Taxi in Flanders: what equipment must be present in the vehicle?

Many Flanders taxi operators think that their licence, their T-X plate or the use of a booking platform is enough to operate.

Flemish regulation also provides for an obligation regarding the equipment or software used onboard the vehicle.

This obligation especially concerns straattaxi's, i.e. taxis that do not work exclusively from an official rank — see also street taxi vs rank taxi.

In this article, we explain what articles 33 to 36 of Flemish regulation provide for, what must be able to be presented during a control, and how to check your situation with your municipality.

What article 33, §1 provides

Article 33, §1 of the Besluit van de Vlaamse Regering on individual paid passenger transport (consolidated text: decree of 9 June 2023) states:

« In elk voertuig dat in dienst is, is apparatuur aanwezig waarmee de gegevens, vermeld in artikel 34 en 35, beveiligd kunnen worden geregistreerd, opgeslagen en geraadpleegd. »

In English:

In every vehicle in service, equipment must be present so that the data referred to in articles 34 and 35 can be recorded, stored and consulted in a secure manner.

The obligation therefore directly targets every vehicle when it is in service.

The text does not cite a brand, supplier or specific device. It mainly imposes functions:

• record the regulatory data;
• store them securely;
• be able to consult them;
• be able to present them during a control.

The equipment may therefore, in principle, take the form of a device or software, provided it truly meets the requirements set out in the regulation.

Is the vehicle obligation different from that of a platform?

Yes. Article 33 distinguishes two obligations.

Article 33, §1: equipment present in the vehicle

The first paragraph concerns the vehicle in service. It requires that equipment allowing regulatory data to be recorded, stored and consulted be available onboard.

Article 33, §2: data processed by an intermediary

« De gegevens die verwerkt worden door de tussenpersonen, worden beveiligd geregistreerd, opgeslagen en geraadpleegd. »

This means that data processed by a dispatch centre or intermediate platform must also be recorded, stored and consulted in a secure manner.

Article 33, §3: common security requirements

The third paragraph explicitly targets paragraphs 1 and 2. It specifies that the integrity, origin, immutability and non-repudiation of the data must be guaranteed by means of a reliable audit trail between the transport ticket and the service. The data must also be stored at an external location accessible to competent authorities.

The most direct reading of the text is therefore:

• §1 imposes an obligation regarding vehicle equipment;
• §2 imposes an obligation regarding data processed by the intermediary;
• §3 applies security rules to both situations.

The text does not specify that §2 automatically replaces §1 when a driver works with an intermediary. However, an application provided by an intermediary could potentially fulfil the functions of §1 itself if it truly allows all required data to be recorded and presented. This question must be verified concretely with the application provider and with the municipality that issued the licence.

What data must the equipment manage?

Article 34 describes the content of the dienststaat, i.e. the driver's duty sheet.

At the start of service

• the operator's identity and contact details;
• the date;
• vehicle identification;
• the registration plate;
• the driver's name;
• the service start time;
• the mileage at the start of service;
• the vehicle's location when the service is performed with equipment other than a taximeter.

During service

• breaks actually taken;
• the number of trips completed;
• the final price of each trip;
• the number of pick-ups;
• the total distance travelled;
• the distance travelled with a passenger;
• the start and end locations of each trip when the vehicle uses equipment other than a taximeter.

At the end of service

• the service end date and time;
• the total number of trips;
• the fare agreement and final price of each trip;
• distances;
• pick-up and drop-off locations.

The driver must be able to generate a copy of their duty sheet. The equipment present in the vehicle must also allow the data to be presented in a readable, understandable form identical to the original data.

This means that a simple demo screen is not necessarily enough. To cover the obligation in full, the system must contain the actual data required for the service and the trips completed.

The transport ticket is also mandatory

Article 35 provides that at the end of the trip, a vervoerbewijs, or transport ticket, must be handed to the passenger or customer without them having to ask for it.

This document must notably contain:

• the operator's identity;
• the vehicle and its plate;
• the driver's name;
• a sequential trip number;
• the pick-up and drop-off date and time;
• pick-up and drop-off locations;
• the distance travelled;
• the fare applied;
• the total price;
• complaints information.

The regulation also specifies that a transport ticket cannot, in principle, be handwritten (except in case of failure — see article 42).

What must the driver be able to show during a control?

Article 36 provides that the driver must be able to present the secured data of articles 34 and 35 on request from competent agents.

The operator and the intermediary must retain this data for seven years and present it when a competent authority requests it. For the course of a control, see also taxi document control.

During a control, the important questions are therefore notably:

• What equipment or software is used in the vehicle?
• Where is today's duty sheet?
• Are the trips completed recorded?
• Are the transport tickets available?
• Is the data readable and identical to the original data?
• How is the data secured and archived?
• Can it be retained for seven years?

