Proposition 54K3143

Projet de loi portant dispositions diverses en matière d'Economie.

General information ¶

Submitted by

MR Swedish coalition

Submission date

June 8, 2018

Official page

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Status

Adopted

Requirement

Simple

Subjects

consumer protection economic policy financial legislation commercial law company law insurance law

Voting ¶

Voted to adopt

Groen CD&V Vooruit Ecolo LE PS | SP DéFI ∉ Open Vld N-VA MR PVDA | PTB PP VB

Contact form ¶

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Discussion ¶

July 17, 2018 | Plenary session (Chamber of representatives)

Full source

Mr Klaps, rapporteur, refers to the written report.

Mr. Speaker, I have a question to address to Minister Ducarme on the subject that we are dealing with, namely the various provisions on Economy.

This is something I didn’t know when we talked about it. In the meantime, between the voting of the bill in the committee and the return to the plenary session, we as parliamentarians but you also as a minister, were interrogated by the Order of Architects on the part relating to the ten-year warranty of architects and other service providers of the building.

These are Articles 101 and following of the text adopted in the committee. These articles establish a register of obligatory insurance contracts of ten-year liability and attribute to the Order of Architects the competence to consult it. However, the Order of Architects considers that this provision does not comply with the legislation on data protection. Furthermore, it draws attention to the fact that it will not, under any circumstances, be able to ensure compliance with the personal data contained in the register.

The Order of Architects also considers that these provisions are inapplicable in the state and asks to postpone the date of entry into force of the "register" section to 2019. A letter in this respect would have been sent to you too. Mr. Minister, before voting the text, we would have liked to know the government’s position in the face of this question. What assures us that the text we vote today will not put architects in trouble?

Mr. Minister, I propose that you respond after the intervention of Mrs. Smaers who also asked for the floor.

Mr. Speaker, in addition to a number of broad provisions governing economic matters, this bill also provides for open access and the possibility to make scientific articles published in journals freely available to the public if the scientific research was financed by public funds. In the committee, I have expressed some concerns on the part of the independent publishers. They are concerned that the provision on open access will restrict or impair their rights as publishers.

I know that the Minister has also taken into account the interests of the publishers and that a solution was sought, giving them another twelve-month embargo on humanities and social sciences, and a six-month embargo on other sciences, in order yet to be the first to publish the scientific research as a publisher. I hope that this will indeed address their concerns, but I suggest that once the law has entered into force, after a period of, for example, a year, a review will be held. On this basis, it can then be examined whether all parties, both the researchers and the independent publishers, are not harmed in their interests.

An important provision in their presentation was also that foreign publishers would not be favoured on the Belgian market and that a level playing field would be ensured for both the Belgian and the foreign publisher market. I hope that this is achieved and is taken into account in the evaluation.

Finally, there was also a discussion about the insurance obligation regarding the ten-year liability of the contractors. I would like to emphasize that the objective has always been to provide affordable protection against the most pressing insurance situations and damage related to the ten-year liability. The Minister has confirmed in the committee that the obligation to insure both equipment and personnel is limited to the closed rough construction. This was important to emphasize and confirm in this discussion, so that this was also clearly communicated in the explanation.

Apart from the concerns expressed regarding the independent publishers, we fully agree with the bill.

Mr. President, Mrs Winckel, I would like to thank you. I have read your comments and do not agree with the analysis that has been made on this subject. I had also asked my office to return to the Order of Architects in order to reassure him of any doubts that seemed to persist with regard to the consequences or risks raised in this letter.