One Platform for Flemish Enforcement: The Future of Digital Collaboration

Flanders is responsible for areas such as environment, housing quality, spatial planning, and more. Enforcement of these regulations is still carried out by separate Flemish and municipal inspection services. Processes are often paper-based, and each party uses its own system, making information exchange nearly impossible. The Vlaams Handhavingsplatform (VHP), developed for Agentschap Justitie en Handhaving, is the ecosystem and driving force that enables collaboration and information exchange among all enforcement actors in Flanders.

The Kaderdecreet Vlaamse Handhaving (KVH) provides the framework for developing VHP. KVH aims to digitize the enforcement of Flemish regulations. Important enforcement documents prepared by Flemish and local inspection services will, in the future, only be created digitally and must be centrally secured. VHP ensures these documents flow securely to relevant enforcement partners and to citizens (via Mijn Burgerprofiel) and businesses (via E-Loket).

Data Exchange Platform and a User-Friendly UI

The overall design of VHP aligns closely with Cegeka’s vision of evolving the digital government toward a platform-based approach. VHP initially offers easy-to-integrate APIs for local authorities and inspection services. However, not all connected parties have their own software systems or the capacity to integrate quickly. That’s why we developed a user-friendly interface, based on input from a group of key users.

VHP has made it possible to share documents easily, quickly, and digitally. For example, sanction files are now immediately available to offenders digitally—something that was previously impossible. This has significantly reduced administrative workload. (Steffie Boeckx, Program Manager Cegeka)

Today, more than 300 Flemish entities use VHP together. Police, inspection services, and municipalities each hold a piece of the puzzle essential for efficient enforcement. Previously, they worked in isolation, making information sharing an administrative nightmare. VHP solves this: one case file, one clear view, and all stakeholders informed.

Privacy-Sensitive Data

The data within VHP is highly privacy-sensitive. Secured documents and associated metadata are shared with enforcement partners and other authorities through various secure portals (sanctieregister, maatregelenregister, and handhavingsbibliotheek), each serving a specific purpose. This ensures all relevant authorities remain informed about enforcement activities and can consider previously initiated procedures or sanctions for more efficient enforcement.

VHP enables uniform, secure, real-time data exchange between Flemish and federal partners, as well as toward citizens and businesses.

Integrations with Flemish Building Blocks

At Cegeka, we have extensive experience integrating the various components of Digitaal Vlaanderen. This expertise allows us to reuse proven approaches, resulting in significant time savings.

The Flemish building blocks integrated into VHP include:

• ACM/IDM
• Apigee
• Digital Signing
• Vlaamse Codex
• Base registers and geographic web services
• MAGDA authentic sources (personal, business, and government data)
• MAGDA document service
• Notifications

Currently, VHP is successfully used for selected regulations. Our ambition: by the end of the legislative term, connect all enforcement services and gradually expand VHP’s functionality. (Paul Vansant, Senior Advisor Handhaving at Agentschap Justitie & Handhaving)

Onboarding Local Authorities and Other Parties

One of VHP’s key pillars is onboarding various inspection services and local authorities. By working intensively with these parties (and their software vendors), we have developed an efficient approach that allows us to take the right steps from the very start of the project.

With VHP, we bring our vision of government-as-a-platform—built on reusable components—into practice. This strengthens Flanders.