Can a mobile app constitute mandatory equipment?

The official Flemish Region page on licence applications explicitly refers to data relating to "apparatuur of software", i.e. equipment or software.

When applying for a licence, the operator must notably provide a model dienststaat and demonstrate that their equipment or software incorporates the provisions imposed by articles 33 and 34 (the page still cites the BVR of 8 November 2019; the applicable consolidated text is the decree of 9 June 2023 — articles 33–36). See prepare models for the licence.

A mobile app can therefore, in principle, be part of the solution. But simply installing an app on a phone is not enough. The app and its infrastructure must truly cover the functions required by the regulation.

I only work with a platform: am I concerned?

Receiving all your trips through a platform does not, in the text of article 33, create an explicit exception to the obligation provided for in §1.

The platform may process its own data and, depending on its configuration, transmit trip information to Chiron. But the operator must still be able to determine which equipment or software fulfils the vehicle obligations:

• Which solution was declared or presented to the municipality?
• Does this solution produce a compliant duty sheet?
• Does it allow all trips of the service to be consulted?
• Does it allow transport tickets to be presented?
• Does it guarantee data integrity and retention?
• Does the data remain accessible for seven years?

It is possible that the app used to receive trips already covers all or part of these functions. However, do not assume this without verification. Ask your platform for written confirmation and present this response to your municipality.

Are Chiron and vehicle equipment the same thing?

No, these two elements have different functions.

Chiron is the central Flemish database to which trip information must be transmitted. The Flemish Region indicates that the operator must send their trip information to Chiron, directly or through their IT provider.

Article 33, §1 concerns the equipment present in the vehicle and the ability to record, store and consult the data of articles 34 and 35.

Transmitting a trip to Chiron and being able to present the duty sheet or transport ticket from the vehicle are therefore two legally distinct functions — details in Does Chiron replace the documents?.

The same application may potentially perform both functions, but you must verify that it truly does so.

Is there a risk of sanction?

The Flemish decree on individual paid passenger transport provides for sanctions in case of non-compliance with its provisions or implementing measures.

For offences that do not fall under a special category, article 33, §2 of the decree provides for a general penalty that may include a nominal fine between €26 and €10,000, possibly accompanied by other consequences. Annex 10 also sets immediate collection amounts for equipment, the dienststaat and the vervoerbewijs.

The exact qualification of the offence, the amount actually applied and any surcharges depend however on the control, the file and the decision of the competent authority or court. The goal should therefore not be to create fear, but to verify your setup before a control.

How to check your situation with your municipality

The taxi licence is issued by the municipality where the operating headquarters is located.

You can send the following questions to your municipality's taxi or mobility service:

• What equipment or software is currently registered in my licence file under articles 33 and 34?
• Does the app I currently use, according to the municipality, fulfil the obligations relating to the duty sheet and transport ticket?
• What data must I be able to present immediately in the vehicle during a control?
• Must I provide a model dienststaat or a demo trip to validate my equipment?
• Is transmitting trips to Chiron enough, or must I also have a separate system allowing data to be consulted onboard?

Ideally ask for a written response and keep it with your company documents.

How TaxiGer can help

TaxiGer offers an application for taxi operators and drivers in Flanders.

Depending on the plan chosen, TaxiGer notably allows you to manage:

• the application used in the vehicle;
• service start and end;
• the digital duty sheet;
• driver and vehicle information;
• trips recorded in TaxiGer;
• transport tickets;
• data consultation during a control;
• secure archiving;
• connection and transmissions to Chiron in the full plan.

A specific plan is available from €30 per vehicle per month for operators who mainly need equipment, the duty sheet and regulatory documents. Transmission of TaxiGer trips to Chiron is available in the full plan.

Before activation, our team analyses your way of working with you. When some trips are handled by another app, you must verify how their data is retrieved or presented so that the duty sheet is complete. See also the TaxiGer features.

Request an equipment review

Not sure what equipment or software is currently listed in your file?

Not sure how to present your duty sheet during a control?

TaxiGer can review your current setup, show you the solution and help you prepare questions for your municipality.

Contact us for a short demonstration →

FAQ

Official sources

• Flemish Government Decree of 9 June 2023 — articles 33 to 36 (equipment, dienststaat, vervoerbewijs, control)
• Flemish Decree of 29 March 2019 — article 33: criminal sanctions
• Vlaanderen.be — Vergunning voor taxidiensten (apparatuur of software, model dienststaat / vervoerbewijs)
• Vlaanderen.be — Rittendatabank Chiron
• Annex 10 / Boetetabel — indicative amounts (equipment, documents)