The legal alcohol limit for non-professional drivers in Belgium is 0.22mg per litre of breath, or 0.5g per litre of blood, which is measured by a blood test in hospital.
If you are required to do a breathalyser test, you can wait 15 minutes before blowing into the device. It will give one of three answers.
S (Safe): under 0.22mg
A (Alarm): between 0.22 and 0.35mg
P (Positive): over 0.35mg
If the result is A or P, the driver must take a further breath analysis test, which calculates the exact amount of alcohol in the breath. This is usually carried out in a police van. Police automatically test the breath of anyone involved in a traffic accident, whether victim or pedestrian.
If police suspect drug use, they check certain signs and behaviour and can ask the driver to take a saliva test. Unlike the alcohol test, there is no legal limit; the presence of drugs in the system is sufficient for prosecution
If a driver is in an obvious state of inebriation, police are not obliged to carry out a test but can note the person’s condition, such as being unable to walk straight or speak logically
If a motorist is found to be in one of the above states, they will face a short-term ban from driving. They must hand over their licence to the police for the duration of the ban; if they don’t have their licence, the car could be immobilised and the driver will have to hand over the keys.
Following a ban of three, six or 12 hours, depending on the amount of alcohol in the system, a new test is carried out at the police station to ensure the person is safe to drive before they get their licence back.
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