Les tests de situation et la méthode du client-mystère comme outils de détection et de preuve des discriminations (The Use of Situation Testing and Mystery Shopping to Identify and Prove Discrimination)

Emerged in the UK and the US in the 1960s, the method of situation testing is considered by many researchers as one of the most efficient means to highlight and measure discrimination. First in the US, then in other countries, situation testing have also been used as a means to identify discrimination with a view to suing the perpetrator and/or as a means of proof in legal cases. In Belgium, the use of situation testing as a tool to monitor antidiscrimination legislation and as evidentary means has generated heated debates since the early 2000s. This chapter explores to what extent and under what conditions discrimination testing can be used to achieve these two objectives (monitoring the legislation and proving discrimination in court). Part I specifies the meaning of 'discrimination test', 'situation testing' and 'mystery shopping'. Part II examines the question whether a discrimination test carried out by a private person or a NGO can be accepted as valid means of proof in court. Finally in Part III, we discuss the conditions under which, under Belgian legislation, discrimination testing can be performed by labour inspectors