Brussels is the only officially bilingual FR/NL metropolis in Europe with a 35% foreign population speaking more than 100 languages. A Brussels-based website that wants to capture its entire local market must be available in French, Dutch and often English. Website translation in Brussels is therefore a commercial, cultural and sometimes legal necessity - notably for e-commerce businesses and institutions subject to the Belgian Code of Economic Law.
Trilingual Brussels: website localisation stakes for local businesses
The Brussels-Capital Region is officially bilingual, but in practice English has become the third dominant working language in institutional, corporate and tech circles. Brussels start-ups, European institutions and international companies based in Brussels generally have websites in at least three languages.
The localisation stakes vary depending on the type of Brussels business:
- B2C e-commerce: the Belgian Code of Economic Law requires that pre-contractual information (product descriptions, T&Cs, return policy) be available in the language of the client's region. For Dutch-speaking Brussels customers, a NL version is mandatory. The 19 Brussels municipalities have specific linguistic rules for local commercial communications
- Institutional and associations: Brussels non-profits, municipalities and CPASs publish their websites mandatorily in FR and NL. European organisations often add English as their main international communication language
- Tech start-ups and SaaS: start-ups in the Startup Brussels ecosystem often target a pan-European market from the outset and must localise their interface and marketing content into EN, FR, NL and sometimes DE from launch
- HoReCa and tourism sector: Brussels restaurants, hotels and tourist venues must offer their site in several languages to capture European and international tourists visiting Brussels each year
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Website localisation in Brussels, FR/NL/EN
Trilingual Brussels market, e-commerce, institutional, tech start-ups. Multilingual GDPR. Per-word pricing. Free quote within 1 hour.
Multilingual GDPR and legal notices for Brussels websites
The GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) requires that information relating to the processing of personal data be written in clear and understandable languagefor users. In Belgium, the Data Protection Authority (APD/GBA) interprets this obligation as requiring a privacy policy in the user's language. A Brussels website that collects personal data must therefore have its privacy policy in both French and Dutch (and in English for English-speaking users).
Mandatory legal notices for a Belgian website include: company name and address, CBE number, email address, VAT number (if applicable), competent court, cookie policy, GDPR privacy policy - all this information must be accessible in all languages of the site. Legal translation of these notices requires specific expertise in Belgian data protection law.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Does my site need to be localised for each of the 19 Brussels municipalities?
No - a localisation in French and Dutch covers the entire Brussels Region. The 19 municipalities have different linguistic regimes (facilitated municipalities, bilingual municipalities, etc.) but for a website, two language versions (FR and NL) are sufficient to cover the entire Brussels market. What matters is that the user can access information in their language, via a clear language selector in the header. Automatic detection of the browser language can complement this.
Do GDPR legal notices need to be translated into Dutch on my Brussels website?
Yes. The Belgian Data Protection Authority (APD/GBA) interprets the GDPR clarity and accessibility obligation as requiring a privacy policy in the user's language. For a site targeting both Brussels communities, the privacy policy, cookie policy and legal notices must be available in French and Dutch. Translating these legal documents requires specific expertise in Belgian data protection law - our legal translators specialise in this area.
How long does it take to translate a medium-sized website in Brussels?
For an institutional site of 20 pages (approximately 10,000 words), the deadline is 5 to 7 business days per language. For an e-commerce site with 100 product pages (approximately 15,000 words), allow 7 to 10 business days. For simultaneous translation into multiple languages (FR to NL + EN), translators work in parallel and the overall deadline remains the same. We deliver into your CMS (WordPress, Drupal, Webflow) or in a compatible format (XLIFF, PO, JSON) depending on your technical stack.
Is it better to pay per word or per page for a Brussels website?
Per-source-word pricing is the most transparent and fair: you pay exactly according to the volume of content to be translated. The standard rate is 0.10 to 0.15 euros per word for FR ↔ NL or FR ↔ EN. Per-page packages can be advantageous if your pages are text-dense and uniform. For very varied pages (some very short, others very long), per-word pricing is more equitable. We offer both options according to your preference, with a detailed and transparent quote in either case.
Brussels website to localise into FR/NL/EN?
Trilingual market, e-commerce, institutional, multilingual GDPR. Express service available. Free quote.