Case Study: Belgian Government modernizes civil records administration with iText DITO

Belgian Government saves €39.6 million annually with iText DITO

The Belgian Government faced the challenge of modernizing its outdated, paper-based civil registry system. This system, managed by hundreds of local authorities, caused significant administrative complexity and required citizens to travel to their place of birth to request certificates. To create a centralized digital database for all citizen records, the government partnered with vendor iText and utilized its iText DITO® product to unify and generate the required PDF documents.

iText implemented its iText DITO® template engine, which allowed for the visual design of standardized yet customizable PDF certificate templates. This solution enabled the mass generation of legally compliant documents from a centralized data source. The results were transformative, leading to annual administrative savings of €39.6 million, the migration of 8.75 million records, and an estimated reduction of 7 million sheets of paper per year. The project successfully digitized the civil registry for 581 municipalities and 102 consulates, greatly simplifying access to information for both citizens and civil servants.