Regulation on Independent Experts of Energy Performance of Buildings

Issued pursuant to
Section 12, Paragraph four of
the Law On the Energy Performance of Buildings

I. General Provisions

1. This Regulation prescribes the competence requirements of an independent expert and the procedures for certifying this competence, the procedures for registering and monitoring an independent expert, as well as the data content of the independent expert register and the usage procedures of such data.

II. Requirements for the Competence of an Independent Expert

2. An independent expert has the right to determine the energy performance of a building or building units to be put into service, and to issue an energy certificate of the building, or to determine the planned energy performance of a building or building unit to be designed, reconstructed, or renovated, and to issue a temporary energy certificate of the building, if the independent expert:

2.1. has acquired vocational or academic higher education of the first or second level, provided the educational programme provides knowledge of the following:

2.1.1. heat engineering of building envelopes;

2.1.2. technical building systems (heating, cooling, ventilation, air conditioning, water supply, lighting);

2.1.3. construction climatology and the microclimate of premises;

2.2. [25 March 2014];

2.3. has at least two years of field experience assessing energy performance of buildings, under supervision of an independent expert with a certified competence in the field of assessing energy performance of a building or building units to be put into service, and issuing energy certificate for buildings, as well as assessing energy performance of building or building units to be designed, reconstructed, or renovated, and issuing a temporary energy certificate of the building;

2.4. has passed the competence test in accordance with Paragraph 10 of this Regulation.

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3. An independent expert may perform inspections on heating installations and air-conditioning systems, if the independent expert:

3.1. has acquired vocational or academic higher education of the first or second level, provided the study programme provides knowledge of the following:

3.1.1. heating installations and systems;

3.1.2. air-conditioning equipment and systems;

3.1.3. cooling equipment and systems;

3.1.4. equipment measurements and conditioning;

3.2. has at least six months of field experience in the field of inspecting heating installations and air-conditioning systems, under the supervision of an independent expert with a certified competence in inspecting heating installations and air-conditioning systems, and issuing inspection report;

3.3. has passed the competence test in accordance with Paragraph 11 of this Regulation.

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4. An independent expert who has the building trade certificate in the field of designing buildings or designing heating installations and ventilation systems, or has architect's practice certificate, on the basis of the decision referred to in Paragraph 26 of this Regulation, may determine the planned energy performance of a building or building units to be designed, reconstructed, or renovated, and may issue an temporary energy certificate of the building.

5. An independent expert who has the building trade certificate in the field of constructing heating installations and ventilation systems, on the basis of the decision referred to in Paragraph 26 of this Regulation, may perform the inspections of air-conditioning systems.

5.¹ The requirements referred to in Paragraphs 2 and 3, Chapter III and Sub-paragraph 19.3 of this Regulation regarding retesting competence verification, do not apply to persons referred to in the Paragraph 4 and 5 of this Regulation.

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III. Procedures for Independent Expert's Competence Verification

6. The independent expert's competence certification referred to in Paragraph 2 and 3 of this Regulation is performed by competence verification institution (henceforth - certification authority) which is certified by national accreditation institution in accordance with laws and regulations governing the compliance assessment and in accordance with the standard LVS EN ISO/IEC 17024:2012 "Conformity assessment. General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons (ISO/IEC 17024:2012)". On its website, Ministry of Economics posts contact information of approved certification authorities.

7. In order to verify its competence in assessing energy performance of buildings, a person shall submit to certification authority the following:

7.1. an application (Annex 1);

7.2. documents that certify that the person has acquired the education referred to in Sub-paragraph 2.1. of this Regulation;

7.3. at least 6 building energy performance calculations and building energy performance assessments for issuing a building energy certificate, that certify the experience referred to in the Sub-paragraph 2.3 of this Regulation and are drafted in accordance with the building energy performance calculation method, under supervision of an independent expert with a certified competence in the field of assessing energy performance of a building or building units to be put into service, and issuing energy certificate for buildings, as well as assessing energy performance of building or building units to be designed, reconstructed, or renovated, and issuing a temporary energy certificate for a building.

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8. In order to certify competence in the field of inspecting heating installations and air-conditioning systems, a person shall submit to certification authority the following:

8.1. an application (Annex 1);

8.2. documents that certify that the person has acquired the education referred to in Sub-paragraph 3.1 of this Regulation;

8.3. at least 3 inspection reports of heating installations and 1 inspection report of an air-conditioning system that certify the experience referred to in the Sub-paragraph 3.2 of this Regulation and are drafted under supervision of an independent expert with a certified competence in the field of inspecting energy performance of heating installations and air-conditioning systems and issuing inspection reports.

