Where things stand
Belgium does not yet have a voted or published law requiring every employer to record working time. 1 January 2027 is the date the government announced and that appears in the preliminary draft bill, not a legally fixed start date. On 30/09/2026 the National Labour Council issued a split advice (no. 2.499); the Council of State, the Chamber and publication in the Belgian Official Gazette still have to follow, so a later start is plausible.
We update this page as soon as a bill is filed in the Chamber or something is published in the Official Gazette.
Legal note: This page is general information, not legal advice. As of 10/10/2026, a general registration duty has not been voted or published in the Belgian Official Gazette. For your own situation, consult your payroll provider or legal adviser.
Timeline: from announcement to law
Every step with its date and source, the most recent at the bottom. A step that has not happened yet is not listed as a fact.
02/10/2025
Split advice on the principle
The Minister of Employment asked the National Labour Council whether working-time registration should become mandatory. The advice is divided: the workers' organisations call for a general electronic registration, the employers' organisations consider a general duty undesirable.
National Labour Council, advice no. 2.462late November 2025
Budget agreement: the government aims for 1 January 2027 at the latest
In the budget agreement, the federal government states that it will comply with the Working Time Directive and the case law of the Court of Justice by 1 January 2027 at the latest. In the absence of a unanimous advice, the government drafts a proposal itself.
Belgian Chamber, DOC 56 1353/001, p. 605/02/2026
Draft resolution in the Chamber
A draft resolution asks the government to write the principle of registration into the Labour Act, leaving the employer broad freedom on how to do it. A resolution is not a law.
Belgian Chamber, DOC 56 1353/00126/03/2026
Preliminary draft bill sent to the National Labour Council
The Minister of Employment submits to the National Labour Council a preliminary draft bill introducing a general duty to record working time, asking for advice within two months. What the text proposes is set out below.
National Labour Council, advice no. 2.499, p. 103/06/2026
The minister confirms the duty, with a transition period
In the Chamber's Social Affairs committee, the Minister of Employment refers to the government's decision to make working-time registration mandatory, with a planned transition period, and says the duty will also apply to flexi-jobs. The report mentions 1 January and 1 April as dates, with the year 2026, which given the announced timeline appears to be a clerical error.
Belgian Chamber, DOC 56 1526/003, p. 9330/09/2026
Split advice on the draft bill
The National Labour Council could not reach a unanimous position. Employee organisations support a general duty but find the draft falls short. Employer organisations primarily ask not to introduce a general duty and, failing that, to keep it as light as possible. An advice of the Council does not bind the government.
National Labour Council, advice no. 2.49910/10/2026
No bill yet, nothing in the Official Gazette
At our check on 10/10/2026 we found no bill on working-time registration filed in the Chamber and no publication in the Belgian Official Gazette.
Belgian Official Gazette
What still has to happen
- 1.The government decides what to do with the advice and puts the text back before the Council of Ministers.
- 2.The Council of State gives its opinion on the text.
- 3.The government files a bill in the Chamber, where it is debated and voted in committee and in plenary.
- 4.The law is published in the Belgian Official Gazette. Only then are its content and start date fixed.
No date has been announced for any of these steps. With less than three months to go until 1/1/2027, and employer organisations asking for at least a year after publication, a later start is plausible. It is not certain.
What is still open
- The final start date and the length of the transition period.
- Whether the system must also be explicitly accessible, and which data must be recorded at a minimum, such as breaks.
- Whether recording only deviations from the schedule is enough.
- Which employees fall outside the duty.
- The retention period and the penalties.
- Whether the existing arrangements, such as those for flexible schedules and part-time work, will remain alongside the new duty.
What the draft bill proposes
This is what the preliminary draft bill contains as it was submitted to the National Labour Council. A preliminary draft is not a law: the text can still change after the advice, at the Council of State and in the Chamber.
