Approval of Environmental Protection Associations (EPAs)

Verified 20 March 2023 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

You want to know if an environmental protection association can be approved and know what conditions must be met and how to apply?

The association is already approved and you would like to know what obligations and specific competences it has (participation in advisory bodies, possibility of taking legal action,...)?

We present you with the information you need to know.

Application for approval

An environmental protection association may be approved if it meets all of the following conditions:

  • Be declared (or, in Alsace-Moselle, entered in the register of associations) since at least 3 years
  • Work mainly for the protection of the environment, particularly in the field of nature protection and wildlife management, improving the living environment, protecting water, air, soil, sites and landscapes, city planning, combating pollution and nuisances
  • To exercise effective and public activity in these fields
  • To justify, in the light of the territorial framework of its activity, a sufficient number of members contributing either individually or through federated associations
  • Be non-profit and have a selfless management
  • Demonstrate democratic functioning (regular and periodic democratic election of leaders, effective control over the management of the organization by members of the association)
  • Demonstrate financial transparency (keeping of accounts, accounts accessible to members and administrations with which the association has a financial relationship)

The request is made at prefecture of the department in which the association has its registered office.

General case
Who shall I contact
In Paris

It must be sent by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt or delivered directly to the prefecture against discharge.

The application for approval shall be prepared by the president of the association in triplicate.

It shall contain the following documents:

  • Rules and regulations Statutes of the association and
  • Address of the registered office of the association and postal address, if different
  • Indication of the national, regional or departmental framework for which authorization is sought (which depends on the geographical area in which the association actually carries out its activity)
  • Copy of the witness for publication in the JOAFE: titleContent of the declaration of the association
  • Name, profession, domicile and nationality of persons responsible for the administration of the association

The file must also contain the following documents for the previous 3 years:

  • Note setting out the association's activity, the geographical scope in which it operates and any other information likely to establish that it did indeed and publicly work as the main protector of the environment during this period
  • Minutes of general meetings
  • Activity report, profit and loss and balance sheet accounts and their annexes approved by each general meeting
  • Amount of contributions, product of these contributions, number and geographical distribution of up-to-date members deducted at each general meeting, specifying the number of members, natural persons
  • Number of members, natural persons, contributing through federated associations
  • Dates of Management Board meetings

Rules and regulations If they are not included in the statutes or the

  • Conditions allowing access to the accounts of the association by all its members
  • Deadline for members to be informed in advance of the documents on which they have to vote at the general meeting
  • Conditions governing the conduct of votes in the general meeting

Approval shall be granted by the prefect of the department in which the association has its head office when approval is requested in a departmental or regional context.

It is granted by the Minister responsible for the Environment when approval is requested in a national framework.

Please note

Regardless of the competent authority (prefect or minister) to issue the approval, the procedure must be completed within 6 months on the date of receipt of the file by the administration,

The approval decision shall state the reasons (i.e. the reasons for granting the approval) and specify the geographical scope for which the approval is granted.

It shall be published in the Official Journal when it is taken at national level or at the register of administrative acts of the prefecture in other cases.

In the event of refusal of authorization, reasons shall be given for the decision.

Approval shall be deemed to have been granted in the absence of a decision at the end of the six months following receipt of the application in the prefecture.

Approval shall be granted for 5 years.

He is renewable.

Renewal of the authorization shall be sent to the prefecture of the department in which the association has its registered office.

General case
Who shall I contact
In Paris

The request must be made at least 6 months before the expiry date of the current authorization.

The renewal file is prepared by the president of the association in triplicate.

It shall contain the following documents:

  • Application for renewal specifying the national, regional or departmental framework for which renewal of the approval is requested
  • Note presenting the evolution of the association over the past 5 years as regards its activity, the geographical scope in which it operates and any other information that may justify the request for renewal.

FYI  

renewal of the authorization shall be considered to have been granted in the absence of a decision at the end of the 6 months following receipt of the application in the prefecture.

After being approved

Each year, the approved association must send, by post or electronic means, the following documents to the authority which granted the approval:

  • Rules and regulations Statuses and, if changed since last transmission
  • Address of the registered office of the association and postal address if they have changed since their last transmission
  • Name, profession, domicile and nationality of persons responsible for the administration of the association
  • Activity report, profit and loss and balance sheet accounts and their annexes approved by the general meeting and the minutes of that meeting
  • Minutes of the last ordinary general meeting and of any special general meeting
  • Amounts of contributions, product of these contributions, number and geographical distribution of members up to date of their contributions counted at the general meeting, specifying the number of members, natural persons
  • Number of members, natural persons, contributing through federated associations, if applicable
  • Dates of Management Board meetings

Participation in environmental debates

Accredited environmental protection associations participate in the activities of public bodies concerning the environment.

They may be designated to participate in the following national and regional consultative bodies to review environmental and sustainable development policies. In particular:

  • National Council for the Ecological Transition
  • High Committee for Transparency and Information on Nuclear Safety
  • National Council of the Sea and Coastal Areas
  • High Energy Council
  • High Council for Technology Risk Prevention
  • National Biodiversity Committee
  • National Food Council

Action before administrative courts

An approved environmental protection association may challenge before administrative tribunals a decision of the administration after the date of its approval which has the following characteristics:

  • The administrative decision has a direct bearing on the object and activities of the association
  • It causes environmental damage in all or part of the association's territory of intervention

Defense of collective interests

An approved association may to be a civil party. This is done for acts which cause direct or indirect harm to the collective interests which it defends and which constitute a infringement the laws and regulations applicable in the following fields:

  • Protection of nature and the environment
  • Improving the living environment
  • Protection of water, air, soil, sites and landscapes
  • City planning
  • Sea fishing
  • Pollution and nuisance control
  • Nuclear safety and radiation protection
  • Deceptive marketing practices and advertising (where such practices and advertising include environmental indications)

Group Action

An approved association may carry out a group action. That is, it may bring an action before a civil or administrative court for the purpose of bringing an infringement to an end and/or obtaining compensation for bodily and material damage suffered by a group of persons in a similar situation.

Such damage must result from damage to the environment by the same person and, must have for common cause an infringement of the legal and regulatory provisions applicable in the following areas:

  • Protection of nature and the environment
  • Improving the living environment
  • Protection of water, air, soil, sites and landscapes
  • City planning
  • Sea fishing
  • Pollution and nuisance control
  • Nuclear safety and radiation protection
  • Deceptive marketing practices and advertising (where such practices and advertising include environmental indications)

Defense of individual interests

Any authorized association, mandated by at least 2 natural persons who are victims of damage caused by the same person and have a common origin, may go to court on their behalf to claim damages.

The damage suffered by natural persons must result from an infringement of the legal and regulatory provisions applicable in the following areas:

  • Protection of nature and the environment
  • Improving the living environment
  • Protection of water, air, soil, sites and landscapes
  • City planning
  • Sea fishing
  • Pollution and nuisance control
  • Nuclear safety and radiation protection
  • Deceptive marketing practices and advertising (where such practices and advertising include environmental indications)

Citizens' right of initiative

Approved environmental protection associations concerned by a project (avoiding pollution) have the possibility, if they obtain a certain number of votes from citizens, to ask the prefect for a dialog on this subject.

The aim is to have rules in place that would protect the interests concerned (population health).

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