FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Thierry Laloum, Jordan Pontal, Julie Sarny and Gabin Dupont-Guianvarch, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
applicable legal regime governing the dis - puted situation.
(c) the question is serious. Should the question be referred to the Consti - tutional Council and the latter consider that the law infringes rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution, the Constitutional Council will annul the law. Control of the conventionality of the law. The administrative judge may review the com - patibility of French laws with international trea - ties, even if these laws were enacted after the treaty (Council of State, 20 October 1989, Nico - lo, case No 108243). In such cases, if a law is found to be incompatible with a treaty, the judge sets it aside and proceeds to rule on the dispute. 3.2 Challenging Secondary Legislation Administrative acts may be challenged through an ultra vires action before the administrative judge, seeking their annulment or modification (Conflicts Court, 16 June 1923, Septfonds, Leb - on p. 498). This challenge is typically based on the adminis - trative act’s non-compliance with superior legal standards, such as, where applicable, general principles of law, regulatory provisions, legisla - tive provisions, the Constitution or international treaties. 3.3 Government Decisions Affecting Sole Individuals An administrative act that affects only one natu - ral person or legal entity is referred to as an indi - vidual administrative act. The legality of individual administrative acts can be challenged before the administrative judge through an ultra vires action, without any specific conditions.
3. Nature of the Decision 3.1 Challenging Primary Legislation International law aside, primary legislation is composed of the Constitution and laws. In this regard: • the Constitution cannot be challenged either before an administrative judge or before any other judge; and • laws can be challenged before the admin - istrative judge, although the latter does not have the authority to annul them (only the Constitutional Council has this authority). Challenges to the validity of a law may take two forms, as follows: • Priority question of constitutionality ( question prioritaire de constitutionnalité ) – in the con - text of a litigation before the administrative judge, the claimant may raise a priority ques - tion of constitutionality based on the grounds that a law is unconstitutional. This procedure aims to ensure that a legislative provision does not infringe on rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. For a priority question of constitutionality to be referred by the administrative judge to the Constitutional Council ( Conseil constitutionnel ), the claimant must demonstrate that: (a) the challenged law is relevant to the dis - pute or proceedings, or forms the basis of the case; (b) the challenged law has not already been declared constitutional in a previous ruling of the Constitutional Council, unless there have been changes in circumstances; and
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