Volunteering: some innovations!

Following an evaluation of the Act of 3 July 2005 on the Rights of Volunteers by the High Council of Volunteers, adjustments have been made to this legislation.

These innovations entered into force on 21 April 2019 and can be summarized as follows:

• extension of the scope of the Act of 3 July 2005 to the directors and representatives of non-profit organisations who carry out their duties free of charge;
• extension of the information obligation of the organisation working with volunteers: type of information covered by professional secrecy, possibility to deviate from the confidentiality obligation, duty of discretion, etc.;
• if the volunteer's activity involves the regular transport of persons, abolition of the limit of 2,000 km per year (reminder: this is the limit applicable per volunteer when the latter combines the flat-rate expense allowance for volunteering and the reimbursement of his actual expenses);
• limitation of the amount of the actual costs to the amount fixed for the staff of the federal civil service;
• exclusion of occasional gifts Receive by the volunteer following a particular event (Christmas, Saint Nicholas, etc.) from the calculation basis for the amount of the (flat-rate and actual) expense allowance;
• non-seizability and non-transferability of the expense allowances receive by de the volunteer (unless he waives the non-seizability and non-transferability of the expense allowances);
• etc.

Source: Act amending the Act of 3 July 2005 on the rights of volunteers and other legal provisions on volunteering, Belgian Official Gazette of 11 April 2019.