Its main tasks revolve around CBRN incidents, search and rescue operations and heavy technical assistance.

The Civil Protection consists of a central direction in Brussels and six operational units spread across the Belgian territory.

[1] In April 2017, minister of the Interior Jan Jambon announced the closure of four of the six operational units of the Civil Protection.

The goal was to reform the Civil Protection to be a purely second line service, and to transfer any first response tasks to the local fire departments.

The plans drew criticism from unions and local municipalities, who feared increased response times during disasters.