BACS decree: what it requires for building management systems

Article published in December 2022, updated in November 2026. Since then, the BACS decree has changed: threshold lowered to 70 kW (decree no. 2023-259), deadline for 70 to 290 kW systems moved to 1 January 2030 (decree no. 2025-1343), exemption possible if the payback period exceeds ten years. The passages below on the 2025 deadline and the six-year payback reflect the 2020 text. See our news of 12 November 2026.

The BACS decree makes building automation compulsory in many non-residential buildings

Under decree no. 2020-887, known as the “BACS” decree (Building Automation and Control Systems), published in the French Official Journal on 21 July 2020, a large share of new and existing non-residential buildings must install automation and control systems for their technical installations.

Definition

This covers any system including all the products, software and engineering services able to support the efficient and safe operation of a building’s technical systems, in energy and economic terms, through automatic controls and by making manual management of those systems easier.

Automation and control systems must:

• continuously monitor, record and analyse the energy production and consumption data of the building’s technical systems;
• allow the building’s technical systems to be configured;
• allow continuous monitoring of the building’s energy values;
• allow manual shutdown and autonomous management of one or more technical systems.

Who is concerned?

As initially published, the decree covered new and existing buildings housing commercial or non-commercial service activities, including those owned by companies in the primary or secondary sectors, equipped with a heating or cooling system with a rated output above 290 kW (for buildings connected to a heating or cooling network, the output of the exchange station is taken into account).

The obligations apply to the owner of the heating or cooling production equipment.

Deadlines set by the 2020 decree

New buildings: all buildings whose building permit was filed from 21 July 2021 are subject to the obligation, unless the owner provides a study showing that the system cannot be installed with a payback period of under six years.

Existing buildings: the obligation applied no later than 1 January 2025, with the same exemption based on a payback period of under six years, after deduction of public financial support. When a technical system is fully or partly replaced, it must be connected to the automation and control system.

What about data ownership?

The owner of the automation and control system also owns the data. Data must be archived on a monthly basis for five years and made accessible. The owner must pass on to each operator of the connected technical systems the data that concerns them. Automation and control systems must be interoperable with each other and with the building’s technical systems.

Would you like advice on installing a BMS? Contact us at contact@lunaar.io.