French General Code of Local Authorities
In forceMunicipal policing is carried out by the mayor, however:
1° The representative of the State in the département may take, for all or several of the communes in the département, and in all cases where this has not been provided for by the municipal authorities, any measures relating to the maintenance of public health, safety and tranquillity.
This right may only be exercised by the State representative in the department with regard to a single municipality after formal notice to the mayor has remained without result ;
2° If the maintenance of law and order is threatened in two or more neighbouring communes, the representative of the State in the department may substitute himself, by reasoned decree, for the mayors of these communes for the exercise of the powers mentioned in 2° and 3° of article
L. 2212-2and article
L. 2213-23;
3° The representative of the State in the département has sole authority to take measures relating to public order, safety, security and health, the scope of which exceeds the territory of a commune ;
4° In an emergency, where the observed or foreseeable threat to public order, health, peace and safety so requires, and where the means available to the Prefect no longer enable him to pursue the objectives for which he has police powers, he may, by reasoned order, for all or several of the communes in the department, or just one of them, requisition any property or service, require any person necessary for the operation of this service or the use of this property and prescribe any useful measure until the breach of public order has ceased or the conditions for its maintenance have been ensured.
The reasoned order sets out the nature of the services required, the duration of the requisition measure and the procedures for its application.
The prefect may have the measures prescribed by the order he has issued carried out ex officio.
The remuneration by the State of the person required may not be combined with remuneration by another natural or legal person.
The remuneration must only compensate the direct and certain material costs resulting from the application of the requisition order.
In the case of a requisition addressed to a business, where the service required is of the same nature as those usually provided to customers, the amount of the remuneration is calculated on the basis of the normal and lawful commercial price of the service.
Under the conditions provided for by the Code of Administrative Justice, the president of the administrative court or the magistrate he delegates may, within forty-eight hours of the publication or notification of the order, at the request of the person requested, grant an advance representing all or part of the aforementioned compensation, when the existence and reality of this compensation are not seriously disputable.
In the event of voluntary non-performance by the requested person of the obligations incumbent upon it pursuant to the order issued by the prefect, the president of the administrative court or the magistrate delegated by him may, at the request of the requesting authority, impose a penalty payment under the conditions provided for in the
Articles L. 911-6 to L. 911-8of the Code of Administrative Justice.
Refusal to carry out the measures prescribed by the requesting authority constitutes an offence punishable by six months' imprisonment and a fine of 10,000 euros.