9. After receiving an application referred to in the Paragraph 7 or 8 of this Regulation and its relevant documentation, the certification authority shall assess if the person meets the requirements of this Regulation in order to apply for a relevant competence test, and shall invite the candidate to a competence test, stating the time and place of the test, or shall decide that the competence of this person is not suitable.

10. In order to certify competence in the field of assessing energy performance of a building or building units to be put into service, and issuing energy certificate for buildings, as well as assessing energy performance of building or building units to be designed, reconstructed, or renovated, and issuing a temporary energy certificate for a building, a person shall take a competence test in the certification authority, thus proving that the person is familiar with the building energy performance required by law, its calculation methods, and their practical use.

11. In order to certify competence in the field of inspecting energy performance of heating installations and air-conditioning systems, and issuing inspection report, a person shall take a certification authority's competence test for inspection of heating installations and air-conditioning systems.

12. If a person meets the requirements referred to in this Regulation and passes the competence test, the certification authority shall make a decision regarding the compliance of person's competence in one of the following fields:

12.1. assessing energy performance of a building or building units to be put into service, and issuing energy certificate for buildings, as well as assessing energy performance of building or building units to be designed, reconstructed, or renovated, and issuing a temporary energy certificate for buildings;

12.2. energy performance inspection of heating installations and air conditioning systems, and issuing an inspection report.

13. If a person has not passed the competence test, the certification authority shall make a decision regarding the unsuitability of the person's competence. The person may apply for re-certification of its competence:

13.1. in the certification authority which made the decision regarding the unsuitability of the person's competence - no sooner than two months after the decision came into force regarding the unsuitability of the person's competence;

13.2. in another certification authority - no sooner than 6 months after the decision regarding the unsuitability of the person's competence came into force.

13.¹ In order to re-apply for an independent expert's competence certification test, a person shall submit to the certification authority the following:

13.¹ 1. an application (Annex 1);

13.¹ 2. documents that confirm the competence in the field of assessing building energy performance referred to in Sub-paragraphs 2.1 and 2.3 of this Regulation, if this information cannot be obtained from the independent expert register;

13.¹ 3. documents that confirm the competence in the field of inspecting heating installations and air-conditioning systems referred to in Sub-paragraphs 3.1 and 3.2 of this Regulation, if this information cannot be obtained from the independent expert register;

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14. The certification authority shall take the decisions referred to in the Paragraphs 9, 12 and 13 of this Regulation within one month from the day of receiving the application and shall notify regarding them in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Law On Notification. The certification authority's decision may be appealed to Ministry of Economics. A decision of the Ministry of Economics may be appealed to a court in accordance with the procedures specified in the Administrative Procedure Law.

IV. Monitoring Independent Experts

15. The monitoring of independent expert's operations is performed by the certification authority that has certified the energy auditor's competence, building trade certificate, or architect's practice certificate of the independent expert, according with the procedures referred to in this Regulation.

15.¹ If the certification authority's operations are suspended, Ministry of Economics shall designate other certification authority to monitor the operations of independent experts.

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16. In accordance with the Paragraph 18 of this Regulation, the certification authority shall assess the professional operations of an independent expert, by inspecting the building energy certificates issued by the independent expert, temporary energy certificates, and inspection reports for heating installations and air-conditioning systems, and other documents which the independent expert has drafted while performing professional activities.

[25 March 2014]

17. Ministry of Economics, by analysing data registered in the information systems under its supervision on buildings' energy certificates, buildings' temporary energy certificates, boilers' inspection reports, and air-conditioning systems' inspection reports, and according to noted occurrence and frequency of violations by independent experts, at random periodically selects for testing documents that are drafted by independent experts, and designates appropriate certification authority to inspect the selected documents.

17.¹ If Ministry of Economics has received an application or other information regarding a violation by an independent expert whose certificate has been issued by the certification authority the operations of which have been suspended, Ministry of Economics shall send the selected documents (referred to in Paragraph 17 of this Regulation) for inspection to other certification authority.

[25 March 2014]

18. After receiving information referred to in Paragraphs 17 and 17.¹ of this Regulation, and if it receives an application or other information regarding a violation by an independent expert, the certification authority shall assess the operations of this independent expert.

