Statement of motives
If architecture is of public
interest, Member States must create the conditions so that
people’s right to architectural quality is exercised. Competent
specialists, architects and urban planners, should be able to
fulfil their role in a satisfactory way, in the interest of all
citizens. Professional practice and guarantees, the respect of
rules for awarding contracts, establishing agreements for the
survey and construction of buildings and for studies and
operations concerning urban planning, are necessary conditions,
but not sufficient, for the improvement of the quality of the
built environment in Europe.
Every country must either legislate in this direction, if it
doesn’t have a law on architecture, or improve the existing law,
in the spirit of the directive. The law must guarantee fair play
in competitions inside each country, and between citizens of
different countries.
english translation from the original text approved by the
O.I.A. Assembly
held in Paris, at the Finnish Institute of Culture, on November,
the 8th 1997
SECTION 1
Public Interest for
architecture
Art.
1.
LArchitecture is an expression of culture and has aesthetic,
historic, social, economic and productive implications.
The quality of architectural
design, the way new projects fit into the landscape, the respect
for and enhancement of natural landscape and urban qualities,
the complete utilisation of existing heritage, and urban renewal,
all respond to public interest and are a right of every citizen.
Government authorities are
responsible for safeguarding such public interest in
architecture.
Art. 2
The European Union is responsible for legislation on
architecture.
Member States modify their laws,
in the shortest time limits, determining priorities, and, if
possible, common deadlines, according to the following
principles:
-
architecture is an intellectual occupation (and not a service);
projects must provide the best solution according to the needs
expressed by the Promoter and to the intentions set out in the
programme.
-
projects must provide the best solution to the problems raised.
-
the quality of work is obtained by promoting transparency in the
selection of architects and in the assignment of projects after
a competition with high standards of requirement.
-
the organisation of work must include the consultation of the
real client: the user of the building.
- public
administrations should encourage innovation, improvement in
architectural quality and professionalism in organising
competitions for projects and publishing their results,
-
private Promoters who seek architectural quality through
competitions might benefit from financial or tax concessions;
-
in order to be the basis of the project, the Promoter’s demands
must be made explicit to the architect. They must be obvious and
exhaustive especially concerning functional and economic aspects;
-
the project has a unitary nature and must be developed in all
its phases by the same professional or with his approval.
Member States
should encourage sustainable development in environmental
planning..
SECTION 2
Creation and functioning
of Councils for Architecture, Town Planning and the Environment
Art. 3
In every Member State a special Council for Architecture, Town
Planning and the Environment is set up alongside the competent
Ministry.
The Council has twenty-one members,
fourteen of which are elected from among professionals who have
at least twenty years’ experience by cultural institutions and
public organisations of the profession; seven are chosen among
established experts in different fields, appointed by
Ministerial decree.
The Council expresses
opinions on norms affecting architecture, on questions
concerning the profession and professional aspects of
architectural education and engineering.
The Council also
expresses opinions on questions that have a major impact on the
territory and buildings, on the request of public
administrations and local powers.
Ministers define procedures and ways of referring to the Council
by separate but co-ordinated national decrees the modes of
working.
Every Council
designates three representatives among its members (of which one
at least is an expert) to the Committee of European
Co-ordination of Councils of Architecture, Town Planning and the
Environment.
This Committee
gives advice on norms that might affect architecture.
The Government or
local authorities finance the working of the Councils.
Art. 4
Every Member State should create, if the case arises, regional
or departmental Councils and determine criteria for their
composition and functioning. It should also promote the creation
of forums for debate among citizens, experts and administrations,
about changes in the city and environmente.
SECTION 3
The Promoter’s Role
Art. 5
In the present directive, which concerns architecture, by
"promoter” is meant every physical person or legal entity who
commissions an architect (in compliance with art. 11).
.
Art. 6
Whoever requires a project to undertake the construction of a
building or to introduce changes to the landscape, must use the
services of an architect (in compliance with article 11) with or
without the contribution of specialists in other disciplines.
Member States might establish that it is not compulsory to
consult an architect for works concerning interior organisation
in existing buildings, exclusive of protected buildings for
their historic, artistic or environmental value.
Art. 7
Construction methods and their variants – industrialised or
non-industrialised - liable to frequent use, must be agreed upon
by an architect (in compliance with article 11), independently
of the type of Promoter using them.
Art. 8
The economic risks incurred by the architect should not exceed
the risks ensuing directly from the assignment he has been given.
The Promoter
is obliged to take out an insurance policy for his project.
Art. 9
Public administrations cannot assign simultaneously or
successively the same project to different architects without a
valid motive, to be submitted to the approval of the special
Council (cf Art.3).
Any modification to the project or
enlarging of works subsequent to construction, must be proposed
to the author of the initial project.
Art.
10 The special Councils
(cf Art.3) define the rules of protecting the Promoter’s rights
and economic interests.
SECTION 4
THE ARCHITECT'S ROLE
Art. 11
In compliance with this directive, an architect is a physical
person or legal entity authorised to practice architecture by
the directives of the European Union and the legislation of
every Member State.
The present directive
refers to the definition of the role and competency of
architects, set out by the Advisory Committee of the EU.
An architect’s work
involves the mind and intelligence and is creative. According to
the principles protecting copyright, the special Councils (cf.
art.3), define the rules protecting works of architecture.
