CHAPTER IV: Expenditure

For the application of the provisions of 20° of Article L. 3664-1, the Metropole of Lyon depreciates its fixed assets, including those received on disposal or assignment:

1° Intangible;

2° Tangible, with the exception of road networks and installations for which depreciation is optional.

This depreciation does not apply to fixed assets owned by the metropolitan authority that are handed over on assignment or at disposal, nor to land and land improvements other than deposit land, nor to collections and works of art, nor to study and insertion costs followed by completion.

The depreciation periods for tangible fixed assets are set for each asset or each category of asset by the deliberative assembly, which may refer to a scale set by order of the minister in charge of local authorities and the minister in charge of the budget, with the exception, however:

- of costs relating to the town planning documents mentioned in article L. 132-15 of the French Town Planning Code, which are amortised over a maximum period of ten years;

- study costs and insertion costs not followed by completion, which must be amortised over a maximum period of five years;

- research and development costs, which are amortised over a maximum period of five years if the project is successful and immediately, in their entirety, if it is unsuccessful ;

- patents amortised over the shorter of the duration of the privilege from which they benefit or the actual duration of their use;

- capital grants paid, which are amortised over a maximum period of either five years when the grant finances movable property, equipment or studies, or thirty years when it finances real estate or installations, or forty years when it finances infrastructure projects of national interest. Investment aid for companies that do not fall into any of these categories is depreciated over a maximum period of five years.

A depreciation schedule that has been started must be continued until it is completed, unless the asset is sold, assigned, made available, reformed or destroyed. The depreciation schedule may only be modified in the event of a significant change in the conditions of use of the asset. The beneficiary of the disposal or assignment continues to depreciate the asset in accordance with the initial depreciation schedule or in accordance with its own rules, defined by this article.

The Metropolitan Council may set a unit threshold below which fixed assets of little value or which are consumed very quickly are depreciated over one year. The corresponding deliberation is sent to the accounting officer and cannot be modified during the same financial year.

The deliberative assembly may instruct the authorising officer to determine the depreciation period for an asset within the minimum and maximum periods that it has set for the category to which that asset belongs.