A new Article 38quinquies in the Labour Act
Every employer sets up a system that records the daily and weekly working time of each employee in an objective and reliable way. The duty applies to both the private and the public sector.
National Labour Council, advice no. 2.499, p. 1Free form, deviations may be enough
The article does not prescribe a form: no time clock, no specific software. A system that only records deviations from the fixed or variable schedule is sufficient, as long as the working time actually performed can be established objectively and reliably.
National Labour Council, advice no. 2.499, p. 1-2Excluded employees
Family workers, managerial staff and staff in positions of trust, sales representatives and travelling staff. According to the advice, homeworkers, including teleworkers, are also excluded. Other categories can be excluded by royal decree.
National Labour Council, advice no. 2.499, p. 2 and 7Keep records for five years
The data is kept for five years from the moment it is entered. This is not stated in the advice itself, but in payroll provider Partena's analysis of the preliminary draft.
Partena, FAQ on working-time registration (22/09/2026, in Dutch)In force on 1/1/2027, with time until the end of March 2027
The text sets 1 January 2027 as the start date. Employers who do not yet have a system by then have until the end of the first quarter of 2027 to comply.
National Labour Council, advice no. 2.499, p. 23
Positions in the National Labour Council advice
Advice no. 2.499 sets out two positions side by side. We summarise them without taking sides.
Employee organisations
- Support a general registration duty and find that it comes late.
- The system must also be accessible, as the Court of Justice requires: for the employee, the inspectorate, the labour prosecutor and employee representatives, at every workplace and at any moment.
- A register of deviations alone is not enough. Actual daily working time must be recorded, breaks included.
- A minimum data set written into the law, modelled on flexible schedules (Art. 20ter Labour Act).
- Electronic registration as the starting point.
- A level 2 penalty per employee concerned, as today for flexible schedules, and a reversal of the burden of proof if the employer does not record.
- No exclusion of staff in positions of trust, teleworkers or travelling staff.
Employer organisations
- First and foremost: no general legal duty. In their view, existing Belgian law is sufficient.
- If the duty comes anyway: free choice of system, and existing documents and systems that already contain working time should be enough.
- Recording only deviations from the schedule should be possible, for full-time and part-time employees.
- The chosen system is automatically included in the work regulations, without the usual amendment procedure.
- At least one year after publication in the Belgian Official Gazette. They call the deadline of the end of March 2027 unworkable.
- Presence at the workplace is not always working time, and registration must not widen the concept of working time for pay purposes.
- Teleworkers, travelling staff and managers stay excluded.
What the government will do with these comments is not yet known.
What already applies
Apart from 2027, registration duties already exist. In short, with the source and, where available, a detailed explanation:
No general registration duty
Belgium currently has no general legal duty to record the working time of every employee. Such a duty does exist for a number of arrangements and sectors.
Flexible (sliding) schedules
Employers using flexible (sliding) schedules must have a time-tracking system recording, per employee, the duration of work per day. The employee must be able to consult it and the data are kept for five years after the end of the day they relate to.
Part-time workers
Deviations from the schedule of part-time workers are recorded, in a deviation document or through a time-tracking system. These data are kept for five years.
Flexi-jobs
The work of flexi-jobbers is recorded. The NSSO lists five options: a registered cash register system, the alternative attendance registration system linked to Dimona, an electronic time-tracking system, a daily Dimona with start and end times, or a digital tachograph.
Certain sectors
Some sectors have their own attendance registration. Example: since 1/9/2024, the start, end and breaks of every worker carrying out certain cleaning activities are registered via Check In and Out at Work. From 1/4/2027 this duty also applies to works on immovable property and the delivery of ready-mixed concrete, for works of 500,000 EUR or more excluding VAT.
What does this mean for you?
As long as there is no law, nothing changes legally in what you have to do today. You can, however, use the time to choose calmly instead of at the last minute.
As a business owner
- Check whether you already have to record today. If you work with flexi-jobbers, part-time employees who deviate from their schedule or flexible schedules, you do.
