The Brussels regional parliament is eager to ban patio heaters in the hospitality industry, as part of a wider energy and climate plan. In addition to the ban on patio heaters, proposals include various other energy-saving measures. For instance, shops and offices will have to switch off lights between 10pm and 6am, if no work is being done, and heated shops would be obliged to keep their doors closed. This also goes for stores that are cooled.
Draft legislation has passed committee stage and now goes to a vote in the full Brussels parliament before it can become effective.
The hospitality sector is not happy with the initiative. ‘For a lot of businesses, patio heaters provide an important source of income during the winter months,’ the industry’s Mathieu Léonard told Brussels media outlet BRUZZ and the industry federation is opposing the draft legislation as a result.
The bill also met with political opposition from Flemish nationalist and Francophone liberal lawmakers eager not to place extra burdens on the hospitality industry and its consumers.
The draft law is the Belgian translation of a European Union directive, a so-called Euro law, which aims to cut energy use. The new legislation could become effective in Brussels on 1 June 2026 at the earliest, which would give the hospitality sector the necessary time to prepare.