French Public Health Code
In forceI. - Subject to the provisions of article L. 4124-10-1, the disciplinary chamber of first instance of the medical and dental surgeons' orders shall sit with the regional or inter-regional council and hearings shall be held in the département where that council has its seat.
The disciplinary chamber of first instance of the Association of Midwives shall sit with the inter-regional council of the Association of Midwives on which it depends, in accordance with article L. 4152-7.
The disciplinary chambers of first instance of the order of doctors, dental surgeons and midwives include full assessors and an equal number of alternates. The assessors shall be of French nationality.
II. - The Disciplinary Chamber of first instance is presided over by a serving or honorary member of the body of councillors of the administrative courts and administrative courts of appeal appointed by the vice-president of the Conseil d'Etat, on the proposal of the president of the administrative court or administrative court of appeal for a renewable term of six years. One or more alternates are appointed under the same conditions. No person may act as chairman or deputy chairman of a disciplinary chamber if he has reached the age of seventy-seven.
The amount of the allowances allocated to the chairmen or deputy chairmen of the disciplinary chambers of first instance is set by order of the ministers responsible for the budget and health, after consultation with the order.
Their travel expenses are reimbursed under the conditions laid down in the regulations applicable to civil servants.
These allowances and expenses are paid by the regional or inter-regional council.
III. - Practitioners who have been sanctioned pursuant to the provisions of article L. 4124-6 of this Code and articles L. 145-2 and L. 145-2-1 of the Social Security Code are ineligible.
The duties of assessor to the Disciplinary Chamber of First Instance are incompatible with the same duties to the National Disciplinary Chamber.
The offices of chairman and secretary general of a council are incompatible with the office of assessor to the disciplinary chamber of first instance.
IV. - No assessor of the Disciplinary Chamber of First Instance may sit when he or she has knowledge of the facts of the case due to the exercise of other functions within the profession.
No member of the departmental council who has lodged or forwarded a complaint to the Disciplinary Chamber of first instance may sit as an assessor on the panel ruling on this complaint.
V. - The decisions of the Disciplinary Chamber of First Instance are made by a panel, subject to exceptions, specified by decree in the Conseil d'Etat, relating to the subject of the referral or dispute or the nature of the issues to be examined or decided. Reasons must be given.
VI. - In the event of a lasting interruption in its operation or serious difficulties making its operation impossible under normal conditions, the Disciplinary Chamber of First Instance is dissolved by decree issued on a proposal from the Minister of Justice.
In the event of the dissolution of a disciplinary chamber of first instance or in the event of the resignation of all its members, the regional or inter-regional council or, failing this, the Conseil national de l'ordre, shall organise new elections to the chamber without delay.
Until the new chamber has been set up, the president of the national disciplinary chamber, if the matter has been referred to him in accordance with article L. 4124-1, will refer the disputes to another disciplinary chamber of first instance.
VII. - A decree in the Conseil d'Etat shall set the terms and conditions for the election of the Disciplinary Chamber of First Instance, the term of office of its members and the operating and procedural rules that it must comply with.
