False Accusation to the Authorities in Belgium: Lasterlijke Aangifte and How It Differs from Defamation

Reporting someone to the police, a prosecutor, or another authority is not the same act as defaming them in conversation or in print, and Belgian law treats it as its own offense. Lasterlijke aangifte in Dutch, dénonciation calomnieuse in French, punishes a malicious, false, written complaint made to an authority, and it sits in the same old chapter of the Strafwetboek/Code pénal as ordinary defamation, at article 445, but it is a genuinely different wrong, with its own elements and its own penalty.

Read article 445 closely and it actually contains two limbs, which is easy to miss because most summaries describe only the first. The first covers a written calumnious denunciation made to the authorities, which is the police-report case. The second covers written calumnious imputations addressed to a person against that person's own subordinate, which is the case of writing to someone's employer about them. Both sit in article 445, and which limb applies turns on who received the writing. Only the first involves the authorities at all.

This page focuses on that specific offense and on what actually separates it from the laster/calomnie and eerroof/diffamation offenses covered on the companion defamation page.

Information last verified on 21 July 2026. This page provides general legal information and does not constitute legal advice in an individual case.

What lasterlijke aangifte/dénonciation calomnieuse actually punishes

Article 445 of the Strafwetboek/Code pénal punishes someone who maliciously makes a false, written complaint against a person to a judicial authority, an administrative authority, or someone with the power to act on it, such as an employer with disciplinary authority over the person accused. The penalty is imprisonment of 15 days to 6 months, together with a fine, again subject to the opdecimes multiplier described on the companion defamation page.

What the offense actually targets is the act of reporting itself: a formal complaint, in writing, made to someone in a position of authority over the person being accused. That is a narrower and different act from making a defamatory statement to the public or to the person concerned, which is what the ordinary laster/calomnie and eerroof/diffamation offenses at articles 443 and 444 punish.

How it differs from ordinary defamation

Three things separate a false accusation to authority from ordinary defamation.

The audience is different. Laster/calomnie and eerroof/diffamation are about harming someone's reputation with other people generally, including the public. Lasterlijke aangifte/dénonciation calomnieuse is about a complaint made specifically to an authority capable of acting on it.

The form is different. The offense at article 445 requires a written complaint. An oral accusation, or a spoken statement damaging someone's reputation, falls to be judged under the ordinary defamation offenses instead, not under article 445.

The mental state required is different, too. Ordinary eerroof/diffamation does not require the accused to know the imputed fact is false, since the law simply does not admit proof of it either way. Lasterlijke aangifte/dénonciation calomnieuse, by contrast, requires malice and falsity together: a complaint made in the genuine, honest belief that it was true, even if that belief later turns out to be mistaken, is not this offense.

Why the distinction matters

Someone who reports a crime, a workplace problem, or a regulatory violation in good faith, and turns out to be wrong, has not committed lasterlijke aangifte/dénonciation calomnieuse. The offense requires malice: an intention to harm through a complaint the person making it knew or should have known was false. This matters because the fear of being accused of this offense should not by itself discourage someone from raising a genuine concern with the right authority.

What it does reach is the opposite situation: using a formal complaint to a judicial authority, an employer, or another body with power over the accused person as a weapon, while knowing the complaint is false.

What changes on 1 September 2026

The same wholesale replacement of the Penal Code discussed on the companion defamation page renumbers this offense too. Article 445 becomes article 242 under the new code, which enters into force on 1 September 2026. The elements described on this page are current law up to that date; after it, look for the new article number.

This page describes Belgium's offense of a malicious false complaint to authority and does not amount to legal advice for an individual situation. Whether a specific complaint meets the malice and falsity elements article 445 requires depends on the exact facts. Check the current text on ejustice.just.fgov.be, or consult a lawyer, before acting on anything here.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is lasterlijke aangifte or dénonciation calomnieuse?

It is the offense, at article 445 of the Strafwetboek/Code pénal, of maliciously making a false, written complaint against someone to a judicial or other authority capable of acting on it, punished with imprisonment of 15 days to 6 months plus a fine.

How is this different from ordinary defamation?

Ordinary laster/calomnie and eerroof/diffamation punish damaging someone's reputation with other people generally. Article 445 punishes a specific act, a written complaint to an authority, and requires both malice and falsity together, which ordinary defamation does not always require.

Can I be prosecuted for reporting something to the police that turns out to be wrong?

Not under article 445, if you genuinely believed the complaint was true when you made it. The offense requires malice, meaning the complaint was made knowing, or with reason to know, that it was false.

Does a false accusation have to be in writing to count as this offense?

Yes. Article 445 requires a written complaint. A false spoken accusation is judged instead under the ordinary defamation offenses, not under article 445.

What is the penalty for a malicious false complaint in Belgium?

Imprisonment of 15 days to 6 months plus a fine under article 445, with the fine actually imposed multiplied by the opdecimes, currently ten as of 1 February 2026, above the bare figure in the article.

Will this offense's article number change?

Yes. A new Penal Code entering into force on 1 September 2026 renumbers article 445 as article 242. The conduct described on this page reflects the current article 445 in force until that date.