FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Thierry Laloum, Jordan Pontal, Julie Sarny and Gabin Dupont-Guianvarch, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
freedom that has been violated by a public entity or by any other entity entrusted with a public service mission. Three substantive conditions must be met for the administrative court to order all measures required to protect the fundamental freedom in question: • the claimant must prove that the urgent situation requires that a measure to protect the fundamental freedom be taken within 48 hours; • the claimant must rely on “fundamental free- dom” within the meaning of Article L. 521-2 of the Administrative Justice Code; and • the claimant must demonstrate that the viola - tion of the fundamental freedom is serious and clearly unlawful. When an interim fundamental freedom proce - dure is initiated, the administrative court must The interim useful measures procedure (r éféré mesures utiles ) allows the claimant to obtain any useful measure (eg, communication of adminis - trative documents) before the administration has made a decision. Five substantive conditions must be met for the administrative court to order any useful meas - ures: • there must be an emergency to take the use - ful measures; • the requested measures must necessarily be useful; • the requested measures must not prevent the execution of an administrative act; render a decision within 48 hours. Interim Useful Measures Procedure
• the requested measures must not give rise to any serious objection; and • the requested measures cannot be obtained on the basis of an interim suspension proce - dure or interim fundamental freedoms proce - dure. When an interim useful measures procedure is initiated, the administrative court shall render a decision without undue delay. Additionally, the interim provisional measures procedure ( référé provision ) needs to be men - tioned. The interim provisional measures procedure allows a claim for an advance payment on a sum owed by an administrative authority. Only one condition is required for the administrative judge to grant the request: the existence of the obli - gation on which the creditor relies must not be seriously disputable. In other words, there must be no serious doubt about the existence of the alleged debt. The interim provisional measures procedure is not subject to the condition of urgency, nor to the demonstration that it is necessary for the claimant to obtain the requested provision. Although this procedure is not conditioned by urgency, it is worth mentioning here because the administrative court shall render a decision without undue delay. 10. Grounds 10.1 Scope of Judicial Review: Merits v Process When an appeal against an administrative act is lodged by a claimant, the administrative judge
114 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook