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Fire regulation

There are a significant number of texts enacted in the field of fire prevention and applicable in the Brussels-Capital Region.

According to Article 1 of the External linkLaw of July 30, 1979 on this subject, “fire prevention encompasses all safety measures aimed, on the one hand, at avoiding the outbreak of a fire, detecting any fire outbreak, and preventing its spread, and, on the other hand, at alerting rescue services and facilitating both the rescue of individuals and the protection of property in the event of a fire.”

In Belgium, fire prevention is a federal responsibility. Therefore, the federal government can establish basic fire prevention standards that apply to one or more categories of buildings, regardless of their purpose.

In addition to these basic standards, there are sector-specific standards adopted by the federal government, Regions, Communities, and municipalities, based on the competencies specific to these entities. These specific standards supplement the federal basic standards.

For buildings undergoing renovations, repurposing, and/or transformations, there are no legal prescriptions, whether in the form of a Royal Decree (RD), an ordinance, or an order from the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region. The European Green Deal directive merely states that fire safety measures may be foreseen in the case of long-term renovations. In the absence of existing regulations, the fire service outlines additional requirements in its advice, imposed as conditions in the permit or certificate to be issued. The aim is to ensure an equivalent level of fire safety for these unregulated cases, matching or approximating as closely as possible the provisions of the RD on "Basic Standards." These additional requirements are based on the firefighters' experience and general knowledge of fire safety, with the intention of:

  • Preventing the formation, development, and spread of a fire;
  • Ensuring the safety of individuals present;
  • Facilitating proactive intervention by the fire service.

These prescriptions, applicable to existing buildings with multiple independent housing units—apartments and/or studios but not single-family homes—are detailed in the Opens in new windowreference document.

What are the different regulatory texts?

There are a significant number of texts enacted in the field of fire prevention and applicable in the Brussels-Capital Region. Most are listed below:

All the buildings to be built, as well as extensions to existing buildings, regardless of their destination.

"Existing buildings" means tall and medium-sized buildings for which the building permit application was submitted before 26 May 1995; low-rise buildings for which the building permit application was submitted before 1 January 1998.

Opens in new windowRoyal Decree of 7 July 1994 laying down the basic fire and explosion prevention standards to be met by buildings

All premises intended to contain workplaces in company or establishment buildings, including any other place on the company or establishment grounds to which the worker has access in the course of their work.

Opens in new windowCode of well-being at work

Opens in new windowComment on Title 3 relating to the prevention of fire in workplaces of Book III of the Code of well-being at work

Public-access buildings

Hospitals

Shooting ranges

Fireworks depots

Car parks

Tunnels

Football stadiums

Housing

Stations-services et leurs installations de stockage de carburant

Transformateurs statiques d’une certaine puissance nominale

Chantiers en voirie

Dépôt de liquides inflammables

Maisons de repos

Milieux d’accueil des enfants (Agrément ONE pour la Communauté française)

Milieux d’accueil des enfants (Agrément Kind en Gezin pour la Communauté flamande)

Milieux d’accueil des enfants (Un troisième régime issu de la Commission communautaire commune est entré en vigueur le 01/06/2019)

Bâtiments scolaires

Maison unifamiliale

Hébergement d’urgence de personnes précarisées

Dans certains cas, il est possible d’obtenir une dérogation à certaines de ces normes.

L’article 2, § 2, de la Opens in new windowloi du 30 juillet 1979 autorise l’octroi, par le Service Public Fédéral Intérieur, de dérogations aux normes de prévention de base pour autant que la construction concernée par ces dérogations conserve un niveau de sécurité au moins équivalent à celui qui est requis par ces normes.

Un Opens in new windowarrêté royal du 18 septembre 2008 détermine la procédure et les conditions suivant lesquelles les dérogations aux normes de prévention de base sont accordées.

Plus d’info sur la procédure : Opens in new windowSPF Intérieur

Le Code Bruxellois de l'Aménagement du Territoire, couramment appelé CoBAT, constitue la base juridique des outils de l'urbanisme et l’aménagement du territoire pour l’ensemble de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale.

Opens in new windowCode Bruxellois de l'Aménagement du Territoire (CoBAT)