End of anticipatory attendance recording on construction sites

The Belgian Official Gazette of September 25, 2026, publishes the royal decree of September 16, 2026, reference 2026/201998, which abolishes the anticipatory registration of presence on temporary or mobile construction sites and entrusts the National Social Security Office with the timestamping of transmitted data. Signed by King Philippe, the text amends the royal decree of February 11, 2014, implementing articles 31ter, 31quinquies, 31sexies, and 31septies of the law of August 4, 1996, regarding the well-being of workers, as well as article 13 of the law of December 27, 2012, establishing electronic registration of presence. It enters into force on January 1, 2027.

The mechanism is part of the federal electronic registration of presence regime, established by the law of December 27, 2012, and specified by the royal decree of February 11, 2014, which was itself amended by the royal decree of November 22, 2022. The new decree was prepared on the proposal of the Minister of Employment D. Clarinval, the Minister of Social Affairs F. Vandenbroucke, and the Minister for the Fight against Social Fraud R. Beenders, following the opinion of the ministers meeting in Council.

Registration now exclusively direct

The core of the reform lies in the removal of the possibility to register presence anticipatorily. In article 4 of the 2014 royal decree, the words “at the same time” as well as the mention of anticipatory registration carried out in accordance with article 31ter, § 1, paragraph 1, 2°, of the law of August 4, 1996, are repealed.

The same logic applies to article 9 of the same decree, where the words “either directly or anticipatorily” are replaced by the single word “directly.” Furthermore, article 10 of the 2014 royal decree is repealed, as well as 5° of its article 11 and the last sentence of its article 7, 4°.

The ONSS timestamps received data

Article 8, 6°, of the 2014 royal decree is replaced by a new definition of the moment of registration: this now corresponds to the moment when the sent data is recorded in the database. To this end, the National Social Security Office proceeds with a timestamp relative to the receipt of this data.

This modification shifts the temporal reference point of the declaration: it is no longer the moment of registration at the workplace that is decisive, but the moment of the actual arrival of the data in the ONSS database.

Security standards replaced by the GDPR

Article 1 of the 2014 Royal Decree is also amended. The reference to “security standards as defined by the Data Protection Authority” is replaced by a reference to “appropriate technical and organizational measures in accordance with Article 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679” of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016, namely the General Data Protection Regulation.

The text is based on several opinions issued during the procedure:

• the opinion of the Finance Inspector of 10 July 2025;
• opinion no. 2.465 of the National Labour Council of 21 October 2025;
• the agreement of the Minister of Budget of 12 February 2026;
• opinion no. 281 of the Higher Council for Prevention and Protection at Work of 2 June 2026;
• opinion no. 142/2026 of the Data Protection Authority of 1 July 2026;
• opinion no. 79.084/16 of the Council of State of 15 April 2026.

Entry into force on 1 January 2027

Article 8 of the decree sets the entry into force for 1 January 2027, simultaneously for Chapter 1 of Title 6 of the program law of 30 May 2026 and for this decree. Employers in the construction sector therefore have several months to adapt their registration procedures.

Specifically, companies active on temporary or mobile sites must abandon all prior declarations of presence and ensure that the data transmitted to the ONSS complies with the technical and organizational requirements of the GDPR. The opposable reference date becomes that of the timestamp applied by the National Social Security Office upon receipt of the data.

Source: Belgian Official Gazette of 25 September 2026, no. 216, 196th year, pp. 51471-51472, royal decree of 16 September 2026, reference 2026/201998.