Codification of Belgian labour law: An emerging resurrection?

This article examines the history of codification sensu lato of Belgian labour law, from the 1900s up until the present. While there have been initiatives to rearrange, restructure and reorganise parts of Belgian labour law, such initiatives stalled from the 1980s onwards. Belgian labour law – which to a large extent falls under the jurisdiction/competence of the Belgian federal state (and not its regions) – therefore largely remains a collection of thematic and non-thematic legislative acts and executive decrees. However, from 2010 onwards, codifications have been achieved in the field of social criminal law and occupational health and safety. In a context of (re-)codification of many other important areas of Belgian law (such as civil law, company law, economic law and criminal law), it is currently being examined whether it is still feasible to codify Belgian labour law, or a part of it.