The judicial review of ex ante impact assessment in France: An attempt to fuse the principles of legal certainty and institutional balance

Legisprudence

Volumn 6, Issue 3, 2012, Pages 379-396

  Duprat, J P ^a  

^a UNIVERSITÉ DE BORDEAUX   (France)

Author keywords

Audit; Chairmen's conference; Conseil constitutionnel; Conseil d'etat; Impact assessment; Judicial review; Legislative acts; Legistics; Parliament; Prime minister's office

Indexed keywords

EID: 84875876244     PISSN: 17521467     EISSN: 17521475     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5235/17521467.6.3.379     Document Type: Article

References (81)

1. Statute no. 2008-2724, 23 July 2008.
2. J.P. Camby et al. (eds.), La Révision de 2008: Une Nouvelle Constitution? (Librairie Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence 2011) 181 and 214
3. 15 April 2009, Journal Officiel, p. 6528.
4. A. Haquet, 'Les Etudes d'Impact des Projets de Loi: Expériences, Scepticisme et Compromis' (2009) 36 l'Actualité Juridique Droit Administratif 1988.
5. Decision no. 2009-579, 9 April 2009.
6. J. Picq, L'Etat en France: Servir une Nation Ouverte sur le Monde (Collection des Rapports Officiels, Documentation Française 1995) 37.
7. D. Mandelkern, La Qualité de la Réglementation (Ministère de la Fonction Publique 2003).
8. B. Lasserre, Pour une Meilleure Qualité de la Règlementation (Collection des Rapports Officiels, Documentation Française 2004) 7.
9. 21 November 1995, Journal Officiel, 1 December, p. 17566.
10. When several ministerial departments are involved, the Prime Minister's Office has to be notified. Journal Officiel, p. 14720.
11. Premier Ministre, Secrétariat Général du Gouvernement, Conseil d'Etat, Guide pour l'Elaboration des Textes Législatifs et Réglementaires (2nd edn., Documentation Française 2007) 16.
12. Journal Officiel, p. 6546.
13. Journal Officiel, p. 11835.
14. Conseil d'Etat, Rapport Public 2006: Sécurité Juridique et Complexité du Droit (Etudes et Documents 57, Documentation Française 2006) 274 ans 300.
15. Rapport Public 1991: Considérations Générales: De la Sécurité Juridique (Etudes et Documents 43, Documentation Française 1992) 16-17.
16. Comité de Réflexion et de Proposition sur la Modernisation et le Rééquilibrage des Institutions de la Ve République Présidé par Edouard Balladur, Une Ve République plus Démocratique (Fayard, La Documentation Française 2008) 67.
17. J.P. Duprat, The Recent Evolutions in French Legislative Practice: A Managerial Conception of Statutes (2009) 50 Legislaçao 15.
18. Circular of the Prime Minister on the quality of law, 7 July 2011, Journal Officiel, p. 11835.
19. For ordinary acts (most under review), under Sction 61(2) of the Constitution.
20. For a general presentation of the consultative capacity.
21. J. Massot and J. Marimbert, Le Conseil d'Etat (Notes et Etudes Documentaries, No. 4869-4870, Documentation Française 1988) 55.
22. M. Latournerie, Le Conseil d'Etat (Dalloz 2005) 13.
23. Y. Gaudemet et al., Les Grands Avis du Conseil d'Etat (Dalloz 2008) 15 and 26.
24. In the case of decrees, the consultation is compulsory only in some specific cases ('decrets en Conseil d'Etat' with the formula: 'Le Conseil d'Etat entendu'), but optional in other cases: "Après avis du Conseil d'Etat." In the case of executive bills, the judicial review is operated by the Conseil Constitutionnel under Section 61 of the Constitution referring to the obligation to consult the Conseil d'Etat (Section 39): Decision 2003-468 DC, 3 April 2003, Journal Officiel, p. 6495. To prevent any possibility to escape this obligation, the Conseil Constitutionnel strictly reviews amendments of the executive, requiring a link with the matter of the bill and prohibiting any provision not submitted previously to the Conseil d'Etat.
25. J.L. Warsmann, Report to the Prime Minister, Simplifions Nos Lois Pour Guérir un Mal Français (Collection des Rapports Officiels, Documentation Française 2009) 28-29.
