All about the obligations of the Tertiary Decree – Article 175 of the ELAN law published in the Official Journal

The obligations have become clearer and the first maturities are approaching. Back to the main obligations arising from the Tertiary Decree.

The Official Journal published on May 3 the first decree specifying the conditions of application of the Tertiary Decree. In the autumn, a final decree, known as “Absolute values”, should complete the regulatory corpus relating to the obligation to improve the energy efficiency of tertiary buildings.

What are the requirements of the “Tertiary Decree” regarding energy efficiency.

The ELAN law with article 175 introduced into the Construction and Housing Code the obligation to set up ambitious energy improvement programs for all owners and occupants of tertiary surfaces of more than 1000m 2 .

More specifically, the Tertiary Decree of 23 July 2019 indicates that the reduction in the final energy consumption of these buildings must reach at least 40% in 2030 , then 50% and 60% respectively in 2040 and 2050 . On the other hand, for buildings that are already efficient, they will be able to content themselves with reaching, at each of these deadlines, degressive consumption thresholds, defined in absolute value (kWhef/m 2 *), which will be specified by the order to come.

Several clarifications on the requirements:


• Buildings concerned: all premises hosting tertiary activities when the cumulative surface area is greater than 1,000 m 2 ;

• Scope of the energy consumption concerned: all the building’s consumption (consumption of the building’s technical systems, but also of the hosted uses), expressed in final energy (energy or m 3 indicated by the invoices);

• Responsibility for compliance with the obligation: the owner and, jointly, the occupant, each for their respective responsibilities with respect to energy consumption;

• Building stock: the outperformance of a building within one building stock can benefit another. Performances can be shared;

• Modulation of objectives: the objectives may be modulated according to technical, architectural or heritage constraints, changes in activity or volume of activity, disproportionate costs in relation to the expected reductions, etc. ;

• Monitoring compliance with obligations by the administration: an “OPERAT” digital platform, managed by ADEME, will collect data and declarations from all companies subject to obligations.

Deadline schedule:

Why achieve energy performance objectives?

Despite the insufficiently dissuasive financial penalties to which companies are exposed if they do not meet the imposed requirements, several advantages are to be taken advantage of by implementing the regulations:

Clever Energies is able to support you in your energy transition thanks to its team of experts.

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