Décret n° 84-74 du 26 janvier 1984 fixant le statut de la normalisation modifié par les décrets n° 91-283 et 93-1235 - consolidated version

Decree no. 84-74 of January 26, 1984 establishing the status of standardization (OJ of 26.01.1984) amended by decree no. 91-283 of March 19, 1991 and by decree no. 93-1235 of November 15, 1993.

Consolidated version

Le Premier ministre,
On the report of the Minister for the Economy, Finance and the Budget and the Minister for Industry and Trade
and Research,
Having regard to the law of May 24, 1941 on standardization ;
Having regard to Law no. 64-1360 of December 31, 1964 on trademarks and service marks;
Having regard to law n° 78-23 of January 10, 1978 on the protection and information of consumers of products and services
products and services, as amended by law no. 83-660 of July 21, 1983 on consumer safety;
Having regard to the decree of May 24, 1941 defining the status of standardization;
Having regard to the decree of March 5, 1943 recognizing the public utility of the Association française de
normalisation ;
Having regard to decree no. 55-733 of May 26 1955, as amended, codifying, in application of law no. 55-360 of
April 3, 1955, and modifying texts relating to the economic and financial control of the State;
Having regard to Decree no. 80-524 of July 9, 1980, as amended, on qualification certificates relating to
products, processed non-food agricultural products and equipment goods;
Having regard to decree no. 84-73 of January 26, 1984 relating to the Conseil supérieur de la normalisation ;
The Conseil d'Etat (public works section) has been heard,

Article 1
The purpose of standardization is to provide reference documents containing solutions to technical and commercial problems concerning products, goods and services which arise repeatedly in relations between economic, scientific, technical and social partners.

Article 2
After browsing the interministerial standards group provided for in article 3 of the present decree, the Minister in charge of industry is responsible for defining the policy of the authorities with regard to standards for all products, goods and services, and for ensuring the coherence of the actions of the various parties involved in this field.
In particular, it sets the general guidelines to be followed when establishing standards. It supervises the work of French standards bodies.

Article 3
An interministerial standards group has been set up to assist the Minister for Industry in defining the guidelines for the authorities' national and international standards policy, and in assessing the results of this policy.
The interministerial standards group comprises, under the chairmanship of a qualified person appointed by the Prime Minister, the ministerial officials responsible for standards under article 14, appointed by each minister concerned, and representatives of interministerial bodies concerned by standards, appointed by the Prime Minister.

Article 4
The Interministerial Delegate for Standards acts as Government Commissioner to the French Standards Association.

Article 5
Under the supervision of the Minister for Industry, the Association française de normalisation is entrusted with the general task of inventorying the need for new standards, coordinating standardization work, centralizing and examining draft standards, diffusing standards, promoting standardization, training in standardization and representing French interests in international non-governmental standardization bodies.

Article 6
The general program of standardization work is drawn up each year by the Association française de normalisation on the basis of needs inventoried by it with economic and social partners and standardization offices. It takes account of national priorities, as expressed in particular in the Plan.

Article 7
Preliminary drafts of French standards are prepared by standardization committees comprising representatives of the various categories of partners interested in their use, and in particular representative consumer organizations. These committees sit on standardization boards with sector-specific competence.
The Association française de normalisation is responsible for providing the standardization committees with the technical and economic information required for their work.
It ensures that the main interested parties are represented on standards committees.
It is a full member of all standardization committees.

Article 8
Any organization, with or without legal personality, which can demonstrate its technical capacity to lead the work of standardization committees in a given sector may be approved as a standardization office by joint decision of the Minister for Industry and the other ministers concerned,
taken after consulting the Board of Directors of the Association française de normalisation. This decision sets out the scope of competence of the standards office thus established.
Approval may be revoked after the beneficiary has been given the opportunity to present his observations:
a) If the existence of the standards office no longer meets a need ;
b) If it is no longer able to carry out the work required of it;
c) In the event of failure to comply with the provisions of the present decree or with the general guidelines set out in article 2 above.
The list of standardization offices in existence on the date of publication of the present decree and still in operation is drawn up in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1.

