Is drone insurance compulsory in Belgium?

Yes for almost everyone. One exemption exists and it is narrow: the aircraft must be used strictly privately and its maximum take-off mass must stay under 900 grams. Both conditions have to hold. The moment a flight serves a business, the obligation applies, including for a pocket-sized aircraft.

The text, word for word

Article 12 of the Royal Decree of 8 November 2020, as amended by the Royal Decree of 26 December 2022 and applicable since 1 January 2023, provides that every UAS operator carrying out operations exclusively in the open category must take out third-party liability insurance covering injury and property damage to others, unless those operations concern only UAS used purely for private purposes and whose maximum take-off mass is below 900 grams.

The word that matters is “and”. A 400-gram aircraft used to photograph a building site does not fall within the exemption. Nor does a 1.2-kilo aircraft flown in a garden on a Sunday.

Your situation in one line

250 grams and 900 grams are not about the same thing

This is the most widespread confusion, and it circulates on specialist websites too.

250 grams is a registration threshold. Above it, you must register as an operator. Below it too, as soon as the aircraft carries a camera or a sensor able to record personal data.

900 grams is an insurance threshold, and it only comes into play for strictly private use.

The two thresholds are independent. A 300-gram aircraft with a camera, flown for pleasure, has to be registered and needs no insurance. The same aircraft flown once for a client has to be registered and insured.

In the specific category the regime changes entirely

Article 17 of the same decree refers to another text, and it sets no weight threshold at all: every UAS operator carrying out operations in the specific category is insured in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 785/2004.

A 3-kilo aircraft operated in the specific category therefore falls under the European regime, while the same aircraft in the open category does not. That is not a difference of degree, it is a difference in kind. Flying beyond visual line of sight, flying above a controlled ground area, a standard scenario: you cross over.

The amount the law imposes

For an aircraft whose maximum take-off mass stays under 500 kilos, which covers every civil drone, the European regulation sets minimum cover of 0.75 million special drawing rights per accident, for damage to third parties.

The special drawing right is a unit of account of the International Monetary Fund, and its rate moves. On 4 September 2026 that came to roughly 885,000 euros.

That is a floor, not a recommendation. The sums actually offered on the Belgian market run from 1,000,000 to 2,500,000 euros depending on the insurer, so well above it. The gap is not trivial: serious personal injury caused to someone else runs quickly past the legal minimum.

Insurance comes before registration, not after

The order surprises many remote pilots. Registration as an operator is free, on the portal of the FPS Mobility and Transport, and the insurance policy number is asked for during the procedure. So you have to be insured in order to register, not the other way round.

One more useful point: it is the operator that is registered, not the aircraft. One operator number, marked on your drones, covers your whole fleet.

What you risk without insurance

The penalties are not in the Royal Decree, which provides only for administrative measures, including operating bans of up to 24 months. They are in the Act of 27 June 1937 on air navigation.

Its article 32 provides for a fine carrying a statutory multiplier, revised on 1 September 2026 when the new Criminal Code came into force, and where appropriate a term of 8 days to 1 year. The theoretical ceiling of that scale runs into millions of euros: it is aimed at commercial aviation, not at a remote pilot, and no court has ever come close to it for a drone.

Taking that figure at face value would therefore be a misreading. The real risk to an operator fits in one sentence: without third-party liability, damage caused to someone else stays entirely with you. Serious personal injury runs quickly past what a business can absorb, and there is no ceiling on that exposure.

Administrative measures come on top, including operating bans of up to 24 months. For a professional that is the costliest penalty of all: it stops the business.

The recreational pilot’s case

Being exempt from insurance does not mean not being liable. A private remote pilot whose 400-gram aircraft injures someone must make good the damage. The question then becomes whether the household third-party liability policy covers it.

The answer depends on the policy, and it is not the same from one insurer to the next. Belgian rules allow aircraft to be excluded without requiring it, and most insurers bring the recreational drone back in through a commercial clause, with thresholds that vary widely. No remote pilot can settle this alone by reading their policy.

An administration behind its own text

On 8 September 2026, the frequently asked questions of the FPS Mobility and Transport still presented the insurance obligation in its pre-2023 wording, without mentioning the 900-gram exemption. The consolidated text published in the Belgian Official Gazette is what counts.

If you have read elsewhere that insurance is compulsory “whatever the weight”, you have read a sentence that was accurate until 31 December 2022.

The regime follows your category

Your operational category decides which regime applies: the open category and the specific category do not follow the same rules. Registration has thresholds of its own.

For what a policy actually covers, the comparison of the six covers shows the exclusions at the same level as the covers. If you fly for your business, the professional page sets out the six factors that move the premium.