From 1 May next year, drivers, Belgian and international alike, will need a digital road tax sticker (‘road vignette’) to drive on motorways and regional roads in Belgium.

Last Friday, the country’s three regional governments announced that foreign motorists should contribute to the maintenance of the country’s roads, agreeing to introduce a new road vignette. The European Union does not permit making the vignette compulsory only for foreigners. As a result, Belgians will also have to purchase the vignette.

Not for two-wheelers

From 1 May 2027, all motorists driving certain four-wheel motor vehicles (the measure excludes two-wheelers) on Belgian motorways, motorway ring roads and other regional roads will need a digital road vignette. In practical terms, this covers all main roads in Flanders and Wallonia.

The vignette is thus compulsory for anyone using regional roads and motorways in a motorized vehicle with at least four wheels and a maximum mass of up to and including 3.5 tons.

There will be no vignette for trucks; the kilometer-based charging system will continue to apply to them. And as already mentioned, no vignette is required for motorcycles, coaches, or tractors either.

€90 to €125 yearly

The vignette is completely digital, not a sticker to glue to your windshield. Drivers will be able to buy the digital vignette online, via a website or app, from 1 March 2027.

The system will immediately link the purchase to the buyer’s number plate. Those who are less digitally savvy can purchase the vignette in person, for example, at gas stations.

Motorists can choose the validity period themselves: one day, ten days, one month, two months, or a whole year. In addition to the period, the cost of the vignette also depends on the vehicle’s Euro standard (CO2 emissions).

For electric cars (zero emissions), an annual vignette will cost €90. For cars meeting at least Euro 4 standards, drivers will pay €100 for a year. Owners of the most polluting cars (Euro 0 to 3) will pay the highest price: €125 per year.

The prices for one day, ten days, a month, or two months vary accordingly: one day costs €8.10 to €11.25; ten days cost €10.80 to €15; one month costs €17.10 to €23.75; and two months cost €27 to €37.50.

Camera control mainly

As the sticker is digital and linked to drivers’ number plates, the smart ANPR cameras across the country can check compliance effortlessly. There will also be mobile checks and spot checks by enforcement officers who can pull vehicles over.

Anyone driving on Belgium’s main roads without a vignette risks a €70 fine. For a second offense, this rises to €140, and for a third, to €210. However, a two-month grace period is being introduced, meaning people would not be liable for a fine until 1 July 2027 at the earliest.

Mixed reactions

The mobility organization Touring is pleased that a single, uniform system is to be introduced nationwide. The organization also welcomes the fact that the revenue will be invested in improving roads.

Reactions from employers’ organizations go in the same direction. The Federation of Belgian Enterprises, Unizo (smaller self-employed enterprises), and the Flemish enterprises organization Voka welcome the fact that foreign road users will now contribute to the maintenance of Belgium’s road infrastructure. They also praise the fact that the revenue will go entirely toward road construction and maintenance and won’t be diverted to other federal budgets.

On the political level, reactions are far more mixed. As many politicians are scared to add another tax on driving, they’re seeking to compensate for the vignette for Belgian drivers, since Europe doesn’t allow discrimination between road users of the same vehicle, whether national or foreign.

Flanders will be changing its road taxation, but all details aren’t clear yet. Road tax for EVs and leased cars could remain the same; the tax for all other propulsion types should depend only on CO2 emissions and weight. The tax reform must be fully ready by next year, when the vignette will be implemented.

The newspaper De Tijd checked figures from the Flemish Ministry of Finance and found a gap of €55 million between the vignette revenue (€399 million) and the planned tax cut for Flanders, amounting to approximately €335 million.

This gap will be paid by company cars and LCVs (up to 3.5 tons). Company cars won’t have lower tax, and LCVs get a flat-rate discount because their road tax is already very low. Flemish Finance Minister Weyts also points out that companies can deduct the additional costs of leased cars and LCVs as professional costs.

And, of course, foreign travelers through Belgium aren’t that enthusiastic either. Especially the Dutch motorists, by far the most important part of users of Belgian roads, are opposed to it, although some of them just think it’s only fair that they contribute to the maintenance of the roads they use, just like they’re paying a road toll (mainly on motorways) in other European countries.

No road pricing

Once again, Belgian authorities have missed the opportunity to drastically rethink vehicle taxation. The new vignette will likely encourage authorities to scale up road maintenance, but it won’t do anything for the biggest problem on Belgian roads: traffic jams and growing structural congestion.

For several decades now, various proposals have been put forward to switch from paying taxes on owning a car to paying for using it. The most appropriate system for this is road pricing.

Belgium’s largest political party (N-VA) was once a strong advocate of such a system but has completely turned against it for fear of alienating its voters. “There’s no general public support for the system,” is now the mantra. Other political parties, mainly liberal or right-wing, follow the same reasoning.

There are no major studies or surveys confirming this. The Belgian motorist just doesn’t want to pay more taxes for using his car than he already does, and if road pricing can provide a better, more equitable way to pay for using a car, he will most certainly be in favor of it.

Almost all experts also recommend the system, as it will not only be more effective but also help reduce congestion. Belgian citizens just need politicians with the vision and the guts to act. Perhaps they just have to vote for them…