Proposition 51K0799

Projet de loi relatif à la reconnaissance et à la protection de la profession d'expert en automobiles et créant un Institut des experts en automobiles.

General information ¶

Authors

Ecolo Marie Nagy
MR Daniel Bacquelaine, Anne Barzin, Jacqueline Galant, Pierre-Yves Jeholet
Open Vld Georges Lenssen
PS | SP Annick Saudoyer

Submission date

Feb. 12, 2004

Official page

Visit

Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

motor car professional society organisation of professions access to a profession self-employed person

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP Open Vld MR

Party dissidents ¶

• Pieter De Crem (CD&V) voted to reject.
• Ingrid Meeus (Open Vld) voted to adopt.
• Pieter De Crem (CD&V) voted to reject.
• Ingrid Meeus (Open Vld) voted to adopt.

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

March 22, 2007 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Valérie De Bue, the rapporteur, also refers to her written report and I thank her for this.

I will be very brief. The proposal that is subject to our approval today concerns the organization and regulation of the profession as well as the recognition of the title of automotive expert.

The number of automotive experts is currently estimated at around 600 people. This may seem relatively small at first glance but it should be known that it does not only concern automotive experts but all consumers, all insured persons in our country, car repairers. This involves a much larger population.

It is sometimes easier to refer to the total compensation that is paid each year in terms of civil liability insurance. This total rotates around one billion euros per year. If we add the bodily damage, we reach 1.5 billion euros per year.

Every year, 600,000 consumers are affected by automotive expertise. One in eight drivers is affected annually, both from a patrimonial point of view and from a safety point of view. The assistance provided by automotive experts is not negligible, neither economically nor in terms of safety.

In addition, the activities of automotive experts are very diverse. Although the main activity concerns the assessment of the damage suffered by vehicles in the event of accidents, there are obviously other tasks. I think of judicial missions, technical responsibility research missions, vehicle assessments, quality controls carried out after repair.

There were two gaps compared to the current situation of the automotive experts that we wanted to address. There was, on the one hand, the obligation to hold a private detective license and therefore to pay for the issuance of a document. Thanks to the text we will vote on, automotive experts will no longer be required to adhere to the private detective status, which means both a financial gain but also a saving of time and paperwork, as well as a little more consistency in the exercise of the profession.

The second element that intervenes is the independence of the automotive expert, which we find indispensable in the search for a just balance of the interests of insurers, who want to guarantee solidarity between the insured, but also of consumers, therefore of each owner of a damaged vehicle who wants to obtain a fair repair and finally, vehicle repairers who want to be properly remunerated for the services they provide.

In some European countries, for example our close neighbor France or even in Spain or Italy, the profession of auto expert is already regulated. There was therefore the risk of a distortion of competition since experts recognized in other countries can come to work and settle in Belgium, while Belgian experts do not yet benefit from this recognition.

The problem could have been resolved after the adoption, on 18 May, of the draft framework law on the carrying of professional titles of an intellectual profession providing services. Nevertheless, if the project responded well to the request for recognition of the profession, it seemed to us that it did not allow the creation of an Institute of Automotive Experts. However, the establishment of this institute is one of the major demands of this sector. It will also have very varied tasks ranging from the establishment of the rules of ethics of the profession to the regulations of internships, through the establishment of the table of holders of the profession, of the trainees, of persons admitted to the honorary, all the disciplinary function in the matter with regard to trainees and holders, the organization of continuous training for each of its members. These are fundamental tasks in the exercise of a profession; they also constitute a guarantee of integrity towards the consumer.

Questions were raised in the committee on the funding of this institute. Some concerns could be formulated initially given the relatively small number of experts in our country (600). It should be noted that these experts contributed to their professional union and that they had to obtain a private detective license, which represented an annual charge of approximately 750 euros. The contribution to the Institute will be 500 euros, which results in a financial gain for the auto expert at the end of the training of the Institute of Automotive Experts.

Let us also not forget that the profession of auto expert is exercised under different statutes: administrator, manager, employee of insurance company, employee of expert office, official but also independent. In the latter case, the establishment of a full-time status of automotive expert will constitute a non-negligible incentive, in particular for young people who may be hesitant to start in this sector, thinking that the status of independent in the field did not offer sufficient guarantees.

The proposed law will therefore allow to increase the number of independent workers in the sector, a number that has not ceased to grow in the last three years. This seems to me to be a very good thing; it is well known that both self-employed and SMEs are an essential part of the economy of our society.

For all these reasons, the MR wanted to promote the emergence of this proposal and to ensure that we can give a real status to this profession, guarantee its independence and ensure that all consumers concerned by the issue find a benefit in the creation of this institute of automotive experts and in the recognition of this profession.

My speech will be very brief.

Although our country has only 600 automotive experts, every year, approximately 600,000 people are faced with automotive expertise, which is 8% of the Belgian population and even more, if we take into account the minimum age of 18 years.

For my group, it is essential that the consumer can rely on an automotive expert who has sufficient guarantees: adequate training, integrity in action and compliance with ethical rules. To ensure these criteria, a specific regulation of the profession was necessary. The current situation in which everyone can proclaim himself an expert in automobiles is outdated and must disappear, especially and above all in the interest of the citizen.

As such, the draft law constitutes for our group an undeniable progress, especially in that it will eliminate the market of self-proclaimed experts who are not required to comply with any regulation or code of good conduct. Furthermore, the Institute of Experts will constitute the appropriate body to encourage its members to upgrade their technical knowledge, the main objective of this proposal being to increase transparency in this specific profession in constant evolution: better information of the consumer but also guarantee of professionalism for the convicted, since the automobile expert appointed by the judge will truly be a specialist familiar with the specific rules for the exercise of his judicial task.

For several years, automotive experts have been demanding regulation for their profession. My group can only look forward to the fact that the profession is finally framed and regulated and that its title is reserved for professional experts who will have to meet certain characteristics and comply with rules of conduct in order to be able to carry out their activity, not only in Belgium but also in other European countries.