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This paper investigates the importance and scope of legal and administrative barriers in Belgium as compared to its main trade partners within the framework of the recent Bolkestein directive proposal. After a short review of the literature on the impacts of economic deregulation on macro-economic performances as well as a summary of the contents and aims of the EU services directive proposal, the paper presents various indicators reflecting the intensity as well as the heterogeneity of legal and administrative requirements and rules at the macro and meso-economic levels. These indicators allow one to compare the Belgian situation with the one of its main trade partners as well as its evolution over the recent period. On the whole, Belgium appears to be in an intermediate situation as regards the level of deregulation of its economy (before France and Germany and behind The Netherlands and UK) and this level has increased over the recent past. JEL : F13, K23, L51