Public Records
In 1794, the French occupying forces applied in Belgium the Law of September 22 1792 establishing the Civil Registration. Municipal Halls were required to list births, marriages and deaths in separate registers and in duplicate.
These records covered the territory of the City of Brussels, including Laeken, Neder-over-Heembeek and Haren. Ten-year tables make it possible to find people in each type of record even if their exact dates of birth, marriage and death are not known.
Communication of civil records
The law of December 21 2018 (M.B. 31/12/2018) and its R.D. of March 17 2021, as the law of September 13 2024 (B.S. 04/12/2024) and its R.D. of November 11 2024, have amended the rules about the publicity of the civil registers.
From January 1 2025, for genealogical, historical or scientific research :
- can be freely consulted (public records)
- Birth records and additional acts : over 100 years
- Marriage records and death records : over 75 years
- can NOT be freely consulted (not public records)
- the acts of exactly 75 or 100 years
- the acts below these ranges of time
Requested copies and non-public act certificates can be asked by email from the Registry Office of the Brussels City ( etatcivil@brucity.be). Consultation request authorization from the Tribunal de la Famille are no longer valid.
Research in the Brussels City Archives
Summary tables of civil status records that can be consulted at the Archives of the City of Brussels (PDF) (103.20 KB) (update of the 25/02/2022)
To help you in your research, we invite you to consult the complementary research instruments available in the reading room. Those that exist in electronic version are accessible via the External online catalogue.