Article 9
For each preliminary draft standard provided for in the general program mentioned in article 6 above, or for which a demand has been formulated by the interministerial delegate for standards, the Association française de normalisation designates the standardization office within which the committee responsible for its elaboration will sit.
In the absence of a competent standardization office, or when such an office is unable to transmit in good time the preliminary drafts for which it is responsible, the Association française de normalisation may itself set up standardization committees.

Article 10
When a preliminary draft standard has been drawn up, it may be submitted by the Association française de normalisation to the standards committee.
normalisation, after verification, to an instruction which is published in the Journal officiel de la République française and in the Bulletin officiel de la normalisation, in order to check its conformity with the general interest and to verify that it does not raise any objection likely to prevent its adoption.
Depending on the purpose of the norms, the French Standards Association sets the duration of the examination, which may not be less than fifteen days.
The Association française de normalisation is required to submit to the said appraisal the preliminary drafts provided for in the general program mentioned in article 6 above and those for which the interministerial delegate for standards so demands.
Observations made during the appraisal process are examined by the Standards Committee.
committee, which takes them into account when drawing up the final draft. Failing agreement, disputes are segmented by the Board of Directors of the Association française de normalisation or by the body designated by the Board for this purpose.
Ministerial departments inform the Association française de normalisation, during appraisal, of any changes they wish to see made to preliminary draft standards. Any difficulties arising from this provision are referred to the Interministerial Standards Delegate.

Article 11
The approval of norms is pronounced in the light of the results of the investigation provided for in article 10 by the Board of Directors of the Association française de normalisation, which may delegate this task to the General Manager.
The Interministerial Delegate for Standards may object to the approval of a draft standard.
The list of norms confirmed during each month is published the following month in the Journal officiel de la République française.

Article 12
If reasons of public order, public safety, the protection of the health and life of humans and animals or the preservation of plants, the protection of national treasures of artistic, historical or archaeological value, or imperative requirements relating to the effectiveness of tax inspections, the fairness of commercial transactions and consumer protection make such a measure necessary, the application of a confirmed norm, or of a norm recognized as equivalent applicable in France by virtue of international agreements, may be made compulsory by decree of the Minister of Industry and, where appropriate, of the other ministers concerned, subject to the following conditions
derogations granted under the conditions specified in article 18 below.

Article 13
1° Without prejudice to applicable regulations, the introduction or explicit mention of confirmed norms or other norms applicable in France by virtue of international agreements is, subject to the derogations provided for in article 18 of the present decree, compulsory in clauses, specifications and contract documents:
a) Contracts with a value equal to or greater than the thresholds set out in articles 123 (1°) and 321 (1°) of the public contracts code awarded by persons subject to the provisions of books II and III of this code;
b) Contracts subject to the advertising and competitive bidding requirements defined in Title II of Law no. 91-3 of January 3, 1991. Except in the case where the standards referred to in the preceding paragraph constitute the transposition of a European standard or a common technical specification, the obligation set out in the preceding paragraph does not authorize the persons responsible for the contract to reject bids which comply with standards in force in another member state of the European Economic Community and which demonstrate equivalence with confirmed French standards.
2° Without prejudice to applicable regulations, the introduction or explicit mention of confirmed norms transposing European standards is, subject to the derogations provided for in article 18, compulsory in the general documents or specifications of contracts defined by law no. 92-1282 of December 11, 1992 relating to procedures for the award of certain contracts in the water, energy, transport and telecommunications sectors.
3° The clauses, technical specifications and terms of reference of the contracts referred to in this article may not mention products of a given manufacture or origin, or processes specific to certain companies, and may not refer to patents or types, indications of origin or provenance, trademarks within the meaning of Title I of Book VII of the French intellectual property code, except where it is not possible to give a description of the subject of the contract without such references. In the latter case, such references are authorized when accompanied by the words "or equivalent".