- Do not wait for the final text to start, but choose an approach you can adjust: with or without breaks, full hours or deviations only.
- Expect to amend your work regulations. Without a works council, that takes at least 15 days.
- Come back to this page: the date at the top changes whenever something moves.
As an HR manager
- Map out, per group of employees, who might fall outside the duty: managers, staff in positions of trust, sales representatives, travelling staff, teleworkers. That list can still change.
- Choose a system in which a correction does not overwrite the original but is kept separately with reason, author and time. That fits objective and reliable, whichever version of the law arrives.
- Make sure employees can view their own records. Accessibility is in the CCOO judgment and is one of the points of debate in the advice.
- Keep presence and working time apart, for example for breaks and early arrival. Employer organisations make that point in the advice.
- Inform your employees in good time. From 50 employees, collective agreement no. 39 may apply when introducing new technology.
Want to start now?
Take the self-check first: one question shows whether a registration duty already applies to your team. Nobody can promise today that a system complies with Belgian law, because that law does not exist yet. Klox follows the requirements of the CCOO judgment: objective, reliable and accessible.
The European basis
On 14 May 2019, in CCOO v Deutsche Bank (C-55/18), the Court of Justice of the European Union held that Member States must require employers to set up a system enabling the duration of time worked each day by each worker to be measured.
“Consequently, in order to ensure the effectiveness of those rights provided for in Directive 2003/88 and of the fundamental right enshrined in Article 31(2) of the Charter, the Member States must require employers to set up an objective, reliable and accessible system enabling the duration of time worked each day by each worker to be measured.”
The Court left the concrete arrangements, including the form of that system, to the Member States. They may take account of the particular features of each sector and even of the size of certain undertakings (paragraph 63).
In Loredas (C-531/23, 19 December 2024), the Court confirmed that a Member State may not exempt employers of domestic workers from this registration. Belgium has not yet turned this case law into a general registration duty.
CJEU, C-531/23, LoredasWhich method is allowed?
The CCOO judgment requires a system that is objective, reliable and accessible. It does not prescribe any technology. What that means today:
No time clock required
The judgment does not impose any specific device or software. The Member State determines the form, and the Belgian preliminary draft bill leaves it free as well.
Automatic registration
No published Belgian rule currently imposes automatic or electronic registration in general. Specific arrangements, such as the one for flexi-jobs, can prescribe their own methods.
Spreadsheet or paper
There is no general ban. Whether a spreadsheet or paper record is enough depends on the arrangement that applies to your employees and on how reliably you keep it.
Who is covered, and which exceptions?
According to the preliminary draft, the duty applies to the private and public sectors, with the exceptions listed above. That list is not final: employee organisations consider it contrary to EU law, employer organisations want to widen it.
National Labour Council, advice no. 2.499What is already established:
- The Labour Act already excludes certain employees from part of the working-time rules, such as employees designated by the King who hold a managerial position or a position of trust, and sales representatives (Labour Act, art. 3, §3). Whether these exceptions will apply to the new registration duty is open.
- According to the Court of Justice, a Member State may not exempt employers of domestic workers from registration (Loredas, C-531/23).
Prepare as if the general duty also applies to your employees, and adjust as soon as the legal text sets out the exceptions.
Do you work in one of these sectors? For each sector we list what already applies, each time with the source.
Retention periods
There is no general retention period for time registration. The period depends on the arrangement. These are the periods in today's rules:
- Flexible (sliding) schedules
- Five years after the end of the day the data relate to.Labour Act, art. 20ter
- Deviations for part-time workers
- Five years. The start of the period is set out in the source.FPS Employment, part-time work
- Notice of variable part-time schedules
- One year.FPS Employment, part-time work
- Staff register and individual account
- Five years.FPS Employment, social documents
For the announced general rules, the analysis of the preliminary draft mentions five years from the moment of entry; employee organisations ask for ten years in the advice. Only the published law will fix the period.