The architect (in
compliance with article 11) signs the project and is responsible
for it; his work is insured against possible damages to the
Promoter.
Every project must be signed by
all the qualified professionals who contributed to its
development and are responsible for it.
Art 12
The architect practices his profession independently, in
association with others, as a civil servant or a salaried
employee.
He draws up the plans,
supervises the works, prepares written reports, and has an
advisory, supervisory, and research role.
Alongside the European
Council for Architecture, Town Planning and the Environment,
every physical person or legal entity authorised to practice
architecture in Member States are registered in a single list,
however this list is drawn up and modified by the body which
represents the profession in each country.
Any legal entity
wanting to practice architecture must also be registered in the
European List. (cf Art.13).
The code of rules and
duties binding all registered persons will be laid out in every
Member State by The Council for Architecture, Town Planning and
the Environment, in the shortest possible time.e.
Art. 13
Architects may set up companies of architects. These companies
may take the form of:
-
professional or interprofessional civil companies
-
limited or joint-stock corporations or companies.
When a company of architects is a
joint-stock or limited corporation or company it must observe
the following rules :
1. the actions of the
company must be nominative
2. the architects must be
the majority share-holders
3. the entry of a new
partner is subordinate to the acceptance of the general meeting
which decides with a majority of two thirds
4. no partner may possess
more than 50% of shares
5. the Chairman of the Board of
Directors, the Managing Director (if there is only one), at
least the half of the Managing Directors, and the majority of
the members of the Board of Directors, must be architects.
Art. 14
In order to promote and protect the quality of his work and of
the product, the architect is entitled to a fair payment,
considering that his work is an intellectual occupation (and not
a service).
The Committee of
European Coordination of the CAUE will fix some general
principles
The minimum level of
payment and of indemnities paid to the architect, is defined and
established by the category of works independently of the type
of Promoter.
The amount of payment
must take into consideration the cost of insurance. In
organising insurance Member States must guarantee that premiums
are proportional to professional fees.
Contracts
stipulating that the payment of fees may be conditioned by
decisions or events outside the control or independent of the
will of the Promoter and the professional, are not valid.
The time limits granted
to the architect for the different phases of the project must be
reasonable (overall, about the half of time of the execution of
works) and proportional to the complexity of the work.
Any changes to a project in
progress implies a modification of the contract and
supplementary fees.
Art. 15
The architect may be given the task to certify the correctness
of his project or of some points of the project when the control
body has defined the rules and procedure.
SECTION 5
COMMISSIONING PROJECTS
Art. 16
Member States encourage or define as compulsory, in certain
situations, the procedure to be adopted in competitions for the
awarding of government contracts.
The different types of
competition and their types of organisation are subject to the
approval of the special Council of Architecture, Town Planning
and the Environment (cf.Art 3).
Competitions are open to
all registered architects without justification of turnover.
Competitions based, even
partially, on reductions in fees or professional repayments are
forbidden. Similarly, competitions based, even partially, on
reductions in the time allowed for the project are also
forbidden.
Art. 17
The organisation of competitions in Member Countries is founded
on the following principles :
- mention of
all clauses of the organisation in the competition announcement
(repayment of expenses to the participants, appointment of of
examining committees, process of evaluation and composition of
jury),
-
transparency in the methods of selecting participants and
choosing the winner
-
justification of verdicts by detailed reports dealing with all
the projects,
- public
exhibition of the projects.
In case of abandonment of a project after a competition, the
participants and the prize-winner are compensated.
An appeal procedure must exist
for participants in the competition and the citizens concerned.
The organisation of
a contest might be entrusted to experts or to cultural
associations.
Art. 18
Government contracts are awarded in the following way :
- for contracts in which
fees exceed 200.000 €, a public competition is compulsory
- for contracts in which fees range
from 20.000 to 200.000 €, each Member State will establish
simplified procedures in order to guarantee public information
and free competition among architects, without the faculty to
lower the minimum fee level,
- for contracts in which fees
are lower than 20.000 €, each Member State will establish the
procedure according to which contracts are awarded directly,
without the obligation of a public announcement or selection by
competition.
SECTION 6
THE PROGRAMME AND THE PROJECT
Art.
19 The
project aims to define work details in order to guarantee the
best way of fulfilling the Promoter’s intention according to the
architect’s interpretation.
The Promoter, aided by experts
in different disciplines, draws up a written document which
defines the project’s objectives and the needs that it must
satisfy as well as the constraints and requirements relating to
social architectural, functional, technical and economic quality,
how the project fits into the landscape and protection of the
environment, involved in the execution and in the use of the
product.
Art.
20 The
committees appointed to assess the project will have to express
a judgement on the structural, functional and interpretative
qualities of the work and on its relationship with the
surrounding environment, after an examination by technical
committees which will check that the project complies with
regulations.
For this purpose projects
must be accompanied by pictures, photos and other illustrations
which show the project in its wider context and its connection
with surroundings.
The results of this
procedure must be easily accessible to the public.
conclusion
The present project is the germ of an idea which should be
developed through the involvement of all OIA members and in
other places of debate. Nevertheless, we are proposing it to the
competent authorities as a way of setting the process in motion.
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