Food hygiene in Belgium: implementing Reg. (EC) 852/2004

This page is the hub for Belgium's implementation of Reg. (EC) 852/2004. It gives the overall picture and links to the detail pages and the other jurisdictions covered in the countries pillar.

The division of powers

Belgium is a federal State, but for food-chain safety it has chosen a centralised model: since 2000 a single federal agency, the AFSCA-FAVV, is responsible for registration, authorisations, approvals, official controls and alert management along the whole chain, from primary production to distribution. In our view this is what most sets Belgium apart from strongly decentralised systems: the European rule is single and the actual counterpart is single and national too. For a comparison with a regional-competence model see the Spain page and the Italy page; the side-by-side view is in the country comparison tool.

Registration, authorisation, approval

Reg. 852/2004 requires every food business operator to notify each establishment to the competent authority for registration Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. In Belgium this obligation is articulated, according to the type of activity, into three levels managed by the AFSCA: registration (enregistrement / registratie) for lower-risk activities; authorisation (autorisation / toelating) for activities requiring a prior check; approval (agrément / erkenning) for activities subject to prior approval, including establishments handling products of animal origin under Reg. (EC) 853/2004 Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004. The distinction between registration and approval — who merely notifies and who must instead be approved before operating — is explained in the concept registration vs approval and rests on the same Article 6 Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. Which of the three levels applies depends on the specific activity: the operational reference must be sought from the AFSCA.

Self-checking and training

Every food business must put in place self-checking procedures based on HACCP principles Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 and ensure the training of staff who handle food Annex II, Chapter XII, point 1 of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. A Belgian specificity is the system of self-checking guides (guides d'autocontrôle / autocontrolegidsen): sector documents, drafted by professional federations and validated by the AFSCA, that a business may adopt to implement HACCP principles in practice. Using a validated guide is an option, not a certificate of conformity: the operator's responsibility remains. The training picture is covered in HACCP training in Belgium; the European framing of the training obligation is in mandatory training.

Official controls and competent authorities

Official controls are organised under Reg. (EU) 2017/625 Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, which repealed the earlier Reg. (EC) 854/2004 and 882/2004. In Belgium enforcement falls to the AFSCA, which inspects establishments, validates the self-checking guides and manages authorisations and approvals across the whole country. A single authority simplifies the interaction but does not change the nature of the obligations: registration, self-checking and training remain those of the European regulation. On the control regime see the official controls guide.