Key Benefits:
President of the Republic,
On the report of the Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs,
In the light of articles 52 to 55 of the Constitution ;
In view of Law No. 2006-823 of 10 July 2006 authorising the approval of the European Charter of Local Self-Government, adopted in Strasbourg on 15 October 1985;
In light of Decree No. 53-192 of 14 March 1953, as amended on the ratification and the Publication of international commitments undertaken by France,
Décrète:
The European Charter of Local autonomy, adopted in Strasbourg on 15 October 1985, will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
The Prime Minister and the Minister for Foreign Affairs shall each have responsibility for the execution of this Decree, which shall be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
C H A R T E E U R O P E E N N E
DE L' AUTONOMIE LOCALE
PRÉAMBULE
The member states of the Council of Europe, signatories to this Charter,
Considering that the aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a closer union among its members in order to safeguard and promote the ideals and principles which are their common heritage;
Considering that one of the means by That this goal will be achieved is the conclusion of agreements in the administrative field;
Considering that local authorities are one of the main foundations of any democratic system;
Considering that the right of citizens to Participating in the management of public affairs is one of the democratic principles common to all Council of Europe member states; Convinced
it is at local level that this right can be exercised most directly;
Convinced That the existence of local authorities with effective responsibilities enables an effective and close administration of the citizen;
Conscious of the fact that the defence and the strengthening of local self-government in the different countries Europe is an important contribution to the building of a Europe based on the principles of democracy and the decentralization of power;
Affirming that this implies the existence of local communities with Democratically constituted and enjoying broad autonomy in terms of the competences, the procedures for the exercise of those powers and the means necessary for the fulfilment of their tasks,
have agreed as follows:
Article 1
The Parties undertake to consider themselves bound by the following articles in the manner and to the extent prescribed by section 12 of this Charter.
PART I
Article 2
Constitutional and legal basis of local self-government
The principle of local self-government must be recognized in domestic legislation and, as far as possible, in the Constitution.
Article 3
Local autonomy concept
1. Local self-government refers to the right and effective capacity of local communities to regulate and manage, within the framework of the law, under their own responsibility and for the benefit of their populations, a significant part of the business
right is exercised by councils or assemblies composed of members elected by free, secret, egalitarian, direct and universal suffrage and may have responsible executive bodies in front of them. This provision shall not prejudice the use of citizen assemblies, referendum or any other form of direct citizen participation where it is permitted by law.
Article 4
Scope of autonomy Local
1. The basic competences of local authorities are laid down in the Constitution or by law. However, this provision does not prevent the allocation of powers to local authorities for specific purposes, in accordance with the law.
2. Local authorities have, within the framework of the law, any freedom to exercise their initiative For any question that is not excluded from their jurisdiction or assigned to another authority.
3. The exercise of public responsibilities should, in general, be the responsibility of the authorities closest to the citizens. The assignment of responsibility to another authority must take into account the magnitude and nature of the task and the requirements for efficiency and economy.
4. The competences entrusted to local authorities must normally be full and full. They may not be called into question or limited by any other authority, central or regional, except under the law.
5. In the case of delegation of powers by a central or regional authority, local authorities should enjoy, as far as possible, the freedom to adapt their exercise to local
. Local authorities should be consulted, as far as possible, in a timely and appropriate manner, during the planning and decision-making processes for all matters directly affecting them.
Article 5
Protection of Local Community Territorial Boundaries
For any modification of local territorial boundaries, the local authorities concerned must be consulted in advance, Possibly by means of a referendum where permitted by law.
Article 6
Appropriation of
administrative structures and means to missions in local communities
1. Without prejudice to more general provisions created by the law, local authorities must be able to define themselves the internal administrative structures which they intend to acquire, with a view to adapting them to their specific needs and To enable effective management.
2. The status of the staff of local authorities must allow for quality recruitment, based on the principles of merit and competence; for this purpose, adequate conditions must be met. Training, compensation and career opportunities.
