PGUI guide: Belgian municipal emergency plans

The general emergency and intervention plan sets out how a Belgian municipality or province responds to an emergency: who decides, who is alerted, how the services work together and how the public is informed. It is called PGUI in French (plan général d'urgence et d'intervention) and ANIP in Dutch (algemeen nood- en interventieplan). Every municipality and every province must have one. This guide summarises the legal framework, the people involved and the expected content, and ends with a checklist.

The legal framework

The royal decree of 22 May 2019 on emergency planning and the management of emergencies at municipal and provincial level was published in the Belgian Official Gazette on 27 June 2019. It replaced the royal decree of 16 February 2006 and is based on the Civil Security Act of 15 May 2007.

In the decree, emergency planning means everything prepared in advance (organisation, procedures, equipment, tools) so that the right people and resources can be mobilised quickly to protect people and property when a serious event occurs.

When a crisis is managed at national level, the reference is the royal decree of 26 April 2024 establishing the national emergency plan. The 2019 decree then sets out the supporting role of burgomasters and governors.

PGUI, PPUI and other plans

The PGUI contains the general instructions and information needed to manage any emergency on the territory.
The PPUI (special emergency and intervention plan, BNIP in Dutch) adds provisions for one specific risk. It is mandatory where specific regulations require it, and the authority may draw one up whenever it sees fit (an industrial site, a major event, flooding). It describes the risk, the planning zones, the actors involved, scenarios and the measures specific to that risk.
Single-discipline plans set out how each discipline intervenes, consistent with the PGUI and PPUIs.
Internal emergency plans are drawn up by a site (a company or an institution). For risks covered by a PPUI, the authority makes sure they are consistent with it.

Who does what

The burgomaster (mayor) is the competent authority at municipal level, the governor at provincial level. For the Brussels agglomeration, the decree refers to the authority designated by the special act of 12 January 1989. Their planning tasks are the same: analyse risks, draw up the PGUI and PPUIs, check the plans of the disciplines, provide resources, inform the public in advance, organise exercises and learn from them.

The safety cell is the multidisciplinary consultation body that assists the authority. It is chaired by the burgomaster or the governor and meets at least once a year. It includes at least the chair, a representative of each discipline and the emergency planning coordinator; at provincial level, a representative of the 112 emergency call centre also sits on it. Other services or experts may be invited.

The emergency planning coordinator is the authority's reference person for emergency planning and the strategic management of emergencies. Every municipality and every province must have this function. The coordinator coordinates the work, runs the safety cell, advises the authority and builds cooperation with partners. The authority sets the coordinator's working time according to the risks on its territory. Several municipalities may share a coordinator, provided they agree in advance on how they would handle a crisis affecting them at the same time.

The five disciplines

Discipline	Mission	Main actors
D1	Rescue operations	Rescue zones (fire and rescue services), Civil Protection
D2	Medical, health and psychosocial assistance	Emergency medical services, medical and psychosocial intervention plans
D3	Policing of the emergency site	Local and federal police
D4	Logistical support	Mainly Civil Protection, rescue zones, Defence, other public or private services
D5	Alerting and informing the public	Designated and coordinated by the competent authority

D5 works under the coordination of the authority, which designates the information director (Dir-Info). It alerts and informs the public and handles the press, during the crisis and afterwards.

Coordination and phases

On the ground, operational coordination is led by the director of the operational command post (Dir-PC-Ops in French, Dir-CP-Ops in Dutch), together with the directors of each discipline. Since 1 January 2020 this role requires a specific certificate of competence.

Strategic coordination lies with the authority, assisted by a coordination committee meeting in its crisis centre. It keeps a shared picture of the facts, assesses the socio-economic effects of its decisions, requests reinforcements, prepares recovery and keeps a logbook. It takes place at three levels, called phases:

Municipal phase, declared by the burgomaster.
Provincial phase, declared by the governor.
Federal phase, declared by the Minister of the Interior.

The choice depends on factors such as the geographical extent, the resources required, the number of people involved and the public's need for information. A higher phase ends the lower one: burgomasters then carry out the governor's or the minister's decisions on their territory. The existence of a PPUI does not, by itself, determine the phase.

Every emergency is evaluated afterwards. Where needed, a recovery period follows: protection against remaining hazards, support for the people involved, and the restart of economic and social life.

What a PGUI contains

The decree sets a minimum content, which can be summarised as follows:

General information: contact details of operational and strategic services, authorities, specialised services and experts; identification of the risks on the territory.
Updates: the method and frequency for revising the plans.
Coordination: how phases are declared and lifted, alert procedures for the actors, means of communication and information flows, continuity of telecommunications.
The public: how information to the public and to the people involved is organised, protective measures, transport, reception and accommodation centres.
Tools: documents useful for crisis management, procedures for returning to normal and for recovery.

Plans are distributed to the relevant recipients, notably through the National Security Portal run by the National Crisis Centre. Each recipient reports changes to its own details.

A PGUI contains names and phone numbers, so it is not meant to be published as it is. An information page, a summary or a public decision is enough to make the work visible. That visibility is what the observatory measures, following its methodology.

Updates and exercises

The decree does not set a single update frequency: each PGUI sets its own. A change of staff, a new risk or the lessons from an exercise are good reasons for a revision.

Multidisciplinary exercises are mandatory, regular and held at least once a year. The authority decides how they are run and records the exercise calendar in the national security platform. Tabletop exercise, alert chain test or field exercise: the evaluation matters as much as the exercise and should lead to changes in the plan.

Informing and alerting the public

The authority organises regular advance information: the risks on the territory, the emergency planning in place and what people can do before, during and after an emergency.

For alerts, the National Crisis Centre provides BE-Alert. A municipality joins through an agreement with the Crisis Centre. It can then send a message to residents who registered on be-alert.be, or alert everyone with a mobile phone in a given area based on location, without prior registration. The Crisis Centre supplies material to encourage registrations and offers training and exercises.

Checklist for a municipality

An emergency planning coordinator is appointed, with set working time and a deputy.
The safety cell meets at least once a year and each meeting is minuted.
The risk analysis of the territory is up to date.
The PGUI is up to date: contacts, alert procedures, crisis centre, reception centres.
PPUIs exist for the risks that require or justify them.
Single-discipline plans and the relevant internal emergency plans have been checked.
A multidisciplinary exercise is scheduled, evaluated and followed up.
The municipality has joined BE-Alert, template messages are ready and registrations are encouraged.
A public page explains the risks and what to do.
The municipal crisis centre has backup communication means and a logbook ready.
Municipal services know how to keep working during the crisis (business continuity plan).