Belgian law allows dentists to advertise

Dentists in Belgium can now promote their practices to the public, albeit within the regulations for all healthcare professionals.

The Belgian law of 30 October 2018 concerning several amendments to legislation applicable in the healthcare sector (the Healthcare Act) was published on 16 November 2018.

The Healthcare Act 2018 has a new legal provision relating to the information that healthcare professionals may provide to the public in connection with their practices. The law imposes less restrictive measures on dentists informing the public about their practices, but at the same time regulates advertisements for healthcare practices for all healthcare professionals.

The reason for the legal change is that in 2017 The European Court of Justice ruled that dentists should not be banned from advertising their services, as a national ban contradicts EU law. The European Court of Justice ruled that the then Belgian legislation that explicitly prohibited any advertising related to oral and dental care services and as such was incompatible with European rules.