Appeals to the Administrative Judge
Verified 01 January 2025 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
You have a dispute with a public body and you want to take the case to court? The administrative justice system is responsible for examining such cases. You must bring the matter before the competent administrative court depending on the dispute. But first we have to check whether or not there is a compulsory prior administrative appeal or mandatory mediation.
Rapo
If the administrative decision you wish to challenge in court is subject to a RapoRapo : Compulsory prior administrative appeal, this is specified in its notification.
In this case, it is imperative that you exercise the RapoRapo : Compulsory prior administrative appeal.
Otherwise, the administrative judge will reject your application without considering the merits of the case.
Mediation required
If the administrative decision you wish to challenge in court is subject to mandatory mediation, this is specified in its notification.
In this case, you must perform the mediation.
Otherwise, the administrative judge will reject your application without considering the merits of the case.
The competent court depends on the subject matter of the dispute:
Subject matter of the dispute | Jurisdiction |
|---|---|
Unfavorable administrative decision | Administrative court within the jurisdiction (territory) of which the administration which took the decision is situated |
Real estate (land consolidation, city planning, expropriation, building permits, etc.) | Administrative Court of the place where the property is located |
Administrative policy measure (e.g. operating license) | Administrative Court of the place where you resided on the date of the measure |
Professional activity | Administrative Court where the activity in dispute is located |
Public contract or administrative contract | Administrative court where the contract or contract is performed |
Administrative Tribunal where the public person to whom you reported at the time of your retirement is located | |
Court where you are posted on the date of the contested decision (where the author of the decision is located if it concerns several staff members) | |
Claim for compensation | Administrative Tribunal where the event which caused the damage occurred |
Recognition of certain qualifications (e.g., veteran status) | Administrative Court of your place of residence |
Administrative Court of Nantes | |
Administrative Court of Nantes | |
Disputes arising from more than one administrative tribunal | Administrative Court of Paris |
Dispute not involving any identifiable administrative tribunal | Administrative Court of Paris |
Order and regulation of a Minister | Council of State |
Decision of a national administrative authority (CnilCnil : National Commission for Informatics and Freedoms for example) | Council of State |
Regional and European elections | Council of State |
Deliberation of an Overseas Departmental or Regional Council or Overseas Community | Council of State |
Social assistance | Administrative Court or Administrative Court of Appeal, after a RapoRapo : Compulsory prior administrative appeal |
Military Disability Pension | Administrative Tribunal, after a RapoRapo : Compulsory prior administrative appeal to the invalidity appeal board |
National Court of Asylum | |
Compensation for returnees | Dispute Commission for the Compensation of Overseas Returnees (National Office of War Veterans and Victims) |
Health and social pricing (e.g. daily tariffs of a EhpadEhpad : Accommodation for dependent elderly persons) | Administrative Court of Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes, Nancy, Paris, Toulouse or Versailles, depending on where the establishment or service whose pricing is contested is located |
Warning
Disputes with social security do not fall under the jurisdiction of the administrative judge and are dealt with by specific instances.
The method of filing an application with the administrative court varies according to the jurisdiction competent for the dispute.
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Administrative Court, Administrative Court of Appeal and Council of State
You can submit your request online via the online service Remedy citizens.
Citizens' teleappeal (appeal to the administrative court)
You can also submit the request on-site or send it by mail to graft of the court, preferably by RARRAR : Recommended with notification of receipt.
Please note
if you are represented by a lawyer, he must use the application Remedy to forward your request.
Other jurisdictions
The request may be deposited or addressed to the graft of the court by post preferably with RARRAR : Recommended with notification of receipt.
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Choisissez votre cas
Administrative Court, Administrative Court of Appeal and Council of State
You can submit your request online via the online service Remedy citizens.
Citizens' teleappeal (appeal to the administrative court)
You can also submit the request on-site or send it by mail to graft of the court, preferably by RARRAR : Recommended with notification of receipt.
Please note
if you are represented by a lawyer, he must use the application Remedy to forward your request.