Work regulations
The work regulations (arbeidsreglement) already state the working schedules and how work is measured and checked to determine pay. If you introduce a registration system, you therefore describe it there. Whether the new rules will require extra entries is not yet known. In the advice, employer organisations ask for the chosen system to be included automatically in the work regulations, without the usual amendment procedure; whether that happens is open.
If you have a works council, it adopts the change. If not, you post the draft for 15 days and employees can write their comments in a register. Without comments the change takes effect after those 15 days; with comments a conciliation attempt follows and it takes longer. Within eight days of it taking effect, you file the regulations via arbeidsreglement.belgie.be.
FPS Employment, work regulationsFree help
With our free generator you create a draft clause on time registration and a message for your staff in a few minutes. Have the text reviewed before you use it. Go to the generator
Penalties
No penalties have been set for the announced duty yet; in the advice, employee organisations ask for a level 2 penalty per employee concerned. Breaches of social legislation are currently punished under the four penalty levels of the Social Criminal Code:
- Level 1: an administrative fine.
- Levels 2 and 3: a criminal fine or another penalty, or an administrative fine.
- Level 4: among others a prison sentence, a criminal fine or an administrative fine.
For many breaches, the fine is multiplied by the number of employees concerned. The amounts in the law are also increased by the statutory surcharge (opdeciemen).
An existing example: an employer using flexible schedules without a time-tracking system, or who does not keep the data for five years, risks a level 2 penalty, per employee concerned (art. 146/1).
Social Criminal Code, art. 101, 103 and 146/1Caution: We do not publish fine amounts for the announced duty as long as they are not in a published legal text.
Frequently asked questions
Is time registration mandatory in Belgium from 1 January 2027?
Not certain yet. On 10/10/2026 there is no voted or published law. 1 January 2027 is the date in the preliminary draft bill and the government's announced target date, with time until the end of March 2027 for employers who do not yet have a system. The text still has to go through the Council of State, the Chamber and the Belgian Official Gazette.
What is National Labour Council advice no. 2.499?
The advice of the National Labour Council of 30 September 2026 on the preliminary draft bill introducing a general registration duty. Employee and employer organisations did not reach a unanimous position: the former ask for a stricter text, the latter would prefer no duty at all. The advice does not bind the government.
Do I have to buy a time clock?
No. The preliminary draft leaves the form free, and the CCOO judgment of the Court of Justice does not prescribe any technology either. According to the draft, a system that only records deviations from the schedule may even be enough, if actual working time can be established objectively and reliably that way. Employee organisations dispute that last point.
Is Excel or paper enough?
The final law will decide. The preliminary draft does not impose a form, but asks for objective and reliable registration. How reliable a spreadsheet or paper list is depends on how you keep it and who can change it. For flexi-jobs, specific methods already apply today.
Who falls outside the duty?
According to the preliminary draft: family workers, managerial staff and staff in positions of trust, sales representatives and travelling staff, and according to the advice also homeworkers, including teleworkers. Other categories may follow by royal decree. Employee organisations consider these exclusions contrary to EU law, so the list may still change.
How long do I have to keep the records?
Five years from the moment of entry, according to payroll provider Partena's analysis of the preliminary draft. For flexible schedules and deviations of part-time employees, five years already applies today. Employee organisations ask for ten years in the advice.
What penalty do I risk?
No penalties have been set for the new duty yet. Employee organisations ask for a level 2 penalty under the Social Criminal Code, per employee concerned, as already applies to flexible schedules. We do not publish amounts until they are in a published law.
Changes to this page
- 10/10/2026Reworked into a living overview: state of play at the top, a timeline with the preliminary draft of 26/03/2026 and National Labour Council advice no. 2.499 of 30/09/2026, the positions of the social partners and frequently asked questions.
- 22/09/2026Full check of all rules and sources on this page.
- 28/08/2026First publication.