Article 14
In each ministerial department concerned by standards and appearing as such on a list drawn up by the Prime Minister and the Minister responsible for industry, one or more ministerial officials responsible for standards are appointed to liaise between their department and the Ministry responsible for industry. They ensure that standards are used correctly by the various departments within their ministry.

Article 15
Conformity with norms is attested, at the producer's demand, by the affixing of a national mark granted by the Association française de normalisation.
The benefit of this mark is reserved for products and services for which the provisions laid down by the Association française de normalisation have been complied with.
Any infringement of these provisions may result in the withdrawal of the benefit of the mark.

Article 16
National standardization marks are registered and their rules of use are laid down by the Association française de normalisation, under the conditions determined by Title I of Book VII of the French intellectual property code and by articles L. 115-21 to L. 115-33 of the French consumer code.

Article 17
The Association française de normalisation is subject to the economic and financial control of the State organized by decree no. 55-733 of May 26, 1955.

Article 18
1° In the event of difficulty in the application of norms made mandatory by virtue of article 12, requests for derogation may be addressed to the Association française de normalisation by qualified representatives of producers, importers or distributors, by public authorities, or by any interested party. Derogations are granted by decision of the Minister for Industry, on the recommendation of the Interministerial Delegate for Standards, in the light of a presentation report drawn up by the French Standards Association. Where appropriate, it is the subject of a joint decision by this minister and the other ministers concerned.
2° In the event of difficulty in applying confirmed standards in the contracts mentioned in article 13, the obligation to introduce or explicitly mention confirmed standards and other standards applicable in France by virtue of international agreements may be waived:

a) When a project involves an innovation for which the use of existing norms would be inappropriate, in which case the derogation concerns only the corresponding innovation;
b) When the application of standards would lead to the acquisition of supplies incompatible with installations already in service, or would entail disproportionate costs or technical difficulties, provided that the deadlines within which the said standards will be applied are specified;
c) When these norms are not accompanied by any provision concerning verification of product conformity, or when there are no technical means of satisfactorily establishing such conformity;
d) When the public contracts concern the design and production of arms, munitions and war materiel.
3° In the event of difficulty in the application of confirmed norms transposing norms
European standards in the contracts mentioned in 2° of article 13, in addition to the cases of derogation provided for in 2° of the present article, the obligation to introduce or explicitly mention confirmed norms transposing European standards may be waived, when these are unsuitable for the particular application envisaged, or do not take account of technical developments which have occurred since their adoption.
The party to the contract making use of this derogation shall inform Afnor, specifying the reasons for the derogation.
4° a) Contracts referred to in 1° of article 13 shall expressly mention the confirmed norms to which they derogate under the present article, and the reasons for such derogations.
These derogations are immediately brought to the attention of the Association française de normalisation, which reports annually to the interministerial standards group.
b) Reference is made to the use of a derogation under the terms of the present article in notices of competition for the contracts referred to in 2° of article 13.

Article 19
The decree of May 24, 1941 defining the status of standardization is abrogated, with the exception of article 21 (paragraph 1).
Standards whose drafts have been the subject of a public inquiry prior to the date of publication of the present decree may be confirmed without further investigation.

Article 20
The present decree may only be modified by decree of the Conseil d'Etat.

Article 21
The Minister for the Economy, Finance and the Budget, the Minister for Social Affairs and National Solidarity, the Minister for Transport, the Minister for Agriculture, the Minister for Industry and Research, the Minister for Town Planning and Housing and the Secretary of State to the Minister for the Economy, Finance and the Budget, responsible for Consumer Affairs, are each responsible for the execution of this decree, which will be published in theJournal officiel de la République française.

You can browse the technical decrees of November 21, December 24 and 27, 2001, supplemented and modified by the DTT decrees of May 26, 2005.