26. A significant example: Projet de Loi de Finances pour 2012: Evaluations Préalables des Articles du Projet de Loi (Imprimerie Nationale 2011).
27. Section 51 relates to the necessary documents for Parliament to examine financial bills.
28. OECD, Mieux Légiférer en Europe-France (OECD 2010) 46. The Institutional Act of 2009 was criticized because the only author of the documents is the administration itself without intervention of any independent body,.
29. S. Denolle, 'Les Etudes d'Impact: Une Revision Manquée?' (2011) 87 Revue Française de Droit Constitutionnel 506.
30. To which the advice is only of a legal or a technical nature and can absolutely not be seen as a kind of control. The Conseil d'Etat is not a third chamber.
31. As an example: the executive bill related to bioethics, National Assembly, 13th legislature, 20 October 2010, no. 2911.
32. 9 April 2009, Journal Officiel, p. 6531.
33. In the sense of Section 8 of the Institutional Act of 2009.
34. Conseil d'Etat, Rapport Public 2011 (Etudes et Documents 62, Documentation Française 2011) 10.
35. Details of procedure: statute of 23 July 2008.
36. Decree 2009-926, 29 July 2009.
37. Rapport Public 2010 (Etudes et Documents 61, Documentation Française 2010) 96.
38. National Assembly, Report F. Blanc, 13th legislature, no. 3122, 26 January 2011, 21.
39. Member's bill of the Senator E. Doligé, introduced on 23August 2011 to the Conseil d'Etat.
40. The full list in: D. Chamussy, Le Travail Parlementaire a-t-il Changé? (Hors-série 2012) 51. 30 Rapport Public 2010 (Etudes et Documents 61, Documentation Française 2010) 106. The procedure during the sittings was specified by the Conseil during the sittings of 1-2 October 2010. The opinion took the aspect of legal comments, with for some proposal a new drafting of provisions.
41. P. Gonod, 'Le Conseil d'Etat, Conseil du Parlement' [2008] Revue Française de Droit Administratif 873.
42. B. L. Combrade, 'A Qui Profite l'Etude d'Impact' (2012) 17 Petites Affiches 12.
43. Press release of the Conseil d'Etat (Conseil d'Etat) http://communiques-depresse/adaptation-des procedures internes. A 5th administrative section was created [Section de l'administration]. Note.
44. Y. Jegouzo, 'A Propos de la Fonction Consultative du Conseil d'Etat' in Mélanges D. Labetoulle (Dalloz 2007) 516.
45. Decision 2012-649 DC, 15 March 2012, Journal Officiel, p. 5255, para. 10.
46. Report J.J. Hyest (Implementation of Sections 34(1), 39 and 44 of the Constitution), Senate, 2008- 2009, no. 196, 52, with the opinion of.
47. P.Y. Gadhoun, J. Sirinelli, 'La Justiciabilité des Etudes d'Impact des Projets de Loi' [2010] Revue du Droit Public 1382.
48. The solution is linked to the original intent of 1958 Constitution writers to limit the legislative scope. The Institutional Act defines the formal content of the decision, Section 10, with an obligation to justify the solution.
49. At the National Assembly, once the Chairmen's conference had to discuss of an impact assessment at the request of a chairman of a group, as foreseen by Rule 47 of the rules of procedure, but it did not succeed to reach the Conseil.
50. National Assembly, 13th legislature, no.1375, 7 January 2009, 113. The author keeps on with a strict distinction between Sections 39 and 61, in the same manner as Sections 41 and 61. For the two last, the Conseil decided that Section 41 affords only to executive a means to protect its regulatory field but has not any effect on the constitutionality of the provisions under Section 61 (Decision 82- 143 DC, 30 July 1982).
51. (2009) 27 Les Cahiers du Conseil Constitutionnel 134.
52. Journal Officiel, November 2010, p. 22183, paras. 4 and 8.
53. Since the implementation of the reform of 2008 until 17 May 2012: 249 decisions.
54. The letter of President Sarkozy to the former Prime Minister E. Balladur with the orientations given to the reflexions of the Committee: 'Une Vème République plus Démocratique' (Fayard 2008) 2008-2009 (Letter of 18 July 2007).
55. P. Avril, 'La Double Méprise' (2010) 131 Pouvoirs 613.
