ABSTRACT
Like many other countries, Belgium is experiencing a major digital divide. The increasing digitisation of service provision therefore runs the risk of causing significant indirect discrimination against people in vulnerable situations, whether because of their age, disability or socio-economic situation, for example. The interpretation of the “general” principles of equality and non-discrimination, as practised by the Constitutional Court, already offers resources to tackle this phenomenon. The aim of this chapter is to show how the Legislation Section of the Belgian Council of State has applied these resources, combining them in some cases with the more recent constitutional guarantee dedicated to the inclusion of people with disabilities. On the basis of this assessment, this chapter will critically examine the added value, in terms of the protection of the persons concerned, that the insertion of a new provision expressly guaranteeing the right “not to use the Internet” could represent. Our conclusion is that this added value, which is not negligible, cannot be fully concrete and effective without any supplementary legislative implementation, and without coordination of the various political authorities in federal Belgium (Federal State, Communities and Regions), which is certainly not simple.
