At the request of the Flemish Minister of Mobility Lydia Peeters, the Flemish government has definitively abolished the 15-minute regulation in the new taxi regulations after continuing advice at the MORA and the Council of State. The flaw in the legislation, which required waiting at least 15 minutes for an ordered taxi, was initially intended to protect the taxi sector against Uber and was only intended for the Brussels Airport region. Due to an error in the legislation, the rule unintentionally came into effect all over Flanders 

“This arrangement meant that if a customer ordered a taxi, it could not pick up the customer within 15 minutes of ordering and the customer would have to wait. The purpose of this scheme was to shield the existing taxi sector that serves Brussels Airport in Zaventem, but in practice this was valid for all of Flanders. I am now definitely putting an end to this arrangement ”, says Lydia Peeters.

new taxi decree

In 2019, the new taxi decree was approved to allow the modernization of the taxi landscape. In Flanders, outside the cities, the taxi was rather an exception and was also relatively expensive. The reason for this can be found in the old rules on fixed rates, rules that differ from municipality to municipality, the restriction to the territory of the municipality where the taxi is licensed and the quota limiting the number of taxis to 1 taxi per 1000 inhabitants. . An implementation decision followed at the end of 2019, which became final approved after going through many advisory procedures. The new regulations could take effect on January 1, 2020. 

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