Is Khat legal in Belgium?

Legal status

Khat is a controlled substance in Belgium because it is listed. The Royal Decree of 6 September 2017 prints it at Annex IV limb C, where the entry is khat, also printed as qat, covering all parts of Catha edulis that contain cathinone. The entry is what proves listing. The operative provisions come from the instrument named for this row, the Royal Decree of 6 September 2017, where article 2 defines the controlled substances through Annexes I to V and article 61 routes a breach back to the Law of 24 February 1921. Belgium works a delegated model: article 2bis §1 of the Law of 24 February 1921 punishes breaches concerning substances whose list is settled by the King, and the Royal Decree of 6 September 2017 supplies that list. The named lists are closed, so pharmacological resemblance, a similar spelling or a substring match cannot enlarge them. The entry is keyed to content rather than to the plant alone, and the cathinone it names has its own separate entry in Annex II limb A.

Consequences if caught

Capital exposure: none. Belgium's drug law carries no death penalty and no life sentence. What does attach to khat is the article 2bis ladder in the Law of 24 February 1921, which article 61 of the decree routes a breach to once the substance is listed, and here the plant material is controlled through the alkaloid content the entry specifies. Article 2bis §1 sets the ordinary band at three months to five years of imprisonment with a fine of EUR 1,000 to 100,000. Article 2bis §3 raises that to ten to fifteen years for its stated aggravations, including where use following the offence causes death. Article 2bis §4 carries the ceiling, fifteen to twenty years, where the offence concerns a child under twelve or participation as a leader in an association, so twenty years is the maximum imprisonment this statute exposes. Article 2bis §5 allows a further fine of EUR 1,000 to 100,000 in the §2 to §4 cases, which makes that fine available rather than automatic. Annex IV limb C is the plant material limb, keyed to what the material contains, and it too settles the traveller document question rather than the band.

If prescribed or medical

The rule that applies to a traveller here is Belgium's own and it is one rule for the whole country: article 3(4)(4) of the Royal Decree of 6 September 2017. It is a document exception rather than a schedule, and it is not a prescribing right. It covers a medicine that was lawfully obtained, carried for the traveller's own personal use, and limited to no more than three months of treatment, and it expressly excludes the substances in Annex II limb A. The placement that attaches to khat is Annex IV limb C, which article 3(4)(4) does not exclude, so the exception can apply on its own terms where the medicine was lawfully obtained and the personal use and three month limits are both met. Plant material is not a medicine and no lawfully obtained dispensed form of it is recorded. No route specific to khat was found in this dossier and none has been invented for it.

Documentation

Carry no assumption that fresh leaf is treated differently from dried leaf. The entry reaches all parts of the plant that carry the named alkaloid. The placement at Annex IV limb C was read on 18 September 2026. The annex text read is the non official consolidated version published by the AFMPS; it is informative and the Moniteur belge controls. The annex consolidation relied on here is valid from 29 March 2026, following the amending Royal Decree published on 19 March 2026, and carries a correction dated 16 July 2026.

Drug laws and enforcement change and vary within a country. This is not legal advice. Always confirm with Belgium’s embassy or official drug authority before traveling; penalties can be severe, including imprisonment.