Legal note: The final text of the Belgian law on mandatory work-time registration has not, at the time of writing, been voted on or published in the Belgian Official Gazette. The information on this page is based on the available preparatory work, the CCOO ruling of the European Court of Justice, and the known policy directions. Exact technical requirements, exceptions, and penalty amounts may differ from the final text. Consult the Belgian Official Gazette and your legal advisor for definitive information.
What is the obligation?
From 1 January 2027, Belgian employers would be required to systematically register their employees' working time using an objective, reliable and accessible system. This applies to the start and end time of the working day, as well as any breaks.
The obligation stems from a European directive that requires all member states to ensure employers have a system that objectively and reliably measures the hours actually worked by each employee. Belgium has announced January 1, 2027 as the target date for implementation.
In practice, this means every employee must clock in at the start and clock out at the end of their working time, every working day. These registrations must be stored and remain available for at least 5 years to the employee, the employer, and the social inspectorate.
The European basis: the CCOO ruling
On May 14, 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued a landmark ruling in the case of Federación de Servicios de Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) v. Deutsche Bank SAE (case C-55/18). The Court ruled that the Working Time Directive (2003/88/EC) requires employers to establish a system that objectively and reliably measures the daily working time of each employee.
According to the Court, without such a system it is impossible to verify whether the maximum weekly working time of 48 hours and the minimum daily and weekly rest periods are being observed. The ruling obliges all EU member states to take the necessary measures so that employers have such a system.
“In order to be able to effectively verify compliance with the maximum weekly working time and the minimum daily and weekly rest periods, the Member States must require employers to set up an objective, reliable, and accessible system enabling the working time performed each day by each worker to be measured.”
Belgium has postponed the introduction of the legal obligation to 2027. Other EU member states already introduced legislation earlier based on this ruling.
The three core requirements of a system
The CCOO ruling sets out three core quality requirements that a work-time registration system must meet:
Objective
The registration may not rely on a subjective after-the-fact statement by the employee or employer. The system must automatically record the actual times.
Reliable
The data may not be altered or deleted afterwards without traceability. Corrections are allowed but must always be fully documented.
Accessible
The registered data must be available to the employee, the employer, and the competent authorities (social inspectorate).
Klox is built on these three requirements. The data model is append-only: clocked times are never overwritten. Corrections go through a separate, traced process. Employees and employers have direct access, and the complete file is exportable in one click for the inspectorate.
Who does the obligation apply to?
Based on the information currently available, the obligation applies to all Belgian employers that have employees, regardless of sector, number of employees, or the working arrangement (full-time or part-time) of the employees.
Exceptions may possibly be provided for certain categories, such as:
- Self-employed without staff
- Specific sectors with existing, equivalent registration obligations
- Certain roles to which working-time legislation does not apply (including some managerial staff)
The final list of exceptions has not yet been published at the time of writing. We recommend following the default rule: prepare for the general obligation and adjust your policy once the exceptions are finalised.
Retention obligation and exportability
All registered working hours must be kept for at least 5 years. They must be accessible and exportable at all times for:
- The employee themselves (right to access and a copy)
- The employer and their authorised staff
- The social inspectorate during an inspection
The export must be readable, which in practice means PDF and CSV formats become the standard. An inspection file you cannot produce within a reasonable time will be considered non-compliant during an inspection.
Amending the work regulations
One of the lesser-known obligations is the amendment of the work regulations. You must state in it which time registration system you use, how employees clock in, and what the consequences are of misuse or non-compliance.
The amendment of the work regulations requires the consultation procedure with employee representatives (or the employees themselves if there is no works council or committee for prevention and protection at work). Plan this well in advance: the procedure generally takes 15 to 30 days.
Free help available
Klox offers a free work regulations clause generator. In a few minutes, you generate the mandatory clause and an employee communication based on your details. Go to the generator
Penalties
The exact penalty amounts have not yet been published in the final legal text at the time of writing. Under Belgian labour law, breaches of working-time legislation are generally punished based on sanction levels:
- Level 1 and 2: administrative fines
- Level 3 and 4: criminal sanctions (prison sentences and/or higher fines)
For breaches of employee-rights provisions, fines are often multiplied per employee involved. A fine that applies per employee can quickly add up for an SME with 20 employees.
Caution: We avoid publishing specific fine amounts that are not officially confirmed. As soon as the law is published in the Belgian Official Gazette, we will update this page.
How do you prepare?
A step-by-step plan to become 2027-proof:
Choose a validated system
Choose software that registers append-only, supports traced corrections, and generates an exportable inspection file. No Excel, no manual tracking.
Update your work regulations
State the chosen registration method in the work regulations. Use our free generator for the mandatory clause.
Communicate with your employees
Inform your employees in good time about the new system: how it works, why it's mandatory, and what changes.
Start before 1 January 2027
Plan your implementation and onboarding well in advance, so that by 1 January 2027 you already have a month of experience with the system.