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3 AVRIL 2003. - Standardization Act (1)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
CHAPTER I^er. - Preliminary provision
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 78 of the Constitution.
CHAPTER II. - General provisions
Art. 2. For the purposes of this Act:
1° Standard: a technical specification approved by a recognized body with normative activity for repeated and continuous application, whose compliance is not mandatory and falls within one of the categories of standards referred to in Article 1^er4°, the Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 22 June 1998, providing for an information procedure in the field of technical standards and regulations;
2nd Standardization Commission: commission within the Bureau of Standardization of Standardization in a particular area by involving all interested parties;
3° Sectoral standardization operator: a body with or without the legal personality responsible for the coordination of one or more standardization commission(s) in areas within its competence;
4° the Minister: the Minister who has the Economic Affairs in his office.
Art. 3. Standards are the statement of know-how applicable to a particular product, process or service at the time of adoption.
CHAPTER III. - The Standardization Office
Art. 4. It is created a Normalization Office, named below "the Bureau". The Office is an autonomous body with a legal personality and a seat in the administrative district of Brussels-Capital. The Office is subject to the Act of 16 March 1954 on the Control of Certain Public Interest Organizations.
Art. 5. As part of the standardization policy defined by the Minister, the Office is responsible for:
1° the execution of a general census mission both of the needs for new standards and technical documents and of the offer to achieve them, and of the assessment of the necessary funding means;
2° coordination of standardization work and harmonization of rules on which standardization should be based;
3° centralization, review, consultation and/or approval of draft standards;
4° dissemination of technical standards and documents;
5° promotion of standardization and coordination of measures to facilitate its application;
6° the management of the resources allocated to it and dedicated to the development of scientific and technical skills in the subjects to be normalized;
7° the development of standards, as well as the monitoring, development and development of technical documents as new products that do not have the status of standard but meet market needs;
8° representation of Belgian interests in European and international standardization bodies;
9° the establishment and dissolution of standardization commissions;
10° the approval or withdrawal of the approval of sectoral operators of standardization in accordance with the terms defined by the King, by deliberate decree in Council of Ministers;
11° the execution of tasks related to the standardization and certification entrusted to it by the King, by decree deliberately in Council of Ministers.
Art. 6. The overall pattern of standardization programmes is determined annually, in accordance with the Minister ' s policy, by the Bureau based on the funding opportunities and needs identified by the Office with economic and societal partners and standardization commissions.
Art. 7. The development of draft standards is monitored or carried out as appropriate by standardization commissions.
Art. 8. The Bureau is making every effort to ensure that key stakeholders are represented in the standardization committees. It is responsible for providing technical and economic information to the standardization commissions and sector operators as necessary for their work.
Art. 9. The standardization commissions associate themselves with their technical work on standardization of approved sectoral standardization operators with the necessary competence in one or more areas. They may be responsible for chairs or technical secretariats of their commissions.
Art. 10. The Bureau, standardization commissions and standardization sector operators contribute, each for its own competence, to the execution of the standardization programmes referred to in Article 6, in accordance with the terms and conditions established by the King.
Art. 11. § 1^er. The programs provided for in section 6, as determined by the Bureau, are financed by technical and/or financial contributions to the interests of interested parties.
§ 2. The Office is funded by:
1° a federal budget allocation charged to the Federal Public Service credits Economy, P.M.E., Average Classes and Energy;
2° royalties imposed by the King, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, to finance certain programmes of standardization of general interest, collected from the parties represented in the standardization commissions and prorated the amount of technical and economic information referred to in Article 8, paragraph 2, which is provided to them by the Bureau;
3° voluntary or contractual contributions;
4° of casual income;
5° all revenues derived, directly or indirectly, from the activities of the Bureau.
Art. 12. The Office ' s accounting is maintained in accordance with the provisions of the Act of 17 July 1975 on business accounting and enforcement orders. The Office tends to a financial balance.
Art. 13. The Bureau's bodies are the Steering Committee and the Board of Directors. They establish in consultation a rules of order which is subject to the approval of the King.
Art. 14. Without prejudice to the right to quote before the competent judge, the recovery of sums due under Article 11, except those mentioned in § 1^er, point 1°, may take place by constraint according to the regime of articles 94 and 95 of the coordinated laws on State accounting.
Art. 15. The Management Committee shall ensure the day-to-day management of the Office and shall make the necessary or useful actions to carry out its duties. The Steering Committee is composed of a chair and a limited number of members appointed by the Board of Directors. They are appointed by the King, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, for a term of six years on the proposal of the Minister, after consultation with the Board of Directors. Their mandate is renewable and full-time. The Chair and the members of the Steering Committee are chosen because of their competence in matters within the direction they are called to lead. The King shall determine by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers the contractual conditions and the financial status to which the Chairman and members of the Steering Committee are subjected.
