Decree of the 21.12.1998

J.O n° 299 of December 26, 1998 page 19560

General texts

Ministry for employment and solidarity

Decree of 21 December 1998 relating to the conditions of approval of the organizations entitled to carry out measurements of the concentration of asbestos dusts of the built buildings

NOR: MESP9824014A

The Minister for employment and solidarity and the Secretary of State to health and the social action,

Considering modified directive 83/189/CEE envisaging a procedure of information in the field of the standards and rules technical, and in particular the notification No 98/0217/F;

Considering the decree No 96-97 of modified 7 February 1996 relating to the protection of the population against the medical risks related to an exposure to asbestos in the built buildings, in particular article 5;

Considering the decree No 97-1185 of 19 December 1997 taken for the application to the Minister for the use and the solidarity of the 1o of article 2 of the decree of 15 January 1997 relating to the devolution of the individual administrative decisions;

Considering the decree of December 23, 1997 bearing approval of organizations entitled to carry out controls of the concentration of asbestos dusts in the atmosphere of the built buildings modified by the decree of January 29, 1998;

Considering the opinion of the higher Council of public health of France on January 13, 1998,

Stop:

Article 1st. - As from January 1, 1999, the organizations which require approval envisaged of article 5 of the decree of 7 February 1996 referred to above, to carry out the taking away or the analysis and the counting of asbestos fibres in the air, or the renewal of this approval, must be accredited for the field considered by the French Committee of accreditation (Cofrac) or any other organization signatory of multilateral agreement European EA (European Cooperation for Accreditation).

The accreditation is based, on the one hand, on the respect of standard NF INTO 45001 or NF INTO 45004 for the organizations realizing of the bleedings of air and standard NF INTO 45001 for those which carry out analyses and countings and, on the other hand, on the respect of the program of accreditation No 144 bench by the French Committee of accreditation or any other equivalent program based on the respect of standard NF X 43-050 Quality of the air. - Determination of the asbestos fibre concentration by electronic microscopy with transmission. - indirect Method.

Art. 2. - the organizations requesting an approval must address to the minister in charge of health a file comprising the parts and information specified in appendix I of this decree. The approved organizations must inform the minister in charge of health of any modification with the information provided in the initial file.

Art. 3. - approval is granted for one duration maximum three years. The decrees of approval and withdrawal of approval are published with the Journal officiel de la République française.

Art. 4. - a comparative survey of counting in electronic microscopy with transmission is organized each year by the national Institute of research and safety. The approved organizations for the analysis and the counting of asbestos fibres must take part each year in this countryside.

Art. 5. - the delivery of approval for the analysis and the counting of asbestos fibres is subordinate, at the time of the first request or in the event of new consecutive request with a withdrawal of approval, with the participation of the organization in the comparative survey preceding the request immediately.

Art. 6. - a management report of the year is addressed by each approved organization to the minister in charge of health before the end of January of the following year.

This report/ratio includes in particular:

- for the whole of the approved organizations, an assessment of the services carried out in each approved activity and a summary of the results of the measurements of dust contamination distributed according to the classes defined in articles 5 and 7 of the decree of February 7, 1996 referred to above;

- for the approved organizations for the taking away, a beginning again table, for each building identified by its address, the whole of information relating to taken measurements and their results.

Art. 7. - the provisions of this decree apply as from January 1, 1999, date on which the decree of 7 February 1996 relating to the conditions of approval of organizations entitled to carry out controls of the concentration of asbestos dusts in the atmosphere of the built buildings is repealed.

Art. 8. - the approvals granted by the decree of December 23 1997 are prolonged until February 15, 1999.

Art. 9. - the general manager of health is in charge of the execution of this decree, which will be published with the Journal officiel de la République française.

Fact in Paris, December 21, 1998.

The Minister for employment and solidarity,

For the minister and by delegation:

The general manager of health,

J Ménard

The Secretary of State to health

and with the social action,

For the Secretary of State and delegation:

The general manager of health,

J Ménard

With N N E X E

CONTENTS OF The FILE OF APPLICATION

The file of application must be deposited with the following address:

Ministry for employment and solidarity (general direction of health, subdirectorate of the medical day before, office VS3), 8, avenue of Ségur, 75350 Paris 07 SP.

It must comprise following information and parts:

1. General information

a) Address and coordinated (telephone + fax) of the organization;

b) Name, first names and quality of the person who presents the request;

c) Corporate name of the organization (copy of the statutes, extract K (a));

d) General description of the principal activities of the organization and presentation of the various sites concerned if necessary (flow chart...).

2. Nature of the request

To indicate the nature of the approval requested by the organization (prélèvement/comptage) or, if necessary, for each site. If two approvals are requested, information concerning the taking away will be clearly distinguished from those relating to counting.

3. Certificate of accreditation

The petitioning organization must provide:

a) The attesting document of its accreditation for the services for which it asks an approval (convention of accreditation, for the Essais section of Cofrac, or certificate of accreditation, for the Inspection section of Cofrac);

b) The attesting document of the field covered by the accreditation (technical appendices, for the section Tests of Cofrac, or carried accepted accreditation, for the section Inspection of Cofrac).

4. Other information

a) Materials of sampling or analysis:

Numbers and type of pumps and heads of taking away or apparatuses necessary to the preparation and the reading of the filters available to the organization, to distribute by sites if necessary.

b) Manpower carrying out controls:

A number of agents (by sites) which carry out the taking away or counting.

c) Experience gained in the field of the dust measurement of asbestos in the built buildings:

To give a short outline of the activity already carried on in the field (a number of taking away or a number of countings...).

5. Engagement of the organization

The file must moreover comprise an engagement of the organization to forward to the minister in charge of health, before January 31, a management report recapitulating information and the results of the services carried out the previous year, according to the model defined by the administration, in accordance with article 5 of the decree No 96-97 of modified 7 February 1996.