Starting on 1 December, all sellers in Belgium (businesses, companies, associations) will have to round up the final bill for all cash purchases. The idea behind this is to gradually phase out the lowest denominations. Online purchases will not be affected.
The 1 and 2 cent coins are expensive to manufacture and they are not deemed useful to consumers, said the SPF Economie on their website. The federal government has therefore approved the practise of rounding prices up or down as of 1 December, in an attempt to force the coins to disappear from circulation. The measures will apply to all companies carrying out economic transactions on a regular basis.
When transaction amounts end with 1, 2, 6 or 7 cents the price will be rounded down (example: €10.02 will become €10, or €10.06 will become €10.05). It will be rounded up when the amount ends with 3, 4, 8 or 9 cents (example: from €10.04 to €10.05 or €10.08 to €10.10).
The SPF Economie explained that it is the total amount of the bill which will be affected, rather than individual products. This change will apply for all cash payments. Vendors are therefore not obliged to do so for card payments. However, if they decide to round the bill up or down whatever the method of payment, they must clearly mention it to the consumer. Online payments will continue as normal.
Although the goal is to see 1 and 2 cent coins gradually disappear, payments using these coins will still be allowed, for example to pay a purchase of 20 cents in coins of 1 and 2 cents.
