RGIE / AREI: a summary for homes

Updated 7 October 2026

Belgium’s general regulation on electrical installations, summarised for a dwelling from the text in force: version 06 of Book 1, applicable since 1 April 2026. It covers the rules that decide how a home is wired, who inspects it, and what WireSketch does and doesn’t model.

The rules for a home, in short

Each point names the section of Book 1 (Livre 1 / Boek 1) it comes from, so your installer can look it up.

Circuits and sockets

• At most 8 sockets per circuit (5.3.5.2.b). A double or triple socket counts as one.
• Sockets and lights may share a circuit. On a mixed circuit, a fixed appliance, or a group of lights on one switch, counts as one socket (5.3.5.2.b).
• At least two lighting circuits in a dwelling with more than two rooms (5.3.5.2.b). There is no limit on the number of light points on a lighting circuit.
• No height rule. Book 1 sets no height for sockets or switches in a home. The last such rule, for surface-mounted sockets, was removed on 1 March 2025, and height is now left to good practice.

Cable size and protection

Fixed wiring is at least 2.5 mm². 1.5 mm² is allowed on circuits without sockets, such as a lighting circuit (5.2.1.2, Table 5.1). Table 4.11 sets the largest fuse or circuit breaker allowed for each cable size:

These are upper limits. The installer still sizes each cable for its load and its route.

Dedicated circuits

Each of these gets a circuit of its own (5.2.1.2): any fixed appliance of 2600 W or more; the washing machine, dishwasher, tumble dryer, electric cooker, hob and oven, whatever their power; and fixed electric heating, on one or more circuits. Every electric vehicle charging point also has its own circuit and may not be supplied through a socket (7.22.3).

Residual-current devices

• One RCD of at most 300 mA at the origin of the installation (4.2.4.3.b).
• Behind it, a 30 mA RCD for the circuits of general-purpose sockets, lighting, rooms with a bath or shower, and the washing machine, dryer and dishwasher, with at most 8 circuits per 30 mA RCD.
• Other circuits, such as the cooker or fixed heating, may sit directly behind the 300 mA device.
• Every RCD in a home is at least type A. Type AC is no longer allowed, even in existing installations, and the RCD at the origin is rated at least 40 A (5.3.5.3).
• The earth resistance of a home stays below 100 Ω (4.2.3.2). Between 30 and 100 Ω, the 30 mA group needs at least two RCDs with at most 16 sockets each, and every other circuit or group of circuits needs an RCD of at most 100 mA (4.2.4.3.b).
• From 1 November 2026, the inspection body no longer seals the input terminals of the main RCD (Royal Decree of 13 August 2026).

Bathrooms, since 1 March 2025

The Royal Decree of 3 October 2024 rewrote chapter 7.1. The old volume 3 is gone; it survives only for bathrooms whose works started before 1 March 2025.

• Volume 0: the inside of the bath, or of a shower tray at least 10 cm deep. For a shower with no tray or a shallower one: from the floor up to 10 cm, within 1.20 m of each fixed water outlet.
• Volume 1: above volume 0, up to 2.25 m, or higher if a fixed outlet sits higher. Around a shower it reaches 1.20 m from each outlet; around a bath, its outer edge, including the space underneath.
• Volume 2: only around a bath, 0.60 m beyond volume 1. A shower has no volume 2.
• No sockets or switches in volume 0. In volume 1, only safety extra-low voltage (SELV), with its source outside volumes 0 and 1. In volume 2, a mains socket needs an RCD of 10 mA or less, or its own isolating transformer (7.1.5.2).
• Every bathroom circuit is on 30 mA, with the RCD outside the bathroom, and there is no distribution board in volumes 0 to 2 (7.1.4.3).

The single-line diagram and the position plan

For every new installation or major change, the installer draws up a single-line diagram (schéma unifilaire / eendraadsschema) and a position plan (plan de position / situatieplan) (3.1.2).

• Single-line diagram: each circuit gets a capital letter, and each light point, socket and control gets a number, in the order met from the circuit’s protective device. It also shows the voltage, the cable type and cross-section, and every RCD and breaker with its rating.
• Position plan: where the boards, junction boxes, sockets, light points, switches, fixed appliances and sources such as an inverter or battery are. Each item carries its circuit letter and number; a switch carries the number of the point it controls (3.1.2.3).
• Both use the symbols of Table 2.23, are signed by the installer and the inspection body when the installation passes, and are kept on site and up to date.

