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Belgium

Regulations are sorted by topic; every block links back to its official source and verification date.

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Regulations by topic

Permits

Walloon permit and Flemish jachtverlof, two distinct titles

Wallonia issues an annual permit and a five-day guest licence; Flanders a jachtverlof valid one year from 1 July.

Each Region issues its own title, and one does not serve for the other. In Wallonia, Article 14 of the Act of 28 February 1882 organises two documents: the hunting permit, personal and non-transferable, issued by officials designated by the Government against an annual fee and valid on all days of the week; and the hunting licence for non-resident guests of a permit holder, valid five consecutive days. In Flanders, Article 13 of the Hunting Decree creates the jachtverlof: «het jachtverlof is persoonlijk; het is maar geldig voor een jaar, te rekenen vanaf 1 juli» — it is personal and valid for one year only, counted from 1 July. The same article empowers the Flemish Government to regulate the form and conditions of issue, and to make sitting the hunting examination conditional on payment of a registration fee. The jachtverlof is issued by the official designated for the purpose.

Seasons

Each regional Government sets its own dates, after advice

The Walloon Government sets dates for five-year periods after advice from the «Ruralité» body; the Flemish Government after advice from the MiNa Council.

Opening and closing dates are set, in each Region, by the Government rather than the legislature. In Wallonia, Article 1ter of the Act of 28 February 1882 tasks the Government with fixing those dates after advice from the «Ruralité» body, «Chasse» section, for five-year periods; the Act adds a timing guarantee, the opening not being allowed before the tenth day following publication in the Belgian Official Gazette. In Flanders, Article 4 of the Hunting Decree gives the same task to the Flemish Government: «De Vlaamse regering bepaalt, na advies van de MiNa-Raad, voor het gehele of een gedeelte van het grondgebied van het Vlaamse Gewest … de data van opening en van de sluiting van de jacht» — the Flemish Government determines, after advice from the MiNa Council, for all or part of Flemish territory, the opening and closing dates of the hunt. The two calendars are therefore distinct and must be consulted separately.

Species

Regional lists, framed by European law

Each Region determines huntable game in its own texts; a species open on one side of the language border may be protected on the other.

There is no single Belgian list of huntable species: each Region determines its game in its own texts and implementing orders. The practical consequence is direct — a species may be open to hunting in Wallonia and not in Flanders, or open under different conditions, since the two Governments set their dates and conditions separately. Both Regions nonetheless sit within the same European frame, the Birds Directive and the Habitats Directive, which each transposes into its own law. The approach is therefore the same in both cases: start from the basic regional text — the Act of 28 February 1882 in Wallonia, the Hunting Decree of 24 July 1991 in Flanders — then consult the implementing order in force for the season, which sets out the species and their periods.

Weapons and ammunition

Prohibited means: listed in Wallonia, permitted by list in Flanders

Wallonia lists what is forbidden; Flanders reverses the logic and allows only means authorised by the Government.

Both Regions regulate hunting means, but on opposite logics. Wallonia lists the prohibitions: Article 8 of the Act of 28 February 1882 forbids nets, snares, leg-hold traps, springes, poisoned baits and similar devices for capturing or destroying game; possessing, selling and distributing leg-hold traps is itself prohibited, and hunting by motor vehicle is banned. Flanders proceeds the other way, by authorisation: Article 19 of the Hunting Decree provides that «het is verboden om niet door de Vlaamse Regering toegestane middelen voor het doden of vangen van wild te gebruiken» — it is prohibited to use means of killing or capturing game that are not authorised by the Flemish Government. In Flanders a means absent from the authorised list is therefore prohibited by default. Possession of firearms is, for its part, a federal matter.

Safety

Rules of conduct set at regional level

Distances, driven hunts and signalling fall to each Region's implementing orders, to be read before taking part.

Hunting safety follows the same division as everything else: it falls to each Region, through its implementing orders rather than the basic text. The two founding acts mainly lay down prohibitions on means — Walloon Article 8, which notably bans hunting by motor vehicle, and Flemish Article 19, which allows only means authorised by the Government. The rules of conduct themselves — distances to observe, organisation and signalling of driven hunts, conditions for taking a shot, duties towards third parties present on the ground — are set by regulation and therefore differ between Wallonia and Flanders. A hunter moving from one Region to the other cannot carry over their habits: they must re-read the applicable regional rules and the instructions of whoever is leading the hunt.

Regulations

Two regional regimes, one shared principle of consent

Hunting is a regional competence: Wallonia applies the regionalised 1882 Act, Flanders its 1991 Hunting Decree.

In Belgium hunting is not governed by a single text: it is a regional competence, and two bodies of rules coexist. Wallonia applies the Hunting Act of 28 February 1882, regionalised and much amended since; Flanders applies the Hunting Decree (Jachtdecreet) of 24 July 1991. Both regimes share a founding principle, the landowner's consent. On the Walloon side, Article 4 forbids hunting «sur le terrain d'autrui, sans le consentement du propriétaire» — on another's land without the owner's consent — with an aggravated penalty where the land is enclosed. On the Flemish side, Article 7 of the Hunting Decree is more explicit still: «Het is verboden te eniger tijd en op enigerlei wijze te jagen op andermans grond zonder uitdrukkelijke toestemming van de eigenaar of zijn rechthebbende» — it is prohibited, at any time and in any manner, to hunt on another's land without the express authorisation of the owner or entitled party. A hunter must therefore first identify the Region, then the title authorising them on the land concerned.

See also