Art. 16. The Steering Committee is subject to the control of the Governing Council, which is composed in a balanced manner of representatives of the federal government, representative organizations of enterprises, representative organizations of workers, competent non-governmental organizations in the field of environmental protection and relevant non-governmental organizations in the field of consumer interests. By order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, the King establishes the number of members and the composition of the Board of Directors, appoints the President and the members and determines the amount of compensation that may be allocated to them by the Bureau. Proposals for designation of representatives not belonging to the public sector are based on lists submitted by the organizations concerned.
Art. 17. The Board of Directors has the following tasks:
1° to approve the general outline of the standardization programs referred to in Article 6;
2° to establish and dissolve standards commissions;
3° Accrediting sector operators of standardization and removing their approval;
4° to adopt draft standards;
5° where applicable, to submit to the King's approval the standards established in accordance with Article 10;
6° to assess the manner in which the Steering Committee and the Standardization Commissions carry out their tasks and to provide advice and recommendations in this regard to the Minister and the Executive Committee.
Art. 18. The Office may, for all its personnel needs necessary for the performance of its duties, engage staff with a work contract.
Art. 19. The staff of the Belgian Institute of Normalization are transferred ex officio upon dissolution to the Federal Public Service Economie, P.M.E., Average Classes and Energy, at a date and in accordance with the terms determined by the King. Staff members referred to in paragraph 1^er hired by the Office shall be on leave of office for a mission of general interest for the duration of their contract.
CHAPTER IV. - The Superior Council of Normalization
Art. 20. It is established with the Federal Public Service Economics, P.M.E., Average Classes and Energy a Superior Council of Normalization, referred to as the "Superior Council".
Art. 21. The mission of the High Council is to provide, either on initiative or at the request of the Minister, advice on all issues related to the policy and development of standardization, national and international. The opinions are public.
Art. 22. In addition to a President, the High Council consists of:
1° four effective members and four alternate members from the scientific world;
2° six effective members and six alternate members representing business representative organizations, including two effective members and two alternate members representing small and medium-sized enterprises;
3° two effective members and two alternate members representing relevant organizations in the area of consumer interests;
4° two effective members and two alternate members from the representative organizations of workers;
5° two effective members and two alternate members representing representative organizations of societal interests.
Art. 23. The King appoints and revokes the President of the Superior Council.
Art. 24. The Minister shall select and appoint, on the proposal of the relevant bodies, the actual members and alternate members on the same terms.
Art. 25. The term of office of the president and members lasts 6 years and is renewable. If an effective member's term of office ends before the end of the term, the alternate shall complete the term. The appointment of a new alternate until the end of the current first term is completed.
Art. 26. The High Council may invite to its meetings any person whose notice may be useful to it.
Art. 27. The secretariat of the Superior Council is provided by the Federal Public Service Economy, P.M.E., Average Classes and Energy.
Art. 28. The Superior Council shall develop its rules of procedure. The Minister is subject to approval.
Art. 29. The High Council reports on its activity over the past year. This report is made public and transmitted to the Minister.
Art. 30. Provision is made for the operation of the High Council, each year, to the budget of the Department of Economic Affairs. The King shall determine the amount of compensation that may be allocated to members of the High Council. It sets out the amount of travel and residence allowances.
CHAPTER V. - Abrogatory, amending and final provisions
Art. 31. The Decree-Law of 20 September 1945 on standardization, as amended by the Decree-Law of 28 February 1947, is repealed.
Art. 32. Article 1^er of the Act of 16 March 1954 on the Control of Certain Public Interest Organizations are inserted in category C, in their place in alphabetical order, the words "Office of Normalization".
Art. 33. Article 1^er of the Act of 16 March 1954 on the control of certain public bodies the words "Belgian Institute for Standardization" are deleted. Article 1^er§ 1^er, from the Act of 22 July 1993 on certain measures in public service, the words "Belgian Institute for Standardization" are deleted.
Art. 34. The King shall determine the date of entry into force of the provisions of this Act.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal to the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels on 3 April 2003.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Economy,
Ch. PICQUE
Seal of the state seal:
Minister of Justice,
Mr. VERWILGHEN
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Notes
(1) Regular session 2002-2003
House of Representatives
Parliamentary documents. - Doc. 50-2245. Number 1: Bill. Number two: Report. No. 3: Text adopted in plenary and transmitted to the Senate.
Full report . - 13 maart 2003.
Senate
Parliamentary documents. - No. 2-1540. No. 1: Project not referred to by the Senate.