Belgium’s New Rules Take Effect on October 1

A package of federal and regional measures enters into force across Belgium on October 1, 2026, touching everything from dental appointments and energy bills to home renovation and prison overcrowding. As both VRT NWS and RTBF reported in their overviews of the changes, the two headline measures are an identity check at the dentist and a ban on so-called “sjoemelkortingen”, or misleading welcome discounts on energy contracts.

Identity Cards at the Dentist

From October 1, dentists are obliged to verify patients’ identity when applying the electronic third-party payment scheme, under which patients pay only their own share while their health insurance fund settles the rest directly with the practice. Adults should present their Belgian electronic ID (eID) or electronic foreigners’ card, while children use a Kids-ID or ISI+ card. If a patient does not have their ID, the dentist can verify identity another way, such as with a health-fund sticker.

According to the national health insurance institute, RIZIV/INAMI, the measure simplifies billing, prevents errors, and ensures patients are correctly identified. It also gives dentists access to treatment information for quality care and spares patients from having to advance costs and later claim reimbursement. Nurses and hospitals have long been subject to similar identity checks for third-party payment.

A Crackdown on Energy ‘Welcome Discounts’

The federal energy regulator CREG confirmed that energy suppliers may no longer grant large welcome discounts that are factored into price comparators, making offers appear cheapest, but tied to strict conditions such as staying with a provider for one or two years before the discount applies. Under the new rules, discounts must apply from the first kilowatt-hour and across the entire contract duration. Suppliers are also barred from changing the tariff conditions of a product mid-month for new contracts under the same name; if terms change within a month, the product name must change substantially rather than merely gaining a digit.

The reform is the first step of the federal “koopkracht energie” (energy purchasing power) law championed by Energy Minister Mathieu Bihet and Consumer-Protection Minister Rob Beenders. A second phase, taking effect on January 1, 2027, will simplify price structures to a single energy price per contract.

The same RTBF overview notes that social energy tariffs are also changing for the fourth quarter, in effect from October 1 through the end of the year. Gas and heat social tariffs rise by 11.4 percent, while electricity social tariffs for bi-hourly night and exclusive-night rates rise by around 7 percent. Both were capped at a 10 percent increase; without the cap, they would have risen by 15.1 and 17.4 percent respectively. For gas and heat, the uncapped increase would have reached 43.7 percent against the third quarter.

Wallonia Overhauls Renovation Support

In Wallonia, a new renovation-support regime replaces roughly 120 different grants with two loan-based products: Renopack and Renopret. The support targets the least energy-efficient homes and requires a “label jump”: homes rated EPC G or F must reach at least label D, while label E homes must reach at least C. Renopack is a zero-interest loan with a reduction of the amount to repay, scaled to income, while Renopret offers zero or preferential rates for higher-income categories and landlords. The maximum borrowing amount rises to EUR 75,000 for a single-family home, and financing is now calculated on the whole eligible project rather than per work item. A prior home audit is mandatory and its cost is financeable.

Prison Overcrowding and Other Measures

Also from October 1, emergency measures proposed by Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden (CD&V) take effect to tackle prison overcrowding. Convicts sentenced to up to 18 months will automatically receive an electronic monitoring bracelet until the end of 2028, though higher-risk categories are excluded. Each file is reviewed by a sentence-execution judge or court, but only after the fact. Convicts without residence rights face accelerated removal, and early release for overcrowding is extended to the end of 2027, limited to sentences of up to three years. Belgium’s sentence-execution courts have voiced concern, warning of “an unprecedented attack on their independence” and on the constitutional separation of powers.

Several further changes round out the package. In the 19 Brussels communes, a rotation tariff of EUR 0.06 per minute applies after six hours at a public EV charging point, between 9:00 and 22:00, to discourage so-called charging-point squatters. The vehicle-registration service (DIV) gains the power to cancel personalised licence plates carrying offensive messages, following a royal decree published in the Moniteur belge; since early 2025 the service has refused 1,050 problematic combinations. The student-entrepreneur status is reformed, removing the 25-year age limit and abolishing a declaration of honour, after a record 9,155 student-entrepreneurs registered in 2025, three-quarters of them in Flanders. And the cystic-fibrosis drug Alyftrek becomes reimbursed for patients aged six and over, including for the first time certain rare CFTR mutations, benefiting nearly 1,400 people in Belgium.

What to Watch

While many of the changes are administrative, their cumulative effect is a broad push toward transparency in consumer markets and better targeting of public support. The energy reform’s second phase in January 2027 will be a key test of whether simplified tariffs deliver the promised savings. In Wallonia, the shift from grants to loans will be watched closely to see whether it accelerates renovation of the region’s least efficient homes, or puts it out of reach for those who need it most.