Staatsblad Scraper — Extract Publications from the Belgian Official Gazette

Automatically scrape laws, royal decrees, ministerial orders, and all other publications from the Belgisch Staatsblad (Moniteur Belge) at ejustice.just.fgov.be. Browse by date, filter by document type, search by keyword.

What is Staatsblad Scraper?

The Belgisch Staatsblad (Belgian Official Gazette) is the only place where Belgian legislation becomes legally binding. Every law, royal decree, ministerial order, and public notice must be published here before it takes effect. The gazette publishes hundreds of documents every weekday, and its website has no bulk export or API.

Staatsblad Scraper turns that daily flood of legal publications into clean, structured data you can actually work with:

• Legal professionals track new legislation relevant to their practice areas by filtering on document type and keyword
• Compliance teams at Belgian companies monitor regulatory changes that affect their industry without manually checking the gazette every morning
• Government affairs consultants build historical datasets of all publications within a date range for policy analysis
• Notaries and corporate lawyers search for specific NUMAC document IDs or publication references they need for filings
• Academic researchers study legislative patterns, publication frequency, and regulatory trends across months or years of gazette data

What data does Staatsblad Scraper extract?

Each publication record includes:

• 📜 title — Full title of the publication (law, decree, order, notice, etc.)
• 🔖 numacId — Unique NUMAC identification number for the document
• 📅 publicationDate — Date the document was published in the gazette (YYYY-MM-DD)
• ⚖️ documentType — Category heading (e.g., "Wetten, Decreten, Ordonnanties", "Koninklijke besluiten")
• 🏛️ source — Issuing authority or ministry (e.g., "Federale Overheidsdienst Justitie")
• 🌐 language — Language of the publication (nl or fr)
• 🔗 url — Direct link to the full document text
• 📄 pdfUrl — Direct link to the official PDF with correct page number
• 📖 pageStart — Starting page number in the printed gazette
• 📖 pageEnd — Ending page number in the printed gazette
• 📝 summary — Summary text when available
• 🕐 scrapedAt — ISO timestamp of extraction

How to scrape the Belgisch Staatsblad

Configure your scrape with these input parameters:

Parameter	Type	Description
Search Query	String	Filter publications by keyword in the title. Example: arbeidsovereenkomst, pension, GDPR.
Date From	String	Start date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Defaults to today.
Date To	String	End date in YYYY-MM-DD format. Defaults to today.
Document Type	String	Filter by type: Wet, Koninklijk besluit, Ministerieel besluit, Decreet, etc.
Max Results	Integer	Maximum number of publications to return. Default: 100.
Language	Select	nl (Nederlands) or fr (Francais). Controls which language edition is scraped.
Proxy Configuration	Object	Proxy settings for reliability.

Tips for best results

• Set a date range to scrape multiple days at once — the scraper iterates through each weekday automatically
• Combine filters — use both documentType and searchQuery to narrow results precisely (e.g., all royal decrees mentioning "milieu")
• The gazette skips weekends — no documents are published on Saturdays or Sundays, so weekend dates are automatically excluded
• Use the NUMAC ID from results to look up the exact official document in any Belgian legal database
• Switch language to fr to scrape the French edition (Moniteur Belge) instead of the Dutch one

Output

Each publication is returned as a JSON object. Here is a realistic example:

[
  {
    "title": "Koninklijk besluit tot wijziging van het koninklijk besluit van 25 januari 2001 betreffende de tijdelijke of mobiele bouwplaatsen",
    "numacId": "2026031245",
    "publicationDate": "2026-04-02",
    "documentType": "Koninklijke besluiten",
    "source": "Federale Overheidsdienst Werkgelegenheid, Arbeid en Sociaal Overleg",
    "language": "nl",
    "url": "https://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi/article_body.pl?numac_search=2026031245",
    "pdfUrl": "https://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/mopdf/2026/04/02_1.pdf#page=14",
    "pageStart": 14,
    "pageEnd": 18,
    "scrapedAt": "2026-04-03T07:12:45.000Z"
  },
  {
    "title": "Wet betreffende de bescherming van persoonsgegevens bij de verwerking van gegevens in het kader van de politiediensten",
    "numacId": "2026031302",
    "publicationDate": "2026-04-02",
    "documentType": "Wetten, decreten, ordonnanties en verordeningen",
    "source": "Federale Overheidsdienst Justitie",
    "language": "nl",
    "url": "https://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi/article_body.pl?numac_search=2026031302",
    "pdfUrl": "https://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/mopdf/2026/04/02_1.pdf#page=3",
    "pageStart": 3,
    "pageEnd": 12,
    "scrapedAt": "2026-04-03T07:12:47.000Z"
  },
  {
    "title": "Ministerieel besluit houdende de erkenning van de certificatie-instellingen voor de biologische productie",
    "numacId": "2026031198",
    "publicationDate": "2026-04-01",
    "documentType": "Ministeriele besluiten",
    "source": "Federale Overheidsdienst Volksgezondheid, Veiligheid van de Voedselketen en Leefmilieu",
    "language": "nl",
    "url": "https://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi/article_body.pl?numac_search=2026031198",
    "pdfUrl": "https://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/mopdf/2026/04/01_1.pdf#page=42",
    "pageStart": 42,
    "scrapedAt": "2026-04-03T07:12:49.000Z"
  }
]

Results can be downloaded as JSON, CSV, Excel, XML, or accessed via the Apify API.

