Belgium - Current

The national flag of Belgium (Dutch: Vlag van België, French: Drapeau de la Belgique, German: Flagge Belgiens) contains three equal vertical bands of black (hoist side), yellow, and red; the vertical design was based on the flag of France, whereas the colours were taken from the colours of the Duchy of Brabant a province in the former Low Countries (today Belgium and the Netherlands), which extended from the Walloon province of Walloon Brabant, over the Flemish provinces of Flemish Brabant (and Brussels) and Antwerpen, and up to the Dutch province of North-Brabant. The arms of Brabant show on a black field a yellow lion facing the viewer's left, with a red tongue and nails. The heraldic description (blazon) of these arms is "Sable a lion rampant or armed and langued gules". When riots were starting as result of the Belgian revolution against the Dutch domination, a civil guard was established which wore the colours of Brabant. Its unusual proportions (13:15) are of unknown origin.

The flag was adopted 23rd January 1831, soon after the Belgians gained their independence from the Netherlands in 1830. The flag had played an important role during the revolt, where the colours of the flag served as a reminder of an older flag with horizontal bands used during a previous revolt in 1789 in the then Austrian Netherlands. The original flag was with horizontal bars, but it was changed to vertical because of the resemblance with the flag of the Netherlands.
Article 193 of the Constitution of Belgium describes the colours of the Belgian Nation as Red, Yellow and Black instead of the order used in the above official flag.

The colours of the flag are, red: Pantone 186 c / CMYK (%) C0 - M90 - Y80 - K5 and yellow: Pantone 116 c / CMYK (%) C0 - M15 - Y95 - K0

There is a dispute over the correctness of the Belgium flag. Quoting an article published (originally in Dutch) in De Standaard, 2nd November 1999. “Black, yellow, red, starting from the pole. That's how we've always known the Belgian flag. But if you read the Constitution, this isn't correct, says Karel Rimanque, professor at the University of Antwerp. Article 193 of the so often revised Constitution still says:
The Belgian Nation chooses as its colours red, yellow and black. In 1830 too, they used to describe the flag starting from the pole. Thus, our flag is different: red at the pole, yellow in the middle, and black at the fly. Does this mean that the Constitution has been broken for all 168 years? Was it interpreted wrongly at the beginning and did nobody ever notice the error? Anyway, either we have to correct this article, or we have to correct our flag.”