QuotasWorking time registration in Belgium: getting ready for 1 January 2027
From 1 January 2027, Belgian employers must be able to show a reliable record of each worker's working time: start and end of work, breaks and traceable corrections. This guide explains who is affected, what to record and how to prepare simply — for example with a mobile time clock such as Quotas.
Where does the obligation come from?
In 2019 the Court of Justice of the European Union (case C-55/18) ruled that Member States must require employers to set up an objective, reliable and accessible system to measure each worker's daily working time.
Belgium is applying this principle step by step. Some sectors already have specific obligations — such as presence registration on construction sites or the registered cash system in hospitality — and deviations from part-time workers' schedules already have to be recorded. On 1 January 2027, recording working time becomes the general rule.
Who is affected?
Every business employing staff in Belgium, whatever its size: retail, hospitality, cleaning, construction, care, offices and services.
- Full-time and part-time workers.
- Students and flexi-job workers.
- Teams working away from the premises: building sites, on-site client work, remote work.
What must be recorded?
The idea is to be able to reconstruct, for each person and each day, the time actually worked.
- The start and end time of each work period.
- Breaks.
- The place or context when work happens away from the main site.
- Every correction, with its date, author and reason.
- Long-term retention of the data and its availability during an inspection.
Checklist: ready before 1 January 2027
- Choose a system your teams will actually use, including away from the office.
- Add all your workers, including students and part-timers.
- Define your work sites and the rule for clocking in remotely (reason required).
- Publish schedules in the same tool to compare planned and actual hours.
- Decide who may correct a time entry, and require a reason for every correction.
- Test a monthly export with your payroll provider (sociaal secretariaat / secrétariat social).
How Quotas keeps you compliant
Quotas records every clock-in, break, resume and clock-out from the iPhone or Android app or a browser. The location is checked against the office address when clocking in; elsewhere, a reason is required.
Managers can only correct an entry with a reason, kept in an audit log. Night, Sunday and Belgian public holiday hours are calculated automatically, and the summary exports in one click for your payroll provider.
Frequently asked questions
Is working time registration mandatory for small businesses?
Yes, the obligation applies to employers of any size. A simple mobile solution lets small businesses comply without hardware or installation.
Is an Excel sheet enough?
A spreadsheet can be changed without a trace and is often filled in after the fact. A reliable system timestamps every entry and logs every correction — exactly what an objective record requires.
Do I need a physical time clock?
No. A time tracking app on the phone, with location checks, also works for mobile teams and saves you buying terminals.
Does Quotas replace sector-specific declarations?
No. Quotas records working time; some sector-specific declarations still have to be made to the relevant authorities.
Where is the data stored?
In the European Union: Quotas is hosted by OVH on servers located in the EU, in line with the GDPR.
