Barges, container ships, pleasure craft... all radio-equipped vessels must have a station authorisation on board describing the equipment, pursuant to international regulations. The person operating this installation has to hold a certificate. BIPT is in charge of issuing these authorisations and certificates.
The licences for shore stations are issued by the Private Licences Department, as are the licences for equipment that is not linked to a vessel.
Certificates
Every person operating a radio station emitting on the maritime frequency bands must hold an operator’s certificate for ship stations.
BIPT is in charge of organising the examinations giving access to the certificates for ship stations. The examinations to obtain the VHF and SRC certificates take place on a computer at the BIPT premises. The GMDSS exams are organised by BIPT in the centres which give the preparatory training courses.
Station authorisation
International regulations impose an obligation on radio-equipped ships to have an authorisation on board that describes the installation. That authorisation is issued by BIPT, which is only competent for vessels registered in Belgium or flying the Belgian flag.
The legal basis is Article 13/1 of the Law of 13 June 2005 on electronic communications and Article 17 of the Royal Decree of 18 December 2009 on private radio communications and rights of use for fixed networks and trunked networks.
eBox
In accordance with the law of 27 February 2019 on the electronic exchange of messages via the eBox, the BIPT (as a user as defined in Article 2, 1°, i) of the law) must use the eBox for the electronic exchange of messages with recipients who are natural persons and who have explicitly agreed to this beforehand. As a result, every recipient whose eBox is activated will receive their maritime licence via the eBox.
If the eBox is not activated, the BIPT will send the licence by email (if the Institute has an email address) or, in other cases, by post.
With regard to the legal effects, we recall that the electronic exchange of messages via the eBox has the same legal effects as exchanges on non-electronic media. Documents sent via the eBox, by email or by post therefore have the same legal value.
This means that the licence may be presented during an inspection on a smartphone. A printed copy of the PDF file is also valid.
However, anyone who wishes to receive a paper copy of their licence can easily request one from the BIPT. Please note that this request option is not yet available in the eBox.
Contact
BIPT - Maritime Department
Boulevard du Roi Albert II 32 box 10
1000 Brussels
Email
Tel : +32 (0)2 226 88 57 from 9:00 to 12:00
Last updated on 05/03/2026