REGULATIONS

The regulations in terms of demining / pyrotechnic clearance are very strict and govern all the operations that can be carried out on French soil.

The Environment Code provides in its article L.556-2 that all “construction or housing development projects planned in a soil information sector (SIS) (…) are subject to a study of the soils in order to establish the pollution management measures to be implemented to ensure compatibility between future use and the state of the soils”.

Article R.125-43 of the Environmental Code specifies that the SIS does not deal with two particular and sensitive pollutions, including pyrotechnic pollution, by referring to the Internal Safety Code (CSI). This exclusion from the SIS does not exclude the contracting authority from studying the soil on its land. In this sense, it will directly meet the specifications of article 5 of Decree 2005-1325 amended 2010 , if the land is not the property of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, and will thus comply with its security obligations defined in the code of the work (articles L-4121-1 to 3).

These obligations fall under the civil and criminal liability of the sponsor.

To do this, the client or the company carrying out the work on the basement must approach companies specializing in pyrotechnic pollution in accordance with Decree 2005-1325 amended 2010 .

The latter will then be required to comply with the safety rules specific to pyrotechnic depollution sites, opened and conducted as part of a building and civil engineering site carried out by the companies mentioned in Articles L. 4111-1 to L. 4111 -5 of the labor code which are defined and governed by Decree 2005-1325 amended by Decree 2010-1260 and its 2 decrees .

In order to support project owners in understanding the pyrotechnic risk, the Syndicat des Métiers de la Dépollution Pyrotechnique (SMDPYRO) has created a guide for public works operations, preliminary studies and soil remediation work likely to encounter munitions. unexploded (UXO) .

More generally, we can cite several texts likely to apply to diagnostic and pyrotechnic clearance operations:

Article R 733-1 of the Internal Security Code , setting the respective attributions of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defense with regard to research, neutralization, removal and destruction of ammunition and explosives;

DGT note of April 2, 2021 repealing the DGT/IPE note of September 18, 2013, concerning pyrotechnic depollution sites on civil land, as part of a building and civil engineering project

Decree 2005-1325 of October 26, 2005 , relating to the safety rules applicable during work carried out as part of a pyrotechnic depollution site, amended by decree 2010-1260 of October 22, 2010;

Order of September 12, 2011 , called for by decree 2005-1325 of October 26, 2005 as amended, setting the rules for determining isolation distances relating to pyrotechnic depollution sites;

Order of January 23, 2006 , called for by decree 2005-1325 of October 26, 2005 as amended, setting the level of knowledge required and medical skills for personnel exercising the functions of pyrotechnic safety officer, pyrotechnic site manager and for persons called upon to carry out pyrotechnic clearance operations;

Labor Code, in particular articles L4121-1 to L4121-5 , on the responsibilities of the head of the establishment in terms of occupational health and safety;

Environmental Code, in particular article L.556-2 specifying that all “construction or subdivision projects planned in a soil information sector (SIS) (…) are subject to a soil study in order to establish the pollution management measures to be implemented implemented to ensure compatibility between future use and the state of the soil".

Article R4534-39 of the Labor Code , in the event of the discovery of a device liable to explode, work is immediately interrupted in the vicinity until the competent authorities have had the device removed.