Timeline

• 05.06.1832
• Law on the creation of the Belgian Franc in the bimetallic standard; effective immediately
  - 31.03.1847: Law on a 1.85% weight reduction of the gold coins; effective immediately and repealed on
  - 28.12.1850: Law, repealing the 1847 coinage law; effective immediately and the gold coins were demonetized on 05.09.1854 by royal decree of 11.08.1854.
  - 04.06.1861: Law on the admission of French gold coins for circulation; effective immediately.
• 05.05.1850
• Law on the establishment of the National Bank of Belgium; effective upon constitution of the bank on 01.01.1851
• 11.08.1854
• Coinage law on the demonetization of all gold coins; effective 05.09.1854
• 1914-1918
• German occupation of Belgium:
  - 03.10.1914: General governor's decree [No. 6] on the introduction of the German Reichsmark as additional legal tender at a ratio of 1 Reichsmark = 1.25 Francs; effective immediately
  - 22.12.1914: General governor's decrees [No. 21] on the issuance privilege for paper money of the "Société Générale" of Belgium (private company which created an issuing department for this purpose) and [No. 24] on the revocation of the issuance privilege from the National Bank of Belgium; effective immediately
  - 09.01.1915: General governor's decree [No. 31] on the issuance of paper money by the Société Générale circulating alongside with the National Bank notes (which were not demonetized)
  - 12.11.1918: Annulation of all occupation legislation: The issuing privilege of the National Bank was restored (the bank re-opened for business on 22.01.1919) and the issuing department of the Société Générale liquidated with immediate effect; the German paper money had to be handed in until 09.02.1919 and was converted back without confiscation.
• 25.10.1926
• Law on the restoration of the gold standard of 1832 and the creation of the additional denomination Belga of 5 Francs; effective immediately.
  - 08.01.1946: Law on the abolition of the "Belga" denomination; effective immediately
• 1940-1944
• German occupation of Belgium:
  - 27.06.1940: German ordinance on the establishment of the "Currency Bank in Brussels" as central bank (the paper money was still issued in the name of the National Bank); effective upon constitution of the bank on 13.07.1940.
  - 10.05.1940: On start of the occupation, the German Reichsmark becomes additional legal tender at a rate of 1 Reichsmark = 10 Francs (= 2 Belgas)
  - 22.07.1940: German ordinance on the adjustment of an exchange rate of 1 Reichsmark = 12.50 Francs (= 2.50 Belgas); effective immediately.
• 05.10.1944
• Anglo-Belgian Monetary Agreement on the stabilization of the currency; effective by decree of 06.10.1944
• 07.10.1944
• Start of withdrawal of all pre-war paper money:
  - Per person: (a) up to 2000 Francs banknotes were exchanged on par into new banknotes, (b) excess cash had to be deposited in blocked accounts and was gradually paid out over the next years.
  - 13.10.1944: End of exchange period and demonetization of the pre-war currency.
• 28.10.1944
• Ordinance on the demonetization of the occupation currency; effective immediately:
  - 06.11.1944: Start of collection of the Reichsmark notes with scaled conversion rate: Per person: (a) up to 100 Reichsmark at 1 Reichsmark = 10 Francs, (b) up to 300 Reichsmark at 1 Reichsmark = 5 Francs, (c) exceeding cash amounts had to be deposited in blocked accounts.
  - 09.11.1944: End of exchange period and demonetization of the German currency.
  - 28.06.1946: Pay out of the deposited Reichsmark holdings with further confiscation: Per person: (a) up to 2000 Reichsmark at 1 Reichsmark = 5 Francs, (b) up to 5000 Reichsmark at 1 Reichsmark = 4 Francs, (c) (...) further scales, (d) above 1'000'000 Reichsmark at 1 Reichsmark = 0.5 Franc.
• 24.01.1945
• Reconstitution of the National Bank based on the revised statutes of 03.11.1944; effective immediately

Valuation Regimes

• 1832-1914
• Metallic currency based on circulating gold and silver coins; 1854-1861 gold coins were rated at bullion and the currency was effectively on silver
• 1914-1918
• Fixed rate against German Reichsmark (during occupation), gold parity suspended on 04.08.1914
• 1918-1926
• Variable rate
• 1926-1940
• Fixed rate against gold (until 21.09.1931 fixed rate against British Pound)
• 1940-1944
• Fixed rate against German Reichsmark (during occupation)
• 1944-1949
• Fixed rate against British Pound (Anglo-Belgian Monetary Agreement)
• 1949-1971
• Fixed rate against US Dollar
• 1971-1998
• Variable rate

Timeline

• 03.05.1998
• Resolution of the European Council [No. 98/317/EC] on the admission of eleven member states to the European Monetary Union; effective 01.01.1999
• 31.12.1998
• Ordinance of the European Council [No. 2866/98] on the irrevocable conversion rates between the Euro and the former currencies; effective 01.01.1999
• 01.01.1999
• Start of currency exchange:
  - 01.01.1999: Introduction of the European Euro as a unit of account, while retaining the national banknotes and coins at a rate of 1 Euro = 40.3399 Belgian Francs
  - 01.01.2002: Start of issuance of banknotes and coins denominated in Euro
  - 28.02.2002: Demonetization of the banknotes and coins in Belgian Franc.