Criminal
The 1867 Penal Code is being replaced by a new code in 2026
Belgian criminal law rests on the Penal Code of 1867 and the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1808, both of Napoleonic lineage. A wholly new Penal Code was adopted in 2024 and enters into force on 1 September 2026, restructuring offences and replacing the historic penalty categories with a graded scale of penalty levels.
Key rules
- Offences are classified as crimes, délits and contraventions, which determines the competent court.
- An investigating judge directs the judicial investigation and alone may authorise the most intrusive coercive measures.
- The most serious offences are tried before the Court of Assizes with a twelve-member popular jury, though many are correctionalised and sent to the correctional tribunal instead.
- A suspect deprived of liberty must be brought before an investigating judge within 48 hours.
Governing law
- Penal Code (8 June 1867)Applies to offences committed before 1 September 2026
- New Penal Code (adopted 2024)In force 1 September 2026; introduces graded penalty levels
- Code of Criminal Procedure (1808)Investigation, prosecution and trial procedure
- Pre-trial Detention Act (20 July 1990)
Penalties and consequences
- Imprisonment, with the new code organising sentences into penalty levels rather than the historic categories
- Fines subject to statutory multiplication factors (décimes additionnels), so the figure in the text is not the amount payable
- Work penalties, probation and autonomous supervision as alternatives to custody
In practice
Because the new code applies only to conduct after 1 September 2026, both regimes will run in parallel for years and the date of the offence decides which applies. A victim can join the criminal case as a partie civile to claim damages, avoiding a separate civil action.