News from Belgium: The Brussels-Capital Region has created a new Brussels circular to promote social clauses and a Federal guide is scheduled for publication in Spring 20113. Promoting the use of social clauses in public procurement is growing in Belgium.

SAW-B, a federation of various social economy structures is the privileged partner of the Public Authorities for continuing the work of awareness-raising, training and progress in building legislation in this field. The new Circular is an indicative text aimed to incite people. It presents social clauses in a detailed pedagogical manner; they can be included in the specifications in tenders for public procurement. This is the translation of a political will to concentrate on these clauses via a clear, accessible text and to make financial means available and operational. They aim to enable the implementation of proactive policy that takes initiatives. Actiris, the body responsible for employment issues in the Region of Brussels-Capital is to play the role of « coordinator the mission of social clauses ». SAW-B will support this mission through their expertise in prospective analysis, their help-desk service for decision-making bodies that wish to introduce such clauses, and for social economy enterprises that wish to participate in public procurement tenders. It is also worth noting that that the Circular supports the existing clause that reserves part of the market for the social economy sector, and opens the door to a clause on sub-contracting. Finally, the text welcomes training and inclusion as a criterion in tenders in public procurement. The federal services in charge of social economy are also working with SAW-B on developing a guide for implementing social clauses. Additional information: SAW-B – Tél. : 071/53.28.30 – Email :info@saw-b.be – Web-site : www.saw-b.be