Overall assessment

• Author: Nathalie Wuiame
• Pages: 66-66

66

12 Overall assessment

The following specific transposition problems were mentioned in this report:

- lack of implementing royal decrees for positive action in the public sector and to

cover access to and provision of goods and services;

- lack of implementation of a royal decree to allow services or goods p rovided only to

same-sex persons;

- protection against victimisation for witnesses must be formally adapted following the

ECJ ruling in case Hakelbracht C 404/18;

- full implementation of Article 15 of Directive 2006/54 through the ad option of a law

explicitly providing that a woman is entitled, upon her retu rn from maternity leave ,

to her job or to a post with terms a nd conditions that are not less favourable, and

should benefit from any improvement in working conditions to which she would have

been entitled during her absence.

Apart from the obvious gaps described above, in the view of the expert, the main

weaknesses of the transposition are the following:

- the unnecessary complication of the conc epts used in th e trio of anti -discrimination

laws adopted on 10 May 2007;

- the necessity for a victim of sexual harassment who is an employee to rely on the

Welfare at Work Act to the exclusion of the Gender Act of 10 May 2007, which would

grant her/him a better protection;

- the questionable effectiveness of the remedies available to victims;

- the uneasy coexistence of federal and federate legislation concerning matters

covered by EU law.

In the view of the expert, the following can be considered examples of p ositive

implementation that exceed the requirements of EU law:

- the provisions aimed at protecting pregnancy and maternity are regarded as a

condition for gender equality in employment;

- gender equality in statutory social security schemes also applies to family benefits

and survivor’s benefits;

- the whole statutory social security scheme for self -employed workers is also

applicable to assisting spouses or registered partners;

- education and media are not excluded from th e material scope of legis lation in the

context of gender equality in access to goods and services; and

- the Belgian federal legislation exceeds the EU requirements in relation to the equality

body: under its Institution Act of 16 December 2002, the Institute for the Equality of

Women and Men is authorised to initiate litigation in order to enforce the principle of

gender equality;

- the generous system of leaves for family related reasons offers great flexibility to

parents of children up to the age of 12.