Section 7: Transformation and merger.

When a syndicat de communes already exercises, on behalf of the communes that make it up, the competencies set by the present code for communities of agglomerations or communities of communes, this syndicat may be transformed into one of these two categories of establishment, provided that it fulfils the required conditions for creation. This conversion is decided by a joint decision of the trade union committee and the municipal councils of the member municipalities in accordance with the conditions of qualified majority required for the creation of the public inter-municipal cooperation body. The Syndicat Committee and the municipal council of each member municipality must reach a decision within three months of the date on which the mayor and the President of the Syndicat are notified of the deliberation proposing the transformation. If no decision is taken within this period, their decision is deemed to be favourable. The transformation may be pronounced by decree of the representative of the State in the department when the communes belong to the same department and by joint decree of the representatives of the State in the departments concerned in the opposite case.

All the assets, rights and obligations of the transformed syndicate are transferred to the new public establishment, which is substituted ipso jure for the syndicate in all the deliberations and acts of the latter on the date of the transformation order.

Contracts are performed under the previous conditions until they expire, unless the parties agree otherwise. The co-contracting parties are informed of the substitution of legal entity. The substitution of a legal entity to contracts concluded by the syndicate does not entail any right to termination or compensation for the co-contractor.

All the staff of the transformed establishment are deemed to come under the new establishment under the conditions of status and employment that are its own.

The conversion of a syndicat intercommunal into a communauté de communes or communauté d'agglomération is carried out free of charge and does not give rise to the payment of any compensation, duty, tax, contribution provided for in the article 879 of the General Tax Code or fee.

The number and distribution of members of the deliberative body of the communauté de communes or communauté d'agglomération are determined under the conditions provided for in article L. 5211-6-1.

Until the next general renewal of the municipal councils following the transformation into a community of communes or agglomeration community, the community councillors are appointed under the conditions provided for in 1° of article L. 5211-6-2. The term of office of delegates in office prior to the transformation of the establishment is extended until the installation of the new deliberative body in the month following the transformation.