Other jurisdictions
The request may be deposited or addressed to the graft of the court by post preferably with RARRAR : Recommended with notification of receipt.
The situation varies depending on the jurisdiction that has jurisdiction over your dispute.
Répondez aux questions successives et les réponses s’afficheront automatiquement
Administrative Tribunal
You don't have to hire a lawyer to appeal to the administrative tribunal, unless the dispute is about a sum of money or a contract.
However, in some disputes involving a sum of money or a contract, the use of a lawyer is not not required.
These are disputes relating to the following subjects:
- Highways tickets (e.g. unauthorized installation of parasols on the beach)
- Direct contributions, turnover taxes and similar taxes
- Individual decisions concerning public officials
- Pensions, benefits, allowances or entitlements allocated for social assistance, housing or for workers deprived of employment, reserved employment and compensation for returnees
- Decisions of a local authority or a public institution under the authority of the local authority
- Application for enforcement of a final judgment
- Health and social pricing.
To finance legal fees, you can ask to benefit from legal aid.
Who shall I contact
Council of State
You have to hire a lawyer in order to go to the Council of State. But it is not mandatory in the following cases:
- Application for annulment of a decision taken by an administrative authority
- Electoral disputes
- Appeal on a point of law against a decision on pensions and social assistance.
Only lawyers called counsel to the board may represent you before the Council of State.
Who shall I contact
Other administrative jurisdiction
You don't have to hire a lawyer to appeal to other administrative jurisdictions.
Vous avez choisi
Choisissez votre cas
Administrative Tribunal
You don't have to hire a lawyer to appeal to the administrative tribunal, unless the dispute is about a sum of money or a contract.
However, in some disputes involving a sum of money or a contract, the use of a lawyer is not not required.
These are disputes relating to the following subjects:
- Highways tickets (e.g. unauthorized installation of parasols on the beach)
- Direct contributions, turnover taxes and similar taxes
- Individual decisions concerning public officials
- Pensions, benefits, allowances or entitlements allocated for social assistance, housing or for workers deprived of employment, reserved employment and compensation for returnees
- Decisions of a local authority or a public institution under the authority of the local authority
- Application for enforcement of a final judgment
- Health and social pricing.
To finance legal fees, you can ask to benefit from legal aid.
Who shall I contact
Council of State
You have to hire a lawyer in order to go to the Council of State. But it is not mandatory in the following cases:
- Application for annulment of a decision taken by an administrative authority
- Electoral disputes
- Appeal on a point of law against a decision on pensions and social assistance.
Only lawyers called counsel to the board may represent you before the Council of State.
Who shall I contact
Other administrative jurisdiction
You don't have to hire a lawyer to appeal to other administrative jurisdictions.
In order for your appeal to be considered, the conditions of admissibility are filled in.
First of all, the dispute must fall within the jurisdiction of the administrative justice system.
Next, the appeal must be lodged before the competent administrative court depending on the subject-matter of the dispute and the place where the case is taking place.
The court will also check whether you have lodged the appeal within the time limit.
In order to calculate the time limits, the date on which the court registers the appeal is taken into account (and not the date of dispatch). However, if the decision you are challenging does not mention the time limits for appeal, you cannot be accused of acting out of time.
Finally, you must attach to the appeal a copy of the decision of the administration that you are challenging.
This depends on whether you file the appeal online via the Remedy online service or if you do it in paper form.
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Electronic file
If you wish to file the appeal via the Citizens Remedy online service, it is advisable to consult the brochure explaining the procedure to be followed and the documents to be provided.
You must submit the following electronically:
- Query: The identification in the Telemedicine application is equivalent to identification in the query and signature
- Signature of the other applicants, if you file the application on behalf of several persons
- Warrant in the Telemedicine application, if you are making the request on behalf of a third party
- Attachment files: One file per attachment, with a label that includes a serial number
- Attachment Inventory, with a title that clearly and explicitly describes the contents of each attachment, unless you are using the Automatic Remedy online service Inventory.
