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Obligation planned for every Belgian employer on 1 January 2027

Belgian law on working-time
registration 2027

Everything Belgian SMEs need to know about the new obligation of electronic working-time registration.

The law's timeline

  1. 1
    2019

    Court of Justice of the EU ruling: every member state must require a system to measure working time.

  2. 2
    Nov 2025

    Federal budget agreement: the principle is settled in Belgium.

  3. 3
    2026

    Royal decree: the precise terms will be defined.

  4. 1 Jan 2027

    Planned entry into force of the obligation.

Where does the law stand today?

The principle is decided, but the law has not yet been voted. Here is what is settled and what will be clarified.

What is settled

working-time registration will become mandatory; target date 1 January 2027; an « objective, reliable and accessible » system, with no required hardware.

What is still to be clarified

the exact list of data, retention periods, control procedures and possible exceptions, via a royal decree expected during 2026.

The direction is clear. Anticipating now without locking into a rigid solution is the best strategy.

2027
1 January

Background to the law

The obligation stems from European case law: since 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union has required every member state to impose on employers an « objective, reliable and accessible » system for recording working time. Belgium confirmed the entry into force in the federal budget agreement of late November 2025. The technical details will be set out by royal decree during 2026.

100%
of employers

Who is concerned?

Every Belgian employer is concerned, private and public alike, regardless of size or sector: SMEs, non-profits, public administrations, large companies. Whether you operate in hospitality, construction, retail, services or cleaning: as soon as you have a team, you'll need to record their working time. Only self-employed workers without staff are out of scope.

0 €
of hardware to buy

The concrete obligations

The future framework will require an « objective, reliable and accessible » system to record the start time, end time and breaks of every shift. That's the European case law that has been settled since 2019. Good news for employers: neither this case law nor the announcements from the Belgian government call for any particular hardware. A digital punch clock, badge, software, mobile app or any equivalent solution will do, as long as the reliability of the data is guaranteed. The records must remain unaltered (any change must be traced) and accessible to the social inspection authorities.

5 min
to anticipate

How PulseTime helps you anticipate

PulseTime was built to anticipate the expected requirements. Every entry is precisely timestamped, every subsequent change is traced (who, when, before / after). Data is kept and exportable on request for the social inspection. Setup takes less than 5 minutes: you'll be ready well before the 1 January 2027 deadline.

Discover our time-tracking solution ready for the law→

Not to be confused: two distinct obligations

Working-time registration (2027)

measures the duration (start, end, breaks), for payroll and compliance with legal limits. All sectors. This is the subject of this page.

Checkinatwork (NSSO)

proves presence on a site, against social fraud. Mainly construction and cleaning.

One does not replace the other.

PulseTime: the simplest way to comply with the 2027 law

  • Clock in with one tap from smartphone, QR or tablet
  • Server-side timestamps, tamper-proof
  • PDF and Excel exports ready for the labor inspectorate
Try free for 15 days→

They're already ready for the 2027 law

Portrait of Tanguy R., contractor at Stylhome, PulseTime user
« My workers used to write their hours down on paper every Friday evening — always something missing, always arguments. With PulseTime, they clock in straight from the site on their smartphone, and I get the exact hours as they happen, without having to chase them. »
Tanguy R. · Stylhome
Portrait of Sandrine H., manager at Avizo, PulseTime user
« We have two kinds of teams: technicians on the road and office staff. The first clock in from their smartphone, the second from the tablet at reception. PulseTime consolidates it all into a single report, ready for our payroll provider. »
Sandrine H. · Avizo
Portrait of Mathias B., founder of Astropof, PulseTime user
« We're a small team, half office half remote. PulseTime consolidates hours automatically for our payroll provider, and we're ready for the 2027 law without having invested in a time clock. Setup took 5 minutes. »
Mathias B. · Astropof

Frequently asked questions

When does the law come into force?
Mandatory working-time registration is planned for 1 January 2027. The political decision was confirmed in the federal budget agreement of late November 2025. The final legislative text (royal decree setting out the technical details) is expected during 2026 and will be anchored in the Labour Act of 16 March 1971. Employers have every reason to anticipate.
Which companies are concerned?
Every Belgian employer, private and public alike, regardless of size or sector. There is no exemption based on legal form or headcount: SMEs, non-profits, public administrations, large companies. Only self-employed workers without staff are out of scope.
What are the penalties for non-compliance?
The exact penalties will be set out by legislation during 2026. As a reference, the Belgian Social Penal Code already provides administrative and criminal penalties for breaches related to working time (in place since July 2024). The social inspection will be able to carry out unannounced checks. By way of comparison, Spain penalises serious breaches up to €225,000, and the Netherlands up to €45,000 per worker.
Do I need to buy a hardware punch clock?
No. Neither European case law nor announcements from the Belgian government call for the purchase of a physical punch clock. The principle is freedom of choice: digital punch clock, badge, software, mobile app or any equivalent solution. The requirement concerns the reliability and objectivity of the data, not the hardware.
How does it differ from Checkinatwork?
Checkinatwork (NSSO) only verifies the presence of a worker on a site that matters for social security and fraud prevention. The 2027 law goes much further: it requires the precise measurement of working time (start, breaks, end) for every team member. A Checkinatwork declaration will not protect you during a « working-time » inspection.
Is a simple Excel spreadsheet enough?
No. European case law requires an « objective, reliable and accessible » system. An Excel spreadsheet does not meet these criteria: data can be changed afterwards without trace, and reliability cannot be demonstrated to the inspection authorities.
Is PulseTime ready for the law?
PulseTime was designed to anticipate the expected requirements: every entry is precisely timestamped, every subsequent change is traced (who, when, old and new value), and data is exportable on request for the social inspection. We will follow the clarifications of the royal decree as they are published.
How do team members record their time?
With PulseTime, team members clock in with one tap from their smartphone. The GPS location is captured automatically. They can also clock in via QR code at the workplace, or via a fixed tablet installed at the building entrance.
Is the data secure?
Data is hosted in the European Union and protected by encryption. Every schedule change is recorded in a tamper-proof audit log, in line with the expected requirements of the social inspection.

Get ready for 2027

Anticipate the 2027 law. Create your account in 2 minutes and start recording your team's working time.

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