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Belgium Public Holidays 2013

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Bank and Public Holidays for Belgium

Belgium bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for the first 3 months of 2013, from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use.

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26 Feb 2012 (RTBF INFO-Brussels) Belgium's Defense Minister, Pieter De Crem, has proposed a set of measures to reduce Belgium's budget deficit, including the cancellation of the annual Pentecost Monday public holiday. • 06 Aug 2010 (RTBF INFO-Antwerpen) The ministre-président of Belgium's Flemmish region, Kris Peeters, has announced in Parliament that he would like to make July 11 a full-fledged public holiday in Flanders. • 24 Aug 2009 (RTBF Info-Bruxelles) Belgium's government minister for the Bruxelles capital region, Benoit Cerexhe, has suggested adding a floating public holidays for the end of Ramadan Muslim festival. • 21 Aug 2009 (Le Soir-Bruxelles) A Belgian legislator, Ben Weyts (N-VA), will introduce a bill making each of the 3 community holidays (July 11, September 27, and November 15) into fully-paid public holidays in their respective community. • 17 May 2009 (Conseil National Belge Du Travail-Brussels) The Conseil National Belge Du Travail (CNT) has released an opinion paper (avis n° 1687 du 6 mai 2009) rejecting a mandatory floating public holiday whereby each individual could choose one public holiday to match his/her religious or philosophical views. • 29 Jan 2008 (Het Laatste Nieuws + RTL Info + Le Vif) Labour Minister, Josly Piette, announced that May 2, 2008, will be the official day off to compensate for the conjunction of Labour Day and Ascension Day in 2008, unless a specific other date is agreed to. • 10 Jan 2008 (De Standaard) Belgium's interim Federal Minister of Labor, Josly Piette, announced yesterday that May 2, 2008, will not be an official public holiday, thereby cancelling last April's decision by his predecessor, Peter Vanvelthoven, taken to compensate for the fact that, in 2008, both May Day and Ascension fall on the same date. May 2, 2008, Ascension Friday, will therefore revert to its usual status as a banks-only holiday. • 24 Apr 2007 (RTL Infos) Belgium's Minister of Labor has decided to make Friday May 2, 2008 a public holiday in Belgium as compensation for the fact that both May Day and Ascension fall on the same date. • 18 Jan 2007 (Euronews) Belgium has set a date for its next federal election: June 10, the same day as the first round of parliamentary elections in neighbouring France. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Belgium public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Governing Law: Official public holidays in Belgium are regulated by the "Loi du 4 janvier 1974 relative aux jours fériés" as modified on June 1, 1994, and amended in 2003 (Arrêté royal du 11 juillet 2003 modifiant la loi du 4 janvier 1974 relative aux jours fériés) to include civil servants. • Weekend Public Holidays: Contrary to what is often reported, when public holidays coincide with an official non-working day (e.g. a Saturday or a Sunday), employees are not entitled to a replacement day off. That is to say, public holidays that occur on a weekend remain on that date. • Belgium International Codes BE and BEL (2 and 3-letter ISO3166 codes) and .be (ICANN national top-level internet domain). • Other Sources of Information The following specialized websites are also a good source of Belgium information and news: National Bank of Belgium (Belgium central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (Belgium maps, demographics and economic statistics), the IFES (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and voter participation in Belgium), and Wikipedia (includes Belgium commemorative dates that are not necessarily public holidays).

Religion of Specific Business Contacts : Some of the business contacts that you may be trying to meet in Belgium, may belong to a religious group that is not common in Belgium, and therefore which is not included in the above list of public holidays or bank holidays. To be safe, you should also verify that no major religious holidays coincides with any planned business trip to Belgium. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2013 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Belgium, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of Belgium, before planning any trip to Belgium. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our worldwide public holidays news and updates page or subscribe to our free email newsletters.