Paper file
Your folder should contain the following parts and copies:
Documents in the file | Number of copies |
|---|---|
Your request or request | 1 copy |
Contested decision or a copy of the application sent to the administration with the acknowledgement of receipt where the administration has failed to reply (implied decision) | 1 copy |
All the supporting documents required to be produced, except where their number, volume or characteristics prevent them from being produced | 1 copy |
Detailed inventory of supporting documents | |
In cases where the law provides that the judge shall decide without submitting certain documents to debate: memoir a separate statement explaining the reasons for the refusal to transmit to the other parties (the submission will be forwarded to the other parties) | 1 copy |
Where the refusal to supply documents is the subject of the dispute: separate statement explaining the reasons for transmission to the other parties (the statement will be sent to the other parties) | 1 copy |
The application is in French on free paper. It may be handwritten (perfectly legible) or, preferably, typed.
The query must include the following information:
- Name, signature and address of the parties
- Statement of Facts
- Statement of pleas (legal arguments). You have to prove that the contested act is unlawful.
- Statement of Findings (what you are asking the judge to do). For example, annulment of the contested decision, award of damages, etc. In the case of a claim for compensation, the amount must be precise and detailed.
If you are challenging several decisions, you must establish one application per decision.
If more than one person makes the same request without a lawyer, they must appoint a single representative. Otherwise, the court or tribunal shall address itself to the first person on the list.
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Choisissez votre cas
Electronic file
If you wish to file the appeal via the Citizens Remedy online service, it is advisable to consult the brochure explaining the procedure to be followed and the documents to be provided.
You must submit the following electronically:
- Query: The identification in the Telemedicine application is equivalent to identification in the query and signature
- Signature of the other applicants, if you file the application on behalf of several persons
- Warrant in the Telemedicine application, if you are making the request on behalf of a third party
- Attachment files: One file per attachment, with a label that includes a serial number
- Attachment Inventory, with a title that clearly and explicitly describes the contents of each attachment, unless you are using the Automatic Remedy online service Inventory.
Paper file
Your folder should contain the following parts and copies:
Documents in the file | Number of copies |
|---|---|
Your request or request | 1 copy |
Contested decision or a copy of the application sent to the administration with the acknowledgement of receipt where the administration has failed to reply (implied decision) | 1 copy |
All the supporting documents required to be produced, except where their number, volume or characteristics prevent them from being produced | 1 copy |
Detailed inventory of supporting documents | |
In cases where the law provides that the judge shall decide without submitting certain documents to debate: memoir a separate statement explaining the reasons for the refusal to transmit to the other parties (the submission will be forwarded to the other parties) | 1 copy |
Where the refusal to supply documents is the subject of the dispute: separate statement explaining the reasons for transmission to the other parties (the statement will be sent to the other parties) | 1 copy |
The application is in French on free paper. It may be handwritten (perfectly legible) or, preferably, typed.
The query must include the following information:
- Name, signature and address of the parties
- Statement of Facts
- Statement of pleas (legal arguments). You have to prove that the contested act is unlawful.
- Statement of Findings (what you are asking the judge to do). For example, annulment of the contested decision, award of damages, etc. In the case of a claim for compensation, the amount must be precise and detailed.
If you are challenging several decisions, you must establish one application per decision.
If more than one person makes the same request without a lawyer, they must appoint a single representative. Otherwise, the court or tribunal shall address itself to the first person on the list.
The fact of bringing an action before the administrative court does not prevent the contested decision from applying.
To avoid serious, irreversible or irreparable effects of the decision, you can ask the judge to take an emergency precautionary interim measure, via the interim proceedings.
Presentation of the request
Query Attachments
Lodging of the application
Citizens' Telemedicine
Representation of the parties before the Administrative Tribunal
Exceptions to territorial jurisdiction
Appeals to the departmental or central social welfare commission
Appeals to the National Court of Asylum
Appeals to the Departmental Court of Military Disability Pensions and War Victims
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