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19. If the certification authority detects violations, when assessing independent expert's operations or randomly inspecting building's energy certificates, temporary energy certificates, boiler's inspection reports, and air-conditioning system inspection reports submitted by independent experts, it shall make one of the following decisions, in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Administrative Procedure Law:

19.1. to allocate points of violation records in accordance with Annex 2 to this Regulation, and to make an obligation for the independent expert to fix the detected errors, providing the period for fixing which shall be no longer than 30 working days since the date of the decision;

19.2. to allocate points of violation records and to suspend the independent expert's operations for 6 months, if the independent expert has 7 or more points in violation records, and to make an obligation for the independent expert to fix the detected errors, providing the period for fixing which shall be no longer than 30 working days since the date of the decision;

19.3. to allocate points of violation records and to suspend the independent expert's operations for 1 year, provided that the expert shall re-take an independent expert's competence certification test, if the independent expert has 10 or more points in violation records, and the points are allocated for deliberate violations of the laws and regulations in the field of assessing building energy performance, and to make an obligation for the independent expert to fix the detected errors, providing the period for fixing which shall be no longer than 30 working days since the date of the decision.

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19.⁽¹⁾ If the operations of independent expert have been suspended, the person no longer may act in the capacity of an independent expert (except for the actions necessary for fixing the errors detected in accordance with the decision referred to in Sub-paragraphs 19.2 or 19.3 of this Regulation).

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19.² The suspension period of independent expert's operations, referred to in the Sub-paragraphs 19.2 or 19.3 of this Regulation, shall be extended by the period during which the independent expert fixes its errors.

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20. After the term stated in the certification authority's decision, during which the independent expert has an obligation to fix the errors enlisted in the decision, the certificate authority shall make one of the following decisions, in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Administrative Procedure Law:

20.1. on suspending the independent expert's operations until fixing the errors stated in the decision;

20.2. on whether the independent expert has fixed errors referred to in the decision;

20.3. on restoring the independent expert's operations.

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21. Points in violation records are valid for 2 years since the date of the decision referred to in the Paragraphs 20.2 or 20.3 of this Regulation.

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22. Certification authority shall notify the recipient on decision referred to in the Paragraphs 19 and 20 of this Regulation, according to procedures laid down in Law On Notification. The certification authority's decision may be appealed to Ministry of Economics. A decision of the Ministry of Economics may be appealed to a court in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Administrative Procedure Law.

[25 March 2014]

V. Independent Expert Registration, Independent Expert Register's Data Content and Usage Procedures

23. Independent expert register shall be a state information system. The manager of the independent expert register shall be the Ministry of Economics.

24. For persons whose independent expert's competence has been certified, certification authorities shall provide the Ministry of Economics with the following information to be included in the independent expert register:

24.1. the given name, surname and personal identity number of the person;

24.2. the education, speciality, the issuer of the document certifying the vocational or academic higher education, the place and year of issuing thereof;

24.3. [25 March 2014];

24.4. the field experience duration, location, and details on the independent expert, under whose supervision the field experience has been acquired - the given name, surname, and registration number in the independent expert register;

24.5. contact information on the person (phone number, e-mail address, and street address);

24.6. the name of the certification authority which confirmed the independent expert's competence or made the decision on restoring the independent expert's operations;

24.7. the date when the decision was made to confirm the independent expert's competence or to restore the independent expert's operations, including the decision number and the independent expert's field of competence (temporary energy certification of buildings, energy certification of buildings, and inspection of heating installations and air conditioning systems);

24.8. the independent expert's registration number, which shall be in the format of XXX-YYYY, where XXX is the code of certification authority, determined by Ministry of Economics, and YYYY is a serial number in the relevant certification authority;

24.9. details on the number of points allocated to the independent expert in violation records and on the points' validity dates, suspending and restoring of operations (stating reasons);

24.10. details on the decisions referred to in Paragraphs 19 and 20 of this Regulation.

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25. A person who holds an architect practice certificate or building trade certificate in the field of designing buildings or building heating installations and ventilation systems, shall submit to the certification authority which issued the relevant architect's practice certificate or building trade certificate, an application on providing an independent expert's services in the field corresponding to the building trade certificate or architect's practice certificate, and the application shall state the information referred to in the Sub-paragraph 24.1 of this Regulation and the information referred to in the Sub-paragraph 24.5 of this Regulation, if it has changed.

26. The certification authority in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Administrative Procedure Law shall make a decision on a person's right to provide independent expert's services in the field corresponding to the building trade certificate or architect's practice certificate. The certification authority shall notify the recipient on the decision made, according with procedures laid down in Law On Notification. The certification authority's decision may be appealed to Ministry of Economics. A decision of the Ministry of Economics may be appealed to a court in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Administrative Procedure Law.

