FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Thierry Laloum, Jordan Pontal, Julie Sarny and Gabin Dupont-Guianvarch, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
• public entities must comply with competition law. In this regard, any interested party may chal - lenge the assumption of an economic activity by a public entity, based on a failure to meet these conditions. 5. Ouster 5.1 Legislative or Contractual Limits on Judicial Review The jurisdiction of the administrative judge can be altered by legislation under specific condi - tions defined by the Constitutional Council. In principle, the legislator cannot overstep the constitutionally reserved jurisdiction of adminis - trative courts, which concerns disputes relating to the annulment or revocation of acts issued by administrative authorities in the exercise of prerogatives of public power. However, in the interests of “the proper admin- istration of justice” , the legislator may assign overall jurisdiction to one of the two court sys - tems. This exception allows the judicial judge to hear cases that would typically fall under the jurisdiction of the administrative judge. Such a derogation must be justified by the genuine need to unify the litigation (Constitutional Council, 23 January 1987, No 86-224 DC). The jurisdiction of the administrative judge can - not generally be overridden by an agreement. Since the jurisdiction of the administrative judge is a public policy rule, the parties to an agreement cannot bypass it by including a provision in their agreement that assigns disputes, which should ordinarily be heard by the administrative judge, to the judicial judge (Conflicts Court, 10 Decem -
ber 2018, Syndicat mixte pour l’aménagement et l’exploitation de la station d’Isola 2000, No C4143). However, in certain circumstances, the legis - lator may permit the parties to an administra - tive agreement to include an arbitration provi - sion, which would prevent a dispute from being brought before the administrative court. In such cases, a dispute that would typically be heard before the administrative court may instead be referred to an arbitrator. In particu - lar, this option is available to parties involved in public partnership agreements. 6. Standing 6.1 Requirements for Administrative Law Challenges Claimants may lodge an appeal against an administrative act before the administrative judge only if they have a legitimate interest in pursuing an action. This is a fundamental requirement for the admissibility of an appeal. The justification for bringing proceedings is assessed in different ways, as follows. • Ultra vires action – claimants are deemed to be justified in bringing proceedings when they can demonstrate a sufficiently direct and certain justification in obtaining the annul - ment of the challenged administrative act; this is typically the case when the challenged administrative act adversely affects the claim - ant’s legal position. • Comprehensive litigation – claimants are deemed to be justified in bringing proceed - ings when they can demonstrate the exist - ence on a genuinely injured right; it should
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