From 1 May 2027, drivers in Belgium will need to buy a digital sticker, also known as a vignette, to use the country’s motorways and regional roads.
Motorists will be able to choose from a one-day, 10-day, two-month or annual sticker. The annual price will range from €90 to €125 euros, depending on the vehicle’s CO2 emissions.
A long-awaited agreement on the issue between Belgium’s three regions is close to being finalised, several newspapers reported on Friday.
The full details are due to be presented at 13:00 on Friday, according to the office of Wallonia’s mobility minister. The measure still needs approval from the Flemish government on Friday.
The road stickers have been under discussion for years and will be compulsory for all vehicles weighing up to 3.5 tonnes, whether registered in Belgium or abroad. The idea behind the initiative is to make foreign cars contribute to the maintenance of Belgian roads.
Touring backs the plans
Belgian mobility and roadside assistance organisation Touring has welcomed the plans for a national road vignette, while warning that the final cost to drivers must remain under close scrutiny.
Touring said it was particularly pleased that a single system would apply across the whole country, covering motorways and regional roads. In a statement, the organisation said it would have been difficult to justify each of Belgium’s three regions adopting different arrangements.
It also stressed that motorists already contribute about €21 billion a year to public finances through taxes, duties and excise charges. According to Touring, Belgium is the OECD country in which motorists are taxed most heavily.
Touring also welcomed plans for all revenue from the vignette to be used exclusively for maintaining and improving road infrastructure. It said this funding has become essential to speed up the modernisation of the road network.
An old idea makes a comeback
Belgium has come close to introducing a road vignette before, only to see plans crumble at the last minute – thanks in part to a Dutch intervention.
The introduction of a road vignette was included in the coalition agreement of the Flemish Government in 2004. Subsequently, the Brussels and Walloon Governments also expressed their support for the idea.
After much deliberation, the three regional governments agreed on the cost of the vignette and on the distribution of the income. The vignette was supposed to be introduced in 2009.
However, after legal objections that the road vignette might not pass the test of European regulations and after strong criticism from the Netherlands, the Flemish Minister-President Yves Leterme (CD&V) at the time buried the idea in March 2007 during a visit to the Netherlands.