How much does it cost?

Staatsblad Scraper runs on the Apify platform. You pay only for compute resources used.

Scrape size	Estimated time	Estimated cost
1 day of publications	~15 seconds	~$0.005
1 week (5 days)	~1 minute	~$0.02
1 month (~22 days)	~4 minutes	~$0.08
1 year (~260 days)	~45 minutes	~$0.80

Apify's free tier includes $5 of monthly compute — enough to scrape years of gazette data at no cost.

Can I integrate?

Yes. Send Staatsblad data directly to your existing tools:

• Google Sheets — Maintain a living spreadsheet of all new Belgian laws and decrees, updated daily
• Slack — Notify your legal team when publications matching specific keywords appear
• Zapier — Route new gazette entries into your document management system automatically
• Make (Integromat) — Build conditional workflows that flag only royal decrees from specific ministries
• Webhooks — Push results to any HTTP endpoint for custom compliance dashboards

Set up integrations from the Apify console under the "Integrations" tab.

Can I use it as an API?

Yes. Call Staatsblad Scraper programmatically from any language:

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("studio-amba/staatsblad-scraper").call(run_input={
    "dateFrom": "2026-04-01",
    "dateTo": "2026-04-03",
    "documentType": "Koninklijk besluit",
    "maxResults": 50,
})

for pub in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(f"{pub['publicationDate']} | {pub['title'][:80]}... | NUMAC: {pub['numacId']}")

JavaScript

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('studio-amba/staatsblad-scraper').call({
    dateFrom: '2026-04-01',
    dateTo: '2026-04-03',
    language: 'nl',
    maxResults: 50,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach(p => console.log(`${p.publicationDate} | ${p.title.slice(0, 80)}... | NUMAC: ${p.numacId}`));

FAQ

What is the Belgisch Staatsblad?

The Belgisch Staatsblad (Dutch) or Moniteur Belge (French) is the official gazette of the Kingdom of Belgium. It is the legal publication where all Belgian laws, royal decrees, ministerial orders, court appointments, company filings, and public notices must be published to become enforceable. It has been published continuously since 1830 and is managed by the Federal Public Service Justice.

How does the scraper work?

The scraper fetches the daily summary pages from ejustice.just.fgov.be for each date in your specified range. It parses each publication entry, extracting the title, NUMAC ID, page numbers, source ministry, and document type. It then constructs direct PDF links for each document.

Is it legal to scrape the Belgisch Staatsblad?

The Belgisch Staatsblad is an official government publication made freely available to the public. Belgian law mandates that legislation be published and accessible. The scraper accesses only publicly available content and operates within reasonable request rates.

How to scrape Belgian law publications?

Set your desired Date From and Date To range, optionally filter by Document Type (e.g., "Wet" for laws, "Koninklijk besluit" for royal decrees), and click Start. For keyword searches, enter your term in the Search Query field to match against publication titles.

Is this a Belgisch Staatsblad API alternative?

Yes. The Belgian Official Gazette website does not offer a public API for bulk data retrieval. This scraper provides structured, programmatic access to the same publications available on the website, with output in JSON, CSV, or Excel.

Can I scrape the French edition?

Yes. Set the Language parameter to fr to scrape the Moniteur Belge (French language edition) instead of the default Dutch Belgisch Staatsblad.

What is a NUMAC number?

NUMAC is the unique identification system used by the Belgian Official Gazette. Every publication receives a NUMAC number (e.g., "2026031245") that serves as a permanent reference. You can use NUMAC numbers to look up specific documents in any Belgian legal database, cite official texts in legal proceedings, or link directly to the original publication on the Staatsblad website.

How often is the Belgisch Staatsblad published?

The gazette publishes every weekday (Monday through Friday), excluding Belgian public holidays. A typical weekday edition contains between 50 and 300 publications depending on the legislative cycle. The scraper automatically skips weekends and returns zero results for non-publication days.

Limitations

• The gazette does not publish on weekends or Belgian public holidays — those dates return zero results
• Keyword search matches against publication titles only, not full document text
• PDF links point to the daily gazette PDF at the correct starting page, but very old publications may have different URL patterns
• The scraper extracts metadata from the daily summary table; it does not download or parse the full text of each document

Other regulatory data scrapers

Tracking Belgian and EU regulation? Combine Staatsblad Scraper with these complementary tools:

• ECHA Scraper — EU chemicals database: substance registrations, CAS numbers, hazard classifications
• Safety Gate Scraper — EU product safety alerts and RAPEX recall notifications
• EFSA Scraper — EU food safety alerts, scientific opinions, and risk assessments
• EUR-Lex Scraper — EU regulations, directives, and decisions from the Official Journal

Your feedback

Found a bug or want a feature added? Open an issue on the Issues tab. Your feedback helps us make this scraper better for the Belgian legal community.