ 4. Action based on § 1er is formed and educated according to the forms of the referee.
It may be filed by request, established in four copies and sent by registered letter to the post or filed at the office of the competent court.
Under penalty of nullity, the request contains:
1° the indication of days, months and year;
2° the name, first name, occupation and domicile of the applicant;
3° the name and address of the natural or legal person against whom the application is formed.
4° the object and presentation of the means of the application.
The clerk of the court promptly informed the opposing party by judicial fold, to which is attached a copy of the request, and invited him to appear no later than three days, no later than eight days after the pleading was sent.
It is decided on the action notwithstanding any prosecution due to the same facts before any criminal court.
When the facts submitted to the criminal judge are the subject of an action on termination, it can only be decided on criminal action after a decision in force of a finding has been made with respect to the action on termination. The statute of limitations of public action is suspended during the occurrence.
The judgment is enforceable by provision, notwithstanding any appeal and without bail. It is communicated by the Registrar of the Court, without delay, to all parties and to the King's Prosecutor.
§ 5. The provisions of this article shall not prejudice the competence of the Council of State, as defined by the coordinated laws of 12 January 1973 on the Council of State.
PART IV. - Criminal provisions
Art. 19. For the purposes of this title, discrimination means any form of intentional direct discrimination, intentional indirect discrimination, injunction to discriminate or harassment, based on a protected criterion.
Art. 20. Is punishable by imprisonment from one month to one year and a fine of fifty euros to one thousand euros, or one of these penalties only:
1° Whoever, in any of the circumstances set out in section 444 of the Criminal Code, incites discrimination against a person, because of one of the criteria protected, even outside the areas referred to in section 5;
2° Whoever, in any of the circumstances set out in section 444 of the Criminal Code, incites hatred or violence against a person, because of one of the criteria protected, even outside the areas referred to in section 5;
3° Any person who, in any of the circumstances set out in section 444 of the Criminal Code, incites discrimination or segregation in respect of a group, community or members, on the basis of one of the protected criteria, even outside the areas referred to in section 5;
4° Any person who, in any of the circumstances set out in section 444 of the Criminal Code, incites hatred or violence against a group, community or members, because of one of the criteria protected, even outside the areas covered by section 5.
Art. 21. Anyone who, in one of the circumstances set out in Article 444 of the Criminal Code, disseminates ideas based on racial superiority or hatred, shall be punished by imprisonment from one month to one year and a fine of 50 euros to one thousand euros, or only one of these penalties.
Art. 22. It is punishable by imprisonment from one month to one year and a fine of fifty euros to one thousand euros, or of one of these penalties only, who is a member of a group or association that, in a manifest and repeated manner, advocates discrimination or segregation based on one of the criteria protected under the circumstances set out in Article 444 of the Criminal Code, or lends it its assistance.
Art. 23. A prison term of two months to two years shall be punished by any public official or officer, any depositary or agent of the authority or public force who, in the performance of his or her duties, discriminates against a person because of one of the protected criteria.
The same penalties apply where the facts are committed in respect of a group, community and members because of one of the protected criteria.
If the accused justifies that he acted by order of his superiors for objects of the jurisdiction of them and on which he was due hierarchical obedience, the penalties are applied only to the superiors who gave the order.
If public officials or officers who have been warned of having ordered, authorized or facilitated the above-mentioned arbitrary acts claim that their signature has been surprised, they shall be held by, where appropriate, stopping the act, denouncing the perpetrator; otherwise, they are prosecuted personally.
If one of the above-mentioned arbitrary acts is committed by means of the false signature of a public official, the perpetrators of the false and those who, misfortunely or fraudulently, use them shall be punished by imprisonment from ten years to fifteen years.
Art. 24. Whoever, in the field referred to in Article 5, § 1er, 1°, commits discrimination against a person because of one of the criteria protected, is punishable by imprisonment from one month to one year and a fine of fifty euros to thousand euros, or one of these penalties only.
The same penalties apply where discrimination is committed against a group, community or members because of one of the protected criteria.
Art. 25. Anyone who, in the area of labour relations, commits discrimination against a person on the basis of one of the criteria protected, is liable to imprisonment from one month to one year and to a fine of 50 euros to one thousand euros, or only one of these penalties.
The same penalties apply where discrimination is committed against a group, community or members because of one of the protected criteria.
Art. 26. The penalty shall be imposed by imprisonment from one month to one year and a fine of fifty euros to one thousand euros, or by one of these penalties only, those who do not comply with a judgment or judgment rendered under section 18 following an action on termination.
Art. 27. In the event of an offence under articles 20 to 26, the convict may also be sentenced to the prohibition in accordance with section 33 of the Criminal Code.
Art. 28. All provisions of Book 1 of the Penal Code, without exception of Chapter VII and Article 85, are applicable to offences covered by this Act.
PART V. - Charge of proof
Art. 29. The provisions of this Title shall apply to all jurisdictional proceedings, except for criminal proceedings.
For the purpose of this title, discrimination means:
- direct discrimination;
- indirect discrimination;
- the order to discriminate;
- Harassment.
Art. 30. § 1er. Where a person who considers himself to be a victim of discrimination, the Centre or any of the interest groups invokes facts before the competent court that presume the existence of discrimination on the basis of one of the protected criteria, the respondent is responsible for proving that there has been no discrimination.
§ 2. By facts that allow us to presume the existence of direct discrimination based on a protected criterion, are understood, inter alia, but not exclusively:
1° the elements that reveal a certain recurrence of unfavourable treatment with respect to persons sharing a protected criterion; among other things, various isolated reports made to the Centre or one of the interest groups; or
2° the evidence that reveals that the situation of the victim of the more unfavourable treatment is comparable to the situation of the reference person.
§ 3. By facts that allow us to presume the existence of indirect discrimination based on a protected criterion, are understood, inter alia, but not exclusively:
1° of general statistics on the situation of the group of persons who have been discriminated against or of general knowledge; or
2° the use of a criterion of intrinsically suspicious distinction; or
3° of basic statistical material that reveals unfavourable treatment.
PART VI. - Competent bodies
Art. 31. The Centre may be brought to justice in disputes to which the application of this Act would take place.
Art. 32. May be brought to justice in disputes to which the application of this Act would give rise, where prejudice is brought for the statutory purposes that they have given themselves for the purpose of pursuing:
1° any institution of public utility and any association, which has enjoyed legal personality for at least three years at the date of the facts, and proposes by its statutes to defend human rights or combat discrimination;
2° the representative organisations of workers and employers, referred to in Article 3 of the Act of 5 December 1968 on collective labour agreements and parity commissions;
3° the representative organizations within the meaning of the law of 19 December 1974 organizing relations between the public authorities and the trade unions of the agents under these authorities;
4° the representative trade union organizations within the designated trade union body for the administrations, services or institutions for which the law of 19 December 1974 regulating the relations between the public authorities and the trade unions of agents under these authorities is not applicable;
5° the representative organisations of the independent workers.
Art. 33. When the victim of discrimination is an identified natural person or legal person, the action of the Centre and interest groups will only be admissible if they prove that they have received the consent of the victim.
PART VII. - Monitoring
Art. 34. Without prejudice to the powers of judicial police officers, officials designated by the King shall monitor compliance with this Act and its enforcement orders.
These officials exercise this oversight in accordance with the provisions of the Labour Inspection Act of 16 November 1972. »
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 10 May 2007.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Social Integration,
C. DUPONT
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. L. ONKELINX