Good Samaritan law

First Aid & CPR Belgium

The Good Samaritan: compassion and protection

Drawn from the Bible (Luke 10:25-37), the parable of the Good Samaritan tells of a traveller left for dead who is rescued by a stranger that tends to him and sees to his care. Beyond its religious context, it carries a universal message: the moral duty to help others in danger, through compassion and altruism.

Inspired by this principle, many so-called Good Samaritan laws have been enacted around the world to protect those who assist in good faith during an emergency from legal action. The exact scope of that protection, however, varies from one jurisdiction to another: here is what the law applicable to your region provides.

Statute citation

Governing act Article 422bis of the Belgian Criminal Code (Code pénal / Strafwetboek) — culpable abstention / failure to assist a person in grave danger, introduced by the Act of 6 January 1961.
Scope of protection Anyone who fails to render aid, or to procure aid, to a person exposed to grave danger — where he has personally observed the situation or it has been described to him by those calling for his help — commits an offence. The abstention is punishable only if the person could have intervened without serious danger to himself or others. A person able to give direct help may not limit himself to merely procuring help. No separate civil-immunity shield for the lay rescuer exists. (The new Belgian Criminal Code, in force in 2026, carries the offence forward under renumbered provisions.)
Duty to rescue Yes
Penalty for failure to assist Imprisonment of eight days to one year and/or a fine of 50 to 500 euros (base amount, before statutory surcharge multipliers). The penalty rises to two years where the endangered person is a minor or in a vulnerable state.
AED liability protection No
Legal duty to rescue applies

Your protection under the law

In Belgium, Article 422bis of the Criminal Code makes failure to assist a person in danger an offence: the rescuer who steps in is therefore acting with the law, not against it. Abstention is punishable only where one could have intervened without serious danger to oneself or others — caution is always permitted. There is no separate civil-immunity shield for the lay rescuer, but the criminal framework clearly recognises the legitimacy of anyone who helps in good faith. (The new Belgian Criminal Code, in force in 2026, carries this offence forward under renumbered provisions.)

Duty to rescue

In Belgium, helping a person in grave peril is not left to your discretion: as soon as you observe the situation or are called upon for help, the law requires you to act — and if you can give direct help, you may not settle for merely alerting someone else. Culpable abstention is punished by eight days to one year's imprisonment and/or a fine, rising to two years where the victim is a minor or vulnerable. Note that lay use of an AED falls under an administrative framework (Royal Decree of 21 April 2007), with no AED-specific civil immunity. Training is how you make sure you can meet that obligation usefully.

Why training matters

Belgian law asks you to help directly when you can — but you still have to know how. In a cardiac arrest, the chance of survival falls by about 10% for every minute that passes, and during the precious minutes before help arrives, only the bystander can restart a heart that has stopped. Training turns that legal obligation into a genuine capacity to act: to recognise, to call, to compress, to defibrillate. Don't be the one who, for want of knowing, could only wait — be the one whose actions counted.