New game rental law introduced in Belgium

New game rental legislation has been introduced in Belgium following a petition by the representative body for publishers in the region.

The Belgian Entertainment Association said it believes that the rental business is harmful to the gaming industry because of its impact on sales.

Kotaku reported that the petition led to local authorities issuing a ban on game rental in the region, but the Association's managing director has since denied the claim.

"Stores can still put out rental copies. They just have to get permission to do so," Olivier Maeterlinck told Edge Online. "In most countries a rental point must get permission for renting out.

"We are no longer any different to this system, but that doesn’t mean we are ‘banning’ game rentals.”

However, a spokesperson for Belgium’s biggest specialist game retail chain GameMania said: “It will still be legal, yes, but the problem is that it is no longer feasible. We cannot establish rental deals with any of the major publishers, and so we will be terminating our game rental business.”