Avocats à Nice – Administrative appeal

Admissibility of an appeal outside the Télérecours system – the postmark is now decisive

Traditionally, in administrative matters, the admissibility of an application was assessed by taking into account the date on which it was received by the registry.

(cf. CE, 30 December 1998 Epoux S n°167843 or CE, 30 July 2003, Mme C n°240756).

If the case law accepted the admissibility of an application sent by post, it still had to be posted sufficiently in advance so that the end of the time limit was not reached during delivery.

(cf. Assemblée, 23 October 1992, T, 136965 A).

In fact, the application initiating proceedings sent by post had to have reached the administrative court before the expiry of the time limit for bringing an action.

However, what happens if there is an abnormal delay in the delivery of the mail, particularly if it is sent outside mainland France?

This is the question that the High Administrative Court had to address on 13 May.

In this case, an applicant had challenged an administrative decision concerning the liability of a midwife.

Unsuccessful, she appealed.

When the appeal was successful and the decision was overturned, the opposing party appealed to the Conseil d’État on the grounds that the applicant’s appeal was out of time.

According to the High Administrative Court, however, in its recent decision: Except in the case of legislative or regulatory provisions to the contrary, such as the provisions relating to political elections (ex art R. 113 and R.119 of the Electoral Code), the date to be taken into consideration when assessing whether a contentious appeal sent to an administrative court by post has been lodged within the contentious appeal period is that of the dispatch of the appeal, as evidenced by the postmark.

This decision puts an end to years of questioning by finally making the right to appeal more flexible (cf. conclusions of the public rapporteur Mr MONTGOLFIER).

From now on, people using the postal route will be able to consider the date of posting for their requests and will thus benefit from the same treatment as those using the Télérecours platform.

Despite this, we still recommend that you seek the assistance of lawyers who are experienced in procedures.

Cabinet d’Avocats DAMY, lawyers in Nice, is ready to listen to your problems. Please do not hesitate to contact us.