Restoration of honour and rights

Were you ever convicted by the Police Court or Correctional court and are worried about the possible consequences such as problems applying for a new job or the applying for Belgian nationality?

In that case, there is the possibility of applying for restoration of honour and rights. Through this legal procedure, you will be offered the chance to clear your criminal record again.

For more information on the procedure, please read this blog post or an appointment make at our office!

Initiating honour restoration proceedings requires you to meet a number of conditions:

• The penalty imposed must full implementation have been brought. Specifically, this means that every obligation in the judgment must have been fulfilled;
• The person concerned should a trial period of 3 to 10 years (depending on the severity of the sentence imposed) to be served. The probation period aims to demonstrate that an evolution of good behaviour is present;
• Honour recovery is only once every 10 years possible.

If you have been convicted of rape, indecent assault or moral offences committed against minors, an opinion from a specialised service* will also be necessary before restoration can be granted.

* For example: Centre for Mental Health or Centre for General Welfare.

Convictions by the Police Court are in principle automatically expunged after three years so that they are no longer mentioned on your criminal record. More specifically, these are the following punishments: a prison sentence of 1 to 7 days and/or a fine of 1 to 25 euros, or community service of 20 to 45 hours. An honour procedure is not necessary in this case. The automatic exchange is free of charge.

Did you still receive a different punishment? In that case, however, an honour procedure is necessary.

An application is submitted to the Public Prosecutor of the judicial district where you live or reside. There are no specific form requirements in the law, but you should indicate the convictions for which you wish to obtain rehabilitation along with the underlying reason(s).

After checking the conditions discussed earlier, the file is transferred to the Attorney General, who will then submit it to the Chamber of Indictments (KI) for review. In principle, the KI gives its verdict within a month, but in practice the proceedings usually take much longer. The costs associated with these proceedings are borne by the applicant.

For more information on costs, please make an appointment at our office.

If the application is approved, the convictions will be removed from the criminal record and rights restored. Your criminal record will be blank again.

Moreover, the convictions can no longer serve as a basis for re-offending (recidivism) in any future convictions.

If rejected, a new application can be submitted after a period of two years, unless a shorter period was included in the refusal decision.

For more information or to initiate proceedings for restoration of honour and rights, please contact a make an appointment at our office. We will be happy to support you throughout the procedure!