The Best GDPR Tool for Small Businesses in Belgium

The Belgian GDPR landscape

Belgium has its own supervisory authority for data protection: the GBA (Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit) in Dutch, or the APD (Autorite de protection des donnees) in French. This authority enforces the GDPR within Belgium and has become increasingly active in pursuing complaints against small and medium-sized businesses.

In recent years, the GBA/APD has imposed fines on businesses of all sizes, including sole traders, local shops, and small service providers. The argument that “we’re too small to be noticed” no longer holds. Belgian regulators have made it clear that every business processing personal data must have its documentation in order.

For Belgian SMEs, this creates a practical challenge. You need proper GDPR documentation, but hiring a local privacy consultant typically costs between 2,000 and 5,000 EUR, with additional fees for updates and ongoing advice. That is a significant expense for a business with 5 to 50 employees.

Why GDPRWise works for Belgian businesses

GDPRWise was built with the Belgian market at its core. The platform understands the Belgian business landscape, the regulatory environment, and the practical needs of small businesses operating in a multilingual country.

Multilingual from the ground up

Belgium has three official language communities: Dutch, French, and German. Many businesses operate across language boundaries, serving customers in multiple languages and employing staff from different regions.

GDPRWise supports Dutch, French, English, and German. This means you can:

• Generate your privacy policy in the language your customers expect
• Create your employee privacy policy in the language of your staff
• Produce your processing register in the language your accountant or legal adviser prefers
• Switch languages without losing any content or starting over

This is not just a translation layer on top of an English product. The sector dossiers, questions, and generated documents are all natively available in each language.

AI scan understands Belgian websites

The GDPRWise AI scan analyses your website and automatically detects cookies, trackers, third-party scripts, and forms. It also identifies your sector, which determines your dossier foundation.

For Belgian businesses, this means the scanner recognises tools and services commonly used in the Belgian market, from local payment providers and booking systems to Belgian analytics and marketing tools. The scan results reflect what is actually running on your website, not a generic international checklist.

Each finding receives a confidence label: “Detected” for items the AI is highly certain about, and “Needs review” for items that require your confirmation. You always know what has been verified and what still needs your input.

Sector dossiers for Belgian industries

The three-layer dossier model starts with a sector foundation, a pre-built dossier containing the processing activities, legal bases, and retention periods standard for your industry. GDPRWise maintains sector dossiers covering the industries most common among Belgian SMEs:

• Retail and e-commerce: customer data, loyalty programmes, online payments, delivery tracking
• Hospitality and food service: reservations, customer reviews, staff scheduling
• Healthcare and care providers: patient records, appointment systems, health data processing
• Construction and trades: subcontractor data, project administration, site access records
• Professional services: client files, financial data, correspondence records
• IT and digital agencies: processing on behalf of clients, cloud hosting, development environments

Each sector dossier provides the foundation. The AI scan adds your specific technical findings, and the guided refinement tailors the result to your exact situation. The combination means you start with industry-relevant content rather than a blank page.

What you get in your Belgian GDPR dossier

Your completed GDPRWise dossier contains everything the GBA/APD expects to see if they come knocking:

Processing register - A complete overview of all processing activities, including purposes, legal bases, data categories, recipients, and retention periods. This is the document most supervisory authorities ask for first during an inspection.

Privacy policy - A tailored privacy statement for your website, written in the language of your choice. Not a generic template, but a policy that matches the processing activities you actually carry out.

Cookie report - A detailed overview of all cookies and trackers on your website, categorised by type and consent requirement. This forms the basis for your cookie banner configuration.

Employee privacy policy - A separate document for your staff, covering payroll processing, HR files, CCTV, GPS tracking, and other employment-related data processing. This is a requirement many Belgian SMEs overlook, and GDPRWise generates it automatically.

Action list and compliance score - A prioritised list of outstanding items and a score showing your overall compliance status. This helps you track progress and know where to focus.

Cost comparison: GDPRWise vs Belgian consultants

Belgian privacy consultants typically operate on one of two models:

1. Project-based: a one-time assessment and documentation package, usually ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 EUR depending on complexity
2. Retainer-based: an ongoing monthly fee of 200 to 500 EUR for continuous advice and document updates

With GDPRWise, you have two options:

Free Scan - A complete dossier at no cost. You get the full AI scan, the complete three-layer dossier, all generated documents, and your compliance score. No account or credit card needed. The result is yours to keep.

Peace of Mind (EUR 29/month, yearly billing) - A subscription that adds continuous monitoring, automatic rescans, change detection, and ongoing access to updated sector dossiers. When your website changes or regulations are updated, you are notified and your dossier reflects the latest state.

Both options deliver the same documentation quality at a fraction of the cost, and you receive your dossier the same day rather than waiting weeks for a consultant’s report.

Getting started as a Belgian business

The process is straightforward:

1. Enter your website URL and run the free AI scan
2. Review the findings and your detected sector
3. Work through the targeted questions to refine your dossier
4. Download your complete documentation in your preferred language

The scan takes 2 minutes. The full dossier, including review and refinement, typically takes a few hours. Compare that to the weeks of meetings, emails, and revisions that a consultant engagement usually involves.