27. On persons referred to in Sub-paragraph 26 of this Regulation, the certification authority shall provide to Ministry of Economics the information referred to in Sub-paragraphs 24.6, 24.7, 24.8, 24.9, and 24.10, and Paragraph 25 of this Regulation.

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28. The information referred to in Sub-paragraphs 24 and 27 of this Regulation, the certification authority shall provide to Ministry of Economics within 5 working days since the relevant decision is made.

29. For performing tasks referred to in this Regulation, Ministry of Economics and the certification authority shall utilize the data from independent expert register according with the laws and regulations governing the data protection of state information systems and natural persons.

30. Ministry of Economics shall update data of independent expert register within 5 working days after receiving the applicable details.

31. Ministry of Economics shall make publicly available on its website the following data from independent expert register:

31.1. information referred to in Sub-paragraphs 24.1 (except personal identity number), 24.6, 24.7, and 24.8 of this Regulation;

31.2. information referred to in Sub-paragraph 24.5 of this Regulation, if consent is obtained from the person concerned;

31.3. [25 March 2014];

31.4. the information referred to in Sub-paragraph 24.9 of this Regulation.

VI. Final Provisions

32. Documents (certificates) certifying the energy auditor's competence that are issued before the day this Regulation come into force, shall be valid until the end of their term. After expiration of document that certifies the energy auditor's competence, the certification authority in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Administrative Procedure Law, may make a decision on the rights of the energy auditor to provide independent expert's (energy auditor's) services without repeated tests of competence, provided the independent expert (energy auditor) has been performing his professional activities and there are no violations found in the operations of the independent expert (energy auditor). Certification authority shall notify the recipient on its decision, according with procedures laid down in Law On Notification. The recipient may appeal the relevant decision to Ministry of Economics. A decision of the Ministry of Economics may be appealed to a court in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Administrative Procedure Law.

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33. Paragraph 6 of this Regulation shall come into force on 1 September 2013.

34. By 31 December 2013, the certification authority shall notify the persons referred to in the Paragraphs 4 and 5 of this Regulation regarding their obligation to submit to certification authority an application for providing an independent expert's services, in accordance with the Paragraph 25 of this Regulation.

Informative Reference to European Union Directive

This Regulation contains legal norms arising from Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the energy performance of buildings.

Acting for the Prime Minister -
the Minister of Defence Artis Pabriks

Acting for the Minister for Economics -
the Minister for Interior Rihards Kozlovskis

Annex 1
To Cabinet Regulation No. 382
Adopted 9 July 2013

An Application for Certifying Competence in the Field of Building Energy Performance

I want to certify my competence in assessing energy performance of a building or building units to be put into service, and issuing energy certificate for buildings, as well as assessing energy performance of buildings or building units to be designed, reconstructed, or renovated, and issuing a temporary energy certificate for buildings

I want to certify my competence in inspecting heating installations and air conditioning systems, and issuing an inspection report

I agree that my contact information will be published in the independent expert register

Information regarding field experience:

Appended:

1) documents certifying that education is acquired that is required for an independent expert-energy auditor;

2) at least 3 building energy performance calculations and building energy performance assessments for issuing a building energy certificate, that are drafted in accordance with the building energy performance calculation method, under supervision of an independent expert whose competence has been certified in the field of assessing energy performance of a building or building units to be put into service, and issuing energy certificate for buildings, as well as assessing energy performance of building or building units to be designed, reconstructed, or renovated, and issuing a temporary energy certificate for a building (if a person wants to certify competence in assessing building energy performance);

3) at least 3 inspection reports of heating installations and 1 inspection report of an air-conditioning system that are drafted under supervision of an independent expert with a certified competence in the field of inspecting energy performance of heating installations and air-conditioning systems and issuing inspection reports (if a person wants to certify competence in inspecting heating installations and air-conditioning systems).

Notes.
1. The independent expert under whose supervision the field experience was acquired, should have a certified competence in the field of building energy performance in which the person wants to certify his/her competence.
2. ** The details of the document "signature" and "date" shall not be completed, if the electronic document has been prepared in accordance with the laws and regulations regarding drawing up of electronic documents.

Acting for the Minister for Economics -
the Minister for Interior Rihards Kozlovskis

Annex 2
To Cabinet Regulation No. 382
Adopted 9 July 2013

Violations of Independent Expert's Professional Activities and Points of Violations Records

Acting for the Minister for Economics -
the Minister for Interior Rihards Kozlovskis

Translation © 2015 Valsts valodas centrs (State Language Centre)