WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION   
G/TBT/N/FRA/129 
2 November 2011 
 (11-5540) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   French 
  
 
NOTIFICATION 
 
The following notification is being circ ulated in accordance with Article 10.6. 
 
1. Member to Agreement notifying:   FRANCE 
If applicable, name of local government involved (Articles 3.2 and 7.2):  
2. Agency responsible:  
Direction Générale de l'Aménagement , du Logement et de la Nature  
(Directorate-General for Pla nning, Housing and Nature) 
Direction de l'Habitat, de l'Urbanisme et des Paysages 
(Housing, Urban Planning and Landscape Department) 
Sous-Direction de la Qualité et du Dével oppement Durable dans la Construction  
(Unit for Quality and Sustainable Development in Construction) 
Bureau de la Qualité Technique et de la Réglementation Technique de la Construction 
(Office for the Technical Quality and Technical Regulation of Construction) 
Arche Sud - 92055 LA DEFENSE cedex 
FRANCE 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers and e-mail and website 
addresses, if available) of  agency or authority designated to handle comments 
regarding the notification shall be  indicated if different from above:  
3. Notified under Article 2.9.2 [X], 2.10 .1 [ ], 5.6.2 [ ], 5.7.1 [ ], other:  
4. Products covered (HS or CCCN where applic able, otherwise national tariff heading.  
ICS numbers may be provided in addition, where applicable):   Building shell 
components, heating systems, domestic hot water systems, cooling systems, equipment for generating energy using renewable energy sources, ventilation systems, lighting systems. 
5. Title, number of pages and language(s) of the notified document:  Décret relatif aux 
caractéristiques thermiques et à la performan ce énergétique des constr uctions de bâtiments 
autres que ceux concernés par l'article 2 du décret du 26 octobre 2010 relatif aux 
caractéristiques thermiques et à la perf ormance énergétique des constructions (Decree 
concerning the thermal characteristics and ener gy performance of buildings not covered by 
Article 2 of the Decree of 26 October 2010 concerning the thermal characteristics and 
energy performance of buildi ngs) (4 pages, in French).  
6. Description of content:   The notified draft Decree concerning the thermal characteristics 
and energy performance of buildings not covered by Article 2 of the Decree of 
26 October 2010 concerning the thermal characteristics and energy performance of buildings establishes the implementation date for the regulatory requirements on energy 
performance, as defined by Order.  The indicat ors that are to provide the basis for theses 
regulatory requirements are set out in Article  R.111-20 of the Building and housing code. G/TBT/N/FRA/129 
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  7. Objective and rationale, including the na ture of urgent problems where applicable:  
The Framework Law of 13 July 2005 outlini ng French energy policy seeks to reduce 
CO
2 emissions from the building sector by 75%  by 2050.  The Law of 3 August 2009 
concerning the implementation of the results of the Environmental Round Table (Grenelle de l'environnement ) supplemented and clarified en ergy performance targets for 
new buildings.  It most notably sets an average annual energy consumption target for new buildings of 50 kWh/m
2 of primary energy.  Thermal regulation requirements must 
therefore be enhanced so as to reduce energy co sts and the resulting inequalities.  It must be 
ensured that all new commercial buildings a ttain a very high energy performance level, 
therefore consuming very low levels of energy , with a view to complying with the "positive 
energy" concept by 2020.  Within the framework of the transposition of Directive 2010/31/EU of 19 May 2010 on the energy performance of buildings, regulatory provisions on the energy performance of new buildings must be specified.  The purpose of 
the notified draft Decree is to establish the implementation date by which the regulatory 
requirements for commercial buildings, other th an office buildings, educational institutions 
and early childhood centres, will become mandatory. 
8. Relevant documents:  
- Directive 2010/31/EU of 19 May 2010 on the energy performance of buildings; 
- Directive 2009/28/EC of 23 April 2009 on the promotion of the use of energy from 
renewable sources; 
- Loi n° 2009-967 du 3 août 2009 de programmation relative à la mise en oeuvre du 
Grenelle de l'environnement  (Law No. 2009-967 of 3 August 2009 concerning the 
implementation of the results of the Environmental Round Table); 
- Code de la construc tion et de l'habitation  (Building and housing code) 
(Articles L.111-9, L.134-2, L.151-1, *R.111-2, R.111-6, R.111-20, R.131-28); 
- Décret n° 92-647 du 8 juillet 1992 mod ifié concernant l'aptitude à l'usage des 
produits de construction  (Decree No. 92-647 of 8 July 1992, as amended, concerning 
the suitability for use of construction products); 
- Décret n° 95-21 du 9 janvier 1995 rela tif au classement des infrastructures de 
transports terrestres et modifiant le code de  l'urbanisme et le code de la construction 
et de l'habitation  (Decree No. 95-21 of 9 January 19 95 concerning the classification of 
land transport infrastructure and amendi ng the urban planning and building and 
housing codes); 
- Arrêté du 30 mai 1996 relatif aux modalités de classement des infrastructures de 
transports terrestres et à l'isolement acousti que des bâtiments d'habitation dans les 
secteurs affectés par le bruit  (Order of 30 May 1996 concerning procedures for the 
classification of land transport infrastructure and the soundproofing of residential 
buildings in areas affected by noise). 
9. Proposed date of adoption: 
Proposed date of entry into force:   1 February 2012 
1 January 2013 
10. Final date for comments:   60 days  G/TBT/N/FRA/129 
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  11. Texts available from:  National enquiry  point [X] or address, telephone and fax 
numbers and e-mail and website addresses, if available, of other body: 
CINORTECH 
AFNOR 11 avenue Francis de Pressensé 93571 SAINT-DENIS-LA PLAINE cedex 
Also available at:  
http://members.wto.org/crnattach ments/2011/tbt/FRA/11_3602_00_F.pdf