For years, parking fines for vehicles with foreign license plates were not always collected in Brussels. That situation is now coming to an end thanks to the introduction of a new international collection system.
Parking.brussels is engaging a specialized collection agency to address these violations. Of the total number of parking tickets issued in Brussels, 15% are for foreign license plates. So far, only 10% of those have been paid in recent years.
Lack of bilateral agreements
Due to the lack of bilateral agreements with various countries, the procedures for collecting parking fines from vehicles with foreign license plates in Brussels have long been lengthy, costly, and often inefficient, making it very difficult to prosecute offenders and recover the amounts owed.
Figures from the office of Brussels Mobility Minister Elke Van den Brandt (Groen) published by BRUZZ showed that, as a result, the collection rate was only 9,74% in 2023 and had fallen to just 9,07% in 2024. In 2023, 301,289 fines were issued, rising to 431,573 in 2024. Yet only 29,346 and 39,144 of those fines were collected, respectively. In 2023, 9,3 million euros went uncollected, in 2024, the amount was 15,8 million euros.
Since June 2024, foreign cars have been checked only by scanning vehicles and no longer by parking attendants on foot. In this way, parking.brussels was able, in its own words, to focus its resources on “procedures that actually had an impact.” This did not exactly ensure equal treatment of all drivers.
Equal treatment of all drivers
That arbitrary practice is now coming to an end, as parking attendants in Brussels will resume checking vehicles with foreign license plates. Since November 2025, parking.brussels has been working with a specialized firm that handles international debt collection.
“In the first quarter of 2026 alone, as much was collected abroad as in all of 2025,” reports parking.brussels. “These results enable more efficient and balanced management of cases involving vehicles registered in third countries,” says Floris Tack, CEO of parking.brussels. “The goal is clear: to ensure equal treatment for all drivers. Every user of public space must comply with the same rules in a fair and consistent manner.”
The specialized company can work with the parking agency for four years. After that, parking.brussels must issue a new public contract.