Inspections

• Before first use: an accredited body (organisme agréé / erkend organisme) inspects every new installation or major change, and the grid operator connects only after a favourable report (6.4).
• Every 25 years: a periodic inspection visit for homes (6.5.2).
• After an unfavourable report: the faults are put right, and the same body inspects again within a year.
• At the sale of a home: an inspection only for an old installation, from before 1 October 1981 and never inspected. If the report is unfavourable, the buyer has 18 months from the deed to have it fixed and inspected again (8.4.2). For a newer installation, the seller hands over the installation file.

What RGIE / AREI is

RGIE (Règlement général sur les installations électriques) and AREI (Algemeen Reglement op de Elektrische Installaties) are the French and Dutch names of the same Belgian federal regulation. The current text was published in the Moniteur belge / Belgisch Staatsblad on 28 October 2019 by the Royal Decrees of 8 September 2019 and has applied since 1 June 2020. Book 1 covers low-voltage and extra-low-voltage installations, which is where every home falls.

It has been amended several times since. FOD Economie / SPF Économie publishes each consolidated version:

• Royal Decree of 5 March 2023, in force 1 June 2023: the residential RCD rules of 4.2.4.3, and the end of type AC.
• Royal Decree of 3 October 2024, in force 1 March 2025: the new bathroom chapter, sockets to NBN C 61-112-1, and the end of the socket height rule.
• Royal Decree of 6 October 2025, in force 1 April 2026: earthing for direct-current parts such as solar panels and batteries. This is version 06, the one in force today.
• Royal Decree of 13 August 2026, in force 1 November 2026: no more sealing of the main RCD. This becomes version 07.

Unlike NEN 1010 or BS 7671, which are standards that a regulation then refers to, RGIE / AREI is itself the regulation, and the binding text. Its technical content follows the HD 60364 family that the rest of the EU transposes, but in Belgium the inspector checks against this text.

Who inspects

In Belgium the installer does not certify their own work. An accredited body (organisme agréé / erkend organisme), such as Vinçotte, OCB, BTV or SGS, inspects the installation and writes the inspection report (rapport de contrôle / controleverslag). That report, together with the signed single-line diagram and position plan, goes into the installation file that stays with the home.

For a planning tool, this means the WireSketch output is never the document the inspector signs. It is the plan you and your installer agree on before the inspector arrives.

What WireSketch models for Belgium

WireSketch has no separate Belgian setting. The closest is DIN 18015 / VDE 0100 (Germany), another HD 60364 transposition. With it selected you get:

• Socket circuits of at most 8 socket points in the cable suggestions. The app counts a double socket as two, so it is stricter than the RGIE, which counts it as one.
• A dedicated-circuit warning in the Circuit Panel when an oven, hob, washing machine, dishwasher or EV charger shares a circuit. Following German practice, it also wants the fridge and worktop sockets on their own circuits, which the RGIE does not require.
• Type A as the default RCD, which matches the Belgian minimum.
• Bathroom zones around the water source in a Wet Room project. They are a simplified planning aid. The app draws the same three zones for a bath and a shower, so a shower gets a zone 2 the RGIE does not have.
• Circuits you can name. Give each circuit in the panel a capital letter, as the single-line diagram does, and assign every socket, switch and light point to it. The PDF then lists what sits on each circuit, and the wall drawings show where each item goes. That is the information a position plan carries.

What WireSketch doesn’t model

• RCD grouping: the 300 mA / 30 mA split, the limit of 8 circuits per 30 mA RCD, and the extra RCDs above 30 Ω.
• Belgian circuit rules: the two lighting circuits, the 2600 W threshold and the tumble dryer’s own circuit.
• The official plans: the symbols of Table 2.23, the numbering of each point, the signatures and the installation file.
• Inspections: the 25-year visit, the inspection at sale and the grid connection are outside the app.

Practical tip

If you are a homeowner in Belgium planning a renovation or a new build, use WireSketch with the DIN 18015 setting to show where you want each socket, switch and light, export the Renovation Brief PDF, and give it to your installer. They draw the single-line diagram and position plan from it, wire to the RGIE / AREI as it stands, and have an accredited body inspect the result before it is connected.

If you are a Belgian installer, use WireSketch on site to agree the positions with your customer, name the circuits by letter as you go, and carry them into your own single-line diagram and position plan.