Conduct of a trial before the Administrative Court

Verified 18 January 2023 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

In the Administrative Tribunal, the procedure takes place in 2-stroke. First there's a training phase, which brings together the elements necessary to try the case, and then a judgment phase. Until now, the training was conducted entirely in writing. However, as of January 11, 2023, the administrative court can organize oral investigative sessions and investigative hearings.

We present the stages of the trial before the administrative tribunal.

Training shall commence as soon as the graft has saved the request.

The president of the court shall appoint a magistrate-rapporteur to follow the investigation. But the case is being studied by several magistrates.

Training is based on memoirs written pleadings presenting, in a contradictory manner, the arguments of the two parties: the applicant and the defendant (the administration under appeal).

The originating application shall be communicated to the contested administration. It makes submissions in defense. These observations shall be forwarded to the applicant for a reply.

The Administrative Court may also organize an oral hearing or an investigative hearing.

The oral hearing and the inquiry hearing may allow for an adversarial debate on the elements relevant to the determination of the dispute. These hearings do not concern the merits of the arguments put forward in support of the motion.

When the investigation is completed, the case is placed on trial.

The parties may send their written pleadings until the date fixed by the order closing the investigation.

In the absence of an order, they have up to 3 clear days (a clear day lasts from 0:00 a.m. to 24:00 p.m.) before the hearing. This deadline applies regardless of public holidays, Saturday and Sunday.

If a lawyer represents the plaintiff, the court will contact the plaintiff via the Teleappeals online service.

If the applicant is not represented by a lawyer and filed its application via the Citizens Remedy online service, the court will exchange with him via this application.

If there is an error in the wording of an attachment sent through the application, the attachment will not be considered for the review of the dispute.

If, after the application has been lodged, the claimant sends a statement of case or document to the court by a means other than the application, the court will give him a period of time to return the document via the application. If the plaintiff does not do so, the exhibit will not be considered for the purposes of the litigation.

The date of the hearing shall be communicated to each party by registered letter with AR: titleContent (or via the Citizens Remedy online service) at least 7 days before the hearing. In case of urgency, the period may be reduced to 2 days.

The President shall open the hearing and give the floor to the rapporteur to present the case.

The rapporteur referred to the content of the request and presented the arguments of each of the parties (exchanges of briefs, oral hearing of the investigation, hearing of the investigation).

Except for certain disputes, the public rapporteur presents its conclusions to the judges and proposes the solution which it considers most appropriate.

The President shall ask the parties or their lawyers whether they have any oral observations to make. However, they cannot develop new arguments beyond those they had already raised before the hearing.

At the end of the hearing, the matter is taken under advisement.

Please note

the presence of the parties (applicant and relevant administration) is not mandatory but recommended.

The judges shall debate without the presence of the public rapporteur and the parties.

They make their decision in a public hearing within approximately 15 days of the hearing.

The judgment is reasoned, that is to say, it sets out the reasons behind the judges' decision.

The judgment is notified to the parties by registered letter with AR: titleContent (or via the Citizens Remedy online service).

The letter of notification of the judgment shall indicate the remedies available and the time limits within which they are to be exercised.

For some disputes (e.g. disputes relating to the contribution to public broadcasting), the court of first and last resort shall decide.

The judgment cannot be appealed. However, an appeal to the Court of Cassation before the Council of State is possible.

For other disputes, the administrative court of appeal can be entered (or in some cases, the Council of State) for cancelation or modification within 2 months.

In some cases, the dispute may be settled before the trial.

No need to adjudicate

The plaintiff may terminate his trial if he obtains satisfaction from the administration before the intervention of the judgment. In this case, the court shall issue a non-case to a statuea.

The plaintiff must notify the court registry as soon as possible (in writing or by Citizens' Telemedicine if the applicant is not represented by a lawyer and has used this online service to file your application).

Warning  

the decision must not have been implemented, even partially.

Withdrawal

The applicant may waive the request made in his application before the trial.

He can do it for any reason without having to justify it. But he must inform the court so that he can take note of his withdrawal.

The plaintiff must notify the court registry as soon as possible (in writing, or via the application Citizens' Telemedicine if the application has not been filed through a lawyer).

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