. /.   WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/N/FRA/61 
2 March 2007 
 
 (07-0888) 
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:   Ministère de l'emploi, de la cohésion sociale et du logement; 
Direction générale de l'urbanisme, de  l'habitat et de la construction  - DGUHC - QC1 
(Ministry of Employment, Social Cohesion and Housing; Directorate-General of Town Planning, Housing and Cons truction - DGUHC - QC 1) 
Name and address (including telephone and fax numbers and E-mail and Web site 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 applicab le, otherwise national tariff heading.  
ICS numbers may be provided in  addition where applicable):  Building envelope  
components, heating systems, domestic hot wate r systems, cooling systems, equipment for 
generating energy using renewable energy sources, ventilation systems, lighting systems. 
5. Title, number of pages and lang uage(s) of the notified document:   Arrêté relatif aux 
caractéristiques thermiques et à la perfor mance énergétique des bâtiments existants  (Order 
on the thermal characteristics and energy perfo rmance of existing buildings) (23 pages, in 
French). 
6. Description of content:   The notified draft Order sets forth the regulatory requirements 
applicable to existing buildings on which renova tion work is carried out.  It covers all 
buildings subject to renovation work, excep t for those with a surface area exceeding 
1,000 m² which are subject to major renovation work, for which different arrangements will 
be set forth in a subsequent Order.  The text  covers renovation work that affects the energy 
performance of buildings, i.e. which involves the following elements: building envelope 
components, heating systems, domestic hot wate r systems, cooling systems, equipment for 
generating energy using renewable energy sources, ventilation systems and lighting systems. 
 The requirements cover the elements that are replaced, modified or installed in 
buildings.  These elements must meet specified minimum thermal requirements and requirements concerning installation. 
   
 G/TBT/N/FRA/61 
Page 2  
 
  7. Objective and rationale, including the nature of urgent problems where applicable: 
 The objective is to reduce energy consumption and C0
2 emissions in existing 
buildings by improving their energy performan ce, in accordance with  Directive 2002/91/EC 
of 16 December 2002 on the energy performance of buildings.  To this end, it is necessary 
to ensure that any work affecting the ener gy performance of a building improves such 
performance as much as possible, insofar as it is  technically and economically feasible and 
taking into account the cost-effectiveness of the measures.  Minimum requirements are therefore specified for the performance of elem ents installed or replaced in the context of 
minor work.  These requirements apply to exis ting buildings that are subject to renovation 
work affecting energy performance, with the exception of those with a surface area 
exceeding 1,000m² which are subject to major work, for which a subsequent order will 
define an overall energy performance requirement.  Similarly, these cases are therefore not covered by the text.  The regulations  do not apply to new buildings.   
 Requirements have been defined for parts of buildings where it is most cost-
effective to carry out energy-saving work. Fo r this reason, a certain number of exceptions 
are set out in respect of the type of work and the type of building. 
 The Order sets forth the cases in which the requirements are not necessary, so as to 
maintain an open market access for the products on offer.
 
8. Relevant documents:  
Directive 2002/91/EC of 16 December 2002 on the energy performance of buildings. 
Building and Housing Code, Articles L. 111-10, L. 131-1, L. 134-1, 
L. 134-4, L.271-4  to L. 271-6  
Draft decree on the thermal and energy perform ance characteristics of existing buildings, 
notified on 23 August 2006. 
9. Proposed date of adoption:  May 2007 
Proposed date of entry into force:   November 2007 
10. Final date for comments:  Mid-April 2007  
11. National enquiry point [ X ] or address, telephone and fax numbers and E-mail and 
Web site addresses, if available, of other body:  
Point national d'informa tion CINORTECH –AFNOR 
11 avenue Francis de Pressensé  93571 Saint Denis  
La Plaine Cedex