Belgium
EU AI Act implementation, 2026
Belgium missed the August 2025 designation deadline and, as of October 2026, still has no legally designated AI Act market surveillance authority; the federal coalition intends BIPT to be the central coordinator and contact point, but the enabling bill is still a preliminary draft at the FPS Economy and the federal-regional split of competences is unresolved.
- Implementing law
- Draft bill
- Penalty regime (Art. 99)
- Not adopted
- Regulatory sandbox
- None
- Readiness rank
- 24 of 27score 28 / 100
Key findings
- No market surveillance authority, notifying authority or single point of contact has been designated in law or notified to the Commission; the Commission's SPOC list (7 Sept 2026) shows no Belgian entry.
- BIPT is the intended lead and central contact point under the 2025-2029 coalition agreement, but the FPS Economy is still drafting the preliminary bill and parliament has not received it.
- Supervision of AI in regional competences such as education and employment services needs a federal-regional arrangement that is still pending, a structural reason for Belgium's delay.
- Belgium did designate a list of Article 77 fundamental-rights authorities and has an Ethics Advisory Council on Data and AI, neither of which is a competent authority.
- Until the law passes, AI Act rights in Belgium are enforceable only through the courts; no national penalty rules or sandbox exist.
National authorities
Not designated or not confirmed as of 21 Oct 2026.
Not designated or not confirmed as of 21 Oct 2026.
Not designated or not confirmed as of 21 Oct 2026.
Implementing law, penalties and sandbox
Preliminary draft bill (voorontwerp van wet) on AI Act supervision being prepared by the FPS Economy; not yet approved by the Council of Ministers or filed in the Chamber
vrt.be (opens in new tab)No national penalty rules under Article 99 are in force; regulators rely on existing powers.
No national AI regulatory sandbox has been established or announced at federal level; the EU deadline was moved to 2 August 2027 by the Digital Omnibus.
National Convergence Plan for the Development of Artificial Intelligence (#SmartAINation)
2022
bosa.belgium.be (opens in new tab)Notable developments
-
Federal coalition agreement 2025-2029 names BIPT as lead AI Act authority
The De Wever government's coalition agreement foresees the Belgian Institute for Postal Services and Telecommunications (BIPT/IBPT) as the main market surveillance authority, with the FPS Economy coordinating implementation.
belgium.be (opens in new tab) -
Belgium misses the Article 70 designation deadline
No market surveillance or notifying authority was notified to the Commission by 2 August 2025; the artificialintelligenceact.eu tracker continues to rate Belgium 'unclear'.
artificialintelligenceact.eu (opens in new tab) -
Minister Clarinval answers Senate question on AI supervision
In a reply to Senator Stijn De Roo (published 16 Dec 2025), Minister Clarinval confirmed the plan for BIPT to provide central coordination and act as central contact point for sectoral market surveillance authorities, while stressing that no final decision on the authorities had been taken and that the regions, consulted after a first inter-cabinet working group in June 2025, had reacted 'broadly favourably'.
stijnderoo.be (opens in new tab) -
Council of Ministers approves draft law on AI use by intelligence services
A separate Justice Ministry bill creating a legal framework for intelligence services' use of AI (with mandatory controlled testing) received cabinet approval; it is not the AI Act supervision law.
vrt.be (opens in new tab) -
VRT: 'strengere regels, maar geen toezichthouder'
On the eve of 2 August 2026, the FPS Economy confirmed to VRT that BIPT is the planned watchdog but that designation requires a law; spokesperson Etienne Mignolet described a 'legal vacuum' in which citizens can only enforce AI Act rights in court.
vrt.be (opens in new tab) -
Chamber bill on deepfakes (protection of likeness and voice) filed
Chamber document 56K1728/001 (7 September 2026, MPs Leentje Grillaert and Steven Matheï) proposes a new neighbouring right in the Code of Economic Law protecting everyone's likeness and voice against unauthorised AI deepfake imitation; it does not create AI Act supervision.
dekamer.be (opens in new tab)
Analysis
Belgium's delay is less about political reluctance than about its constitutional architecture. The AI Act touches federal competences (economy, telecoms, justice, finance) and regional ones (education, employment, housing), and the federal minister's December 2025 answer to the Senate makes clear that an inter-cabinet working group was still consulting the regions on who supervises what. The chosen design is a hub-and-spoke model: sectoral regulators keep their domains while BIPT, already Belgium's Digital Services Coordinator, provides technical expertise and serves as the single point of contact.
The cost of the delay became visible on 2 August 2026, when Article 50 transparency duties started to apply across the EU. The FPS Economy itself told VRT that no official supervisor or helpdesk existed and advised companies to use the Commission's AI Act Service Desk and citizens to go to court. The preliminary draft still has to pass the Council of Ministers, the Council of State and both the committee and plenary stages in the Chamber, so a designated BIPT with operating powers before 2027 looks optimistic.
For businesses, the practical implication is that the data protection authority (GBA/APD), FSMA and FAMHP remain the de facto AI regulators in their fields, and that BIPT's eventual mandate will likely be coordination-heavy rather than a single national AI office. The Digital Omnibus postponement of high-risk obligations to December 2027 reduces the immediate enforcement risk, but Belgium remains one of only four member states (with Austria, Bulgaria and Croatia) with no entry at all on the Commission's authority list.
EU AI Act 2026 Q3 Report
All 27 member-state profiles including Belgium, the readiness ranking, the Omnibus timeline and every source, as one print-ready PDF.
Sources
- Preliminary draft bill (voorontwerp van wet) on AI Act supervision being prepared by the FPS Economy; not yet approved by the Council of Ministers or filed in the Chamber (opens in new tab) vrt.be
- National Convergence Plan for the Development of Artificial Intelligence (#SmartAINation) (opens in new tab) bosa.belgium.be
- Federal coalition agreement 2025-2029 names BIPT as lead AI Act authority (opens in new tab) belgium.be
- Belgium misses the Article 70 designation deadline (opens in new tab) artificialintelligenceact.eu
- Minister Clarinval answers Senate question on AI supervision (opens in new tab) stijnderoo.be
- Council of Ministers approves draft law on AI use by intelligence services (opens in new tab) vrt.be
- Chamber bill on deepfakes (protection of likeness and voice) filed (opens in new tab) dekamer.be