What the reform of the construction professions would change

The bill was tabled at the Chambre des Députés on 17 December 2021, under the title "Projet de loi sur l'exercice des professions libérales des secteurs de la construction et de l'aménagement du territoire" (Bill on the exercise of the liberal professions in the construction and spatial planning sectors, unofficial translation). Parliamentary amendments were made on 14 June 2024 and in July 2026 (document 7932/12), followed by a government amendment on 14 October 2026 (document 7932/17); these latest amendments concern, among other things, registration with the professional order (Ordre), professional insurance, the ownership of firms and the protection of professional titles, and change neither the compulsory use of an architect nor the repeal of the 1989 law. On the file page consulted on 21 October 2026, its status is "En commission" (in committee), before the Committee on the Economy, SMEs, Energy, Spatial Planning and Tourism.

It is accompanied by a draft implementing Grand-Ducal Regulation (règlement grand-ducal). It is this draft regulation that would repeal the 1992 code of conduct regulation and the 1990 regulation on the threshold for compulsory use of an architect, and whose Article 1 would set that threshold: it is therefore the text that most directly affects the budget.

Three stages need to be distinguished, and the text has reached only the first:

The law would repeal the Law of 13 December 1989 organising the professions of architect and consulting engineer (Art. 61 of the coordinated text attached to the government amendment of 14 October 2026). That is also the title recorded in the opinion of the Conseil d'État of 5 May 2026 (No CE 60.856), which concerns the draft implementing regulation. That draft would repeal two Grand-Ducal Regulations: the one of 17 June 1992 laying down the code of conduct for architects and consulting engineers, and the one of 19 February 1990 setting the value of works not subject to the compulsory use of an architect.

Repealing a text does not mean abolishing the rule. A repealed rule may be carried over, amended or dropped in the new text. For the code of conduct, neither the bill nor the draft regulation carries over the current rules: the commentary on the draft regulation explains that the law now authorises the Ordre itself to adopt regulations on professional rules, and the coordinated text lists among them the rules of conduct towards clients (Art. 12). These regulations of the Ordre, subject to the minister's approval, do not yet exist: it would be inaccurate to say that they will keep or remove the equivalent of the current rules.

Today, the designer's budget obligation is written into Article 9 of the 1992 regulation. The architect and the consulting engineer "shall take care to submit designs which remain within the limits of the programme set in the brief and of the budget that follows from it, in accordance with the agreement concluded between the parties" (unofficial translation). Any significant change to the programme calls for an additional agreement "which shall state its financial impact". Article 8 also requires a written agreement, signed at the latest when the brief has been defined.

If the draft regulation were adopted, these two articles would disappear with the 1992 regulation. What would replace them would depend on the regulations the Ordre adopted, and none is known at the date of checking. The risk for the client is therefore not an announced reduction in protection: it is uncertainty about which basis to rely on.

The answer does not depend on the reform: write the rule into the contract. An agreement that itself sets the budget, its scope, its base date, the obligation to design within that budget and the written, priced procedure for changes to the programme holds by the will of the parties. How to draft these clauses is covered in the article on the parties involved in cost.

Article 1 of the draft regulation would set the threshold for compulsory use of an architect at 50,000 euros. In its opinion of 5 May 2026, the Conseil d'État recommends indexing this amount to the construction price index. The threshold currently in force, under the 1990 regulation, and the detail of the cases where an architect is required are covered in the guide on building permits; they are not repeated here.

The effect on the budget is indirect but real. Below the threshold, a client can have work carried out without an architect, and therefore without a designer bound by the Article 9 obligation. Cost control then rests on the client alone, or on a party it appoints by contract. A change in the threshold would move the boundary between these two situations.

Indexation would matter too. A fixed amount loses its reach as prices rise; an indexed amount follows the cost of construction. Until the text is adopted, neither the figure nor the way it is updated is settled.

The bill covers the liberal professions in the construction and spatial planning sectors. Its title is broader than the 1989 law, which is limited to architects and consulting engineers. Its Article 1, in the coordinated text of 14 October 2026, lists six professions: architect, interior architect, landscape architect, consulting engineer in the construction sector, surveyor (géomètre) and urban planner (urbaniste/aménageur). Neither the cost consultant (économiste de la construction) nor the project manager (gestionnaire de projet) appears there as a profession in its own right.

As the text stands, nothing therefore changes for them. In the texts reviewed, no specific legal status governs them; their role, independence and insurance are a matter for their agreement.

On 5 May 2026, the Conseil d'État delivered a supplementary opinion on the bill and an opinion on the draft regulation, which includes in particular the recommendation to index the threshold for compulsory use of an architect. The opinions filed in 2026 also come from the Chambre des Métiers (the chamber of skilled trades), from the OAI, the order of architects and consulting engineers, now on its third supplementary opinion, and from the Union luxembourgeoise des consommateurs (the Luxembourg consumers' union); a political group tabled a proposal for amendments on 11 September 2026 (document 7932/16). The OAI's third supplementary opinion (document 7932/18), published on 21 October 2026, concerns the government amendment and the independence of the profession's firms. In its opinion published on 1 September 2026 (document 7932/15), the Union luxembourgeoise des consommateurs lists "failure to respect the budget set by the client at the planning stage" (unofficial translation) among the problems its members face, to be addressed once the independence of the professions is secured.

These positions are not the law. An opinion informs the parliamentary debate; only the text as voted and published will apply, in its final wording.

• Contract under the rules in force: an agreement signed today is governed by the 1992 regulation. The transitional provisions of the coordinated text (Art. 62 to 65) cover registration with the Ordre, its bodies, continuing training and bringing holders of a business permit into line with Art. 6; none of them deals with what happens to ongoing appointments.
• Make the contract self-standing: write the obligations that matter for the budget into the agreement itself, rather than simply referring to the regulation: amount, base date, obligation to design within the budget, priced additional agreement for any change to the programme.
• Include an adjustment clause: for a long appointment, provide that the parties will review the agreement if professional regulation changes during the appointment, without setting in advance what would change.
• Check again before each key step: the status of the file can be consulted on the Chambre des Députés website; signing an agreement, going out to tender or applying for a permit are the right moments to do so.

This reform is not the only one under way. The reform affecting building permits is followed in the article on the building permit reform under way. Developments concerning firms working on site are set out in the article on developments to watch when working on a site, and those affecting cost estimates in the article on developments to watch for construction prices.