België · Belgique — Openbaarheid van bestuur / Publicité de l'administration

Four access regimes, one federal state, one platform

Belgium's right of access is split across the federal law of 11 April 1994 and the Flemish, Walloon and Brussels regimes — each with its own deadlines, exceptions, and review body. AccessPoint configures the one that governs you, in your own language.

Belgium — Publicité / Openbaarheid at a glance

Federal deadline
30 days to decide, extendable by 15 days
Regional deadlines
Per the Flemish, Walloon, or Brussels regime that applies
Review
The federal CADA or the competent regional beroepsinstantie / commission de recours
Scope
Administrative documents held by the authority
Fees
Access generally free; reproduction charges as the regime allows
Languages
English, Nederlands, Français

Built for Belgium — Publicité / Openbaarheid

One platform for the whole access-and-privacy mandate, pre-configured for this regime and running in your own Microsoft 365 tenant.

The right regime, chosen once

Federal, Flemish, Walloon, or Brussels — the pack configures the deadlines, exceptions, and review body for the regime that actually governs your authority, rather than approximating a national average that does not exist.

Deadlines with extensions tracked

The federal 30-day clock and its 15-day extension, or the regional equivalent, computed on receipt over the Belgian public-holiday calendar with the extension's justification recorded.

Dutch and French, natively

AccessPoint's interface ships natively in both Dutch and French, and the pack carries statutory wording and correspondence templates in each — which for a Belgian authority is a working requirement, not a nicety.

Exceptions cited line by line

Each regime's exceptions ship as citable grounds applied to specific passages, carried onto the redaction and into the decision.

Review to the right body

Track a beroep or recours to the CADA or the competent regional body, with its filing window, correspondence, and outcome linked to the originating request.

In your own tenant

Documents and requests stay inside your own Microsoft 365 and Azure tenant, in the region you choose — no third-party cloud and no vendor access.

Federalism, in a records office

In Belgium, the question is not only what may be withheld, but which of four laws is asking.

A Belgian authority does not have one access law; it has the one that follows from its own place in the federal structure. A federal department applies the 1994 law and answers to the CADA. A Flemish agency or a municipality in the Flemish Region applies the Bestuursdecreet and answers to the beroepsinstantie. Walloon and Brussels bodies apply their own rules and their own commissions. The deadlines differ, the exceptions differ, and the review route differs — and a generic European FOI configuration gets all three wrong at once. AccessPoint ships Belgium's regimes together and configures the applicable one per tenant, in Dutch or French as the authority actually works.

Four regimes Federal, Flemish, Walloon, and Brussels in one pack.
NL and FR natively Interface and templates in the language you work in.
The right reviewer CADA or the regional body, configured per tenant.

Configured out of the box

Installing the be-openbaarheid jurisdiction pack seeds your tenant with everything this regime needs — a starting point you can adjust, not a lock-in.

Related guide: FOI Workflow Quick Check
  • The federal law of 11 April 1994 as the legal-authority spine, with the Flemish, Walloon and Brussels regimes alongside
  • The federal 30-day clock with its 15-day extension, and the regional equivalents
  • The Belgian public-holiday calendar driving due-date math
  • Each regime's exceptions, colour-coded for redaction and citable line by line
  • Review routing to the federal CADA or the competent regional beroepsinstantie / commission de recours
  • Dutch and French correspondence templates carrying the statutory wording
  • Reproduction charges where the applicable regime permits them
  • A timestamped audit trail for every decision on the request

Belgium — Publicité / Openbaarheid Questions

Which Belgian regime applies to my authority?

It follows from the level of government you belong to. Federal authorities apply the law of 11 April 1994; Flemish authorities and local government in the Flemish Region apply the Bestuursdecreet of 7 December 2018; Walloon and Brussels bodies apply their own regional rules. The pack ships all four and is configured to the one that governs your tenant.

Does the platform work in Dutch and French?

Yes — AccessPoint's interface ships natively in both, alongside nine other languages, and this pack carries statutory wording and correspondence templates in Dutch and French. A bilingual authority can run both without maintaining a parallel set of documents.

Where do appeals go?

To the review body for the applicable regime — the federal Commission d'accès aux documents administratifs, the Flemish beroepsinstantie, or the Walloon or Brussels commission. AccessPoint tracks the review as a matter linked to the originating request, with the correct body, filing window, and outcome.

Where do documents reside?

Entirely within your own Microsoft 365 and Azure tenant, in the region you choose. Requests, documents, redactions, and audit history never leave your control — no third-party cloud and no vendor access.

Run Belgium's Access Regime in Your Own Tenant

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