56. A general description in OECD, Mieux Légiférer en Europe: France (OECD 2010) 56.
57. Conseil d'Etat: Rapport Public 2011: Consulter Autrement - Participer Effectivement (Etudes et Documents 62, Documentation Française 2011) 92 and 111.
58. The impact assessment documents as a schedule to the bill, National Assembly, 13th legislature, no. 2911, 20 October 2010, 4-5. OECD, Mieux Légiférer en Europe: France (OECD 2010) 56. (I have updated the terminology.) Out of the 120 persons employed in the SGG, forty-three are involved in the legislative business.
59. ibid. 46. Note
60. The SGG developed a network with correspondents in each ministerial department, through the web and a system called Solon, bearing to the documents of impact assessment.
61. Report C. Goasguen and J. Malot, Les Etudes d'Impact et l'Elaboration de la Loi, National Assembly, 13th legislature, no. 2094, 19 November 2009, 60.
62. J.M. Sauvé, Le Rôle du Conseil d'Etat dans la Mise en OEuvre des Etudes d'Impact, 29 November 2010 http://conseil-etat.fr/cde/fr/discours-et-interventions
63. J.-P. Duprat, 'Le Parlement Evaluateur' (1998) 2 Revue Internationale de Droit Comparé 551, 561-562.
64. J.P. Camby et al. (eds.), La Révision de 2008: Une Nouvelle Constitution? (Librairie Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence 2011) 103.
65. Board order of the Senate, 16 November 2011, included in chapter Xbis of the General instruction of the Board.
66. M. Korris, 'Standing up for Scrutiny: How and Why Parliament Should Make Better Law' (2011) 64 Parliamentary Affairs 564, 572.
67. JO 16 June 2009, 9784.
68. Resolution of 27 May 2009 and decision of the Conseil Constitutionnel 2009-581 DC, 25 June 2009.
69. The hearing of S. Lasvignes, Secretary of the Prime Minister Office, by the Committee for the Implementation of Statutes (10 January 2012) at the Senate.
70. J.L. Warsmann, Report to the Prime Minister, Simplifions Nos Lois Pour Guérir un Mal Français (Collection des Rapports Officiels, Documentation Française 2009) 35.
71. During the debates in the same sitting of the Committee (48), see the opinions of J. Mézard and A. Anziani. The two senators have noticed an absence of prior impact assessment for a member's bill which was actually of an executive origin. This interest in these documents during the debates is rather an exception in the Second chamber, may be an evolution is in the process. But the ex post assessment on the contrary receives an impulse from the creation of the Committee for the ontrol of the implementation of statutes. Report D. Assouline, Sénat, 2011-2012, no. 323 (1 February 2012).
72. Often this procedure is contrary to a serious review of provisions and as a consequence of the documents of the impact assessment: Conseil d'Etat: Rapport Public 2011: Consulter Autrement - Participer effectivement (Etudes et Documents 62, Documentation Française 2011) 94.
73. They received a legal ground with the ordinance 2005-647, 6 June 2005. For instance: Cour des Comptes, La Conduite par l'Etat de la Décentralisation (Documentation Française 2009) 5.
74. Les Relations de l'Administration Fiscale avec les Particuliers et les Entreprises (Documentation Française 2012) 29.
75. C. Bazy-Malaume, 'Les Rapports de la Cour des Comptes au Parlement' (2007) 99.
76. Revue Française de Finances Publiques 54. On the statement published in 2011 by the Conseil d'Etatl.
77. The opinion of J.-M. Sauve, head of the Conseil, under the influence of the theory of J. Habermas on 'deliberative administration'.
78. J.-M. Sauve, 'Les Nouveaux Modes de la Decision Publique' (2012) 130 Petites Affiches 18.
79. X. Vandendriessche, 'Une Revalorisation Parlementaire à Principes Constitutionnels Constants' [2008] Semaine Juridique 40.
80. H. Belrhali-Bernard, 'La Pratique des Consultations sur Internet par l'Administration' (2011) Revue Française d'Administration Publique 181.
81. J.-M. Sauve, 'Les Nouveaux Modes de la Decision Publique' [2012] 130 Petites Affiches 18.