FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Thierry Laloum, Jordan Pontal, Julie Sarny and Gabin Dupont-Guianvarch, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
an explicit or implied decision issued by the administrative authority. Consequently, the claimant must obtain such a decision before bringing the matter before the administrative court. This provision allows the administrative author - ity the opportunity to grant the requested relief. Additionally, the preliminary decision initiates the time limit for appealing to the administrative judge. 9.3 Time Limits In principle, the time limit for lodging a claim is two months from the notification or publication of the challenged administrative act. In order for the time limit for appeal to be enforceable against the claimant, the adminis - trative authority must mention this time limit in the administrative act. If this information is not provided, the person to whom the decision is addressed may challenge it, except in special circumstances, within one year. This period begins either from the date the express admin - istrative act was notified to the individual or from the date it is established that they became aware of it (Council of State, 13 July 2016, Czabaj, case No 387763). 9.4 Evidence Required to Initiate a Claim To initiate a claim before the administrative court, the claimant only needs to provide, in support of the claim, the administrative act being chal - lenged. Should the claimant intend to challenge an implied refusal resulting from the administrative authority’s silence for more than two months on a request the claimant’s made, the claimant shall provide, in support of the claim, the proof of the
date on which the request was submitted to the administrative authority. The claimant shall provide the administrative act or, alternatively, the proof of the date on which the request was submitted; otherwise the claim is inadmissible. In addition to this mandatory evidence, the claimant is free to provide any other evidence that may help demonstrate the merits of the claim. 9.5 Procedural Stages Initiation of the Claim Claimants must present the facts, their legal arguments and their request in support of their initial claim. In practice, claimants sometimes submit at first a summary claim ( requête sommaire ) briefly outlining the facts, their legal arguments and their request, so that the time limit for appeal is met. In a second stage, claimants submit a fur - ther pleading ( mémoire complémentaire ) to the administrative court in which they can strength - en their initial legal arguments and, if relevant, present new arguments. Investigation Given the adversarial nature of the proceedings, once the claim is registered with the administra - tive court, the latter invite the defendant(s) to submit their defence within a specific time limit. In most cases, claimants are then allowed to respond to the defendant(s)’ defence by sub - mitting a reply ( mémoire en réplique ), and the defendant(s) can respond to this by submit - ting a new defence. These exchanges can be extended.
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