Article 7
Conditions for exercising local responsibilities
1. The status of local elected representatives must ensure the free exercise of their mandate.
2. It must allow adequate financial compensation for the costs incurred by the exercise of the mandate and, where appropriate, the financial compensation for lost earnings or Remuneration for work performed and a corresponding social cover.
3. Functions and activities incompatible with the mandate of local elected representatives may be fixed only by law or by fundamental legal principles.
Article 8
Administrative control of acts of communities Local
1. Any administrative control over local authorities can only be exercised in the form and in the cases provided for by the Constitution or by law.
2. Any administrative control of the acts of the local authorities should not normally be carried out Ensuring respect for the rule of law and constitutional principles. Administrative control may, however, include control of the opportunity exercised by higher level authorities with respect to tasks delegated to local authorities.
3. The administrative control of local authorities must be exercised in accordance with a proportionality between the extent of the intervention of the supervisory authority and the importance of the interests which it intends to preserve.
Article 9
Local Community Financial Resources
1. Local authorities are entitled, within the framework of national economic policy, to sufficient own resources that they can freely dispose of in the exercise of their powers.
2. Community financial resources Be proportionate to the powers of the Constitution or the law.
3. At least some of the financial resources of local communities must come from local royalties and taxes that they have the authority to set the rate, within the limits of the
. The financial systems on which the resources available to local authorities are based must be sufficiently diverse and scalable to enable them to follow, as far as possible in practice, the real evolution of the Costs of exercising their skills.
5. The protection of financially weaker local authorities calls for the establishment of financial equalization procedures or equivalent measures to correct the effects of the unequal distribution of potential sources of Funding, as well as the costs of financing them. Such procedures or measures should not reduce the freedom of choice of local authorities in their own area of
. Local authorities should be consulted, in an appropriate manner, on how to allocate redistributed resources to them.
7. To the extent possible, grants to local authorities should not be earmarked for the financing of specific projects. The granting of subsidies should not undermine the fundamental freedom of the policy of local authorities in their own area of
. In order to finance their investment expenditure, local authorities must have access to the national capital market in accordance with the law.
Article 10
Local community right of association
1. Local authorities have the right, in the exercise of their powers, to cooperate and, within the law, to partner with other local authorities in carrying out tasks of common interest.
2. Community law To join an association for the protection and promotion of their common interests and to join an international association of local authorities must be recognized in each State.
3. Local authorities may, under possible legal conditions, cooperate with communities in other states.
Article 11
Legal protection of local self-government
To ensure the free exercise of their powers and respect for the principles of local self-government enshrined in the Constitution or internal legislation.
PART II
Miscellaneous
Article 12
Commitments
1. Each Party undertakes to consider itself bound by twenty at least of the paragraphs of Part I of the Charter of which at least ten are chosen from the following paragraphs:
-Article 2;
-Article 3 (1) and (2);
-Article 4, Paragraphs 1, 2 and 4;
-Article 5;
-Article 7 (1);
-Article 8 (2);
-Article 9 (1), (2) and (3);
-Article 10 (1);
-Article 11.
2. The deposit of its instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval, shall notify the Secretary General of the Council of Europe of the paragraphs chosen in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this
. Any Party may, at any further time, notify the Secretary General that it considers itself bound by any other paragraph of this Charter, which it has not yet accepted in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 1 of this Article. Such subsequent commitments shall be deemed to be an integral part of the ratification, acceptance or approval of the Party making the notification and shall bear the same effects from the first day of the month following the expiration of a period of Three months after the date of receipt of the notification by the Secretary General.
Article 13
Communities to which the Charter applies
The principles of local self-government contained in the This Charter applies to all categories of local authorities existing in the territory of the Party. However, each Party may, at the time of deposit of its instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval, designate the categories of local or regional authorities to which it intends to limit the scope or which it intends to Exclude from the scope of this Charter. It may also include other categories of local or regional authorities within the scope of the Charter by means of subsequent notification to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
Article 14
Communication of information
Each Party shall forward to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe any relevant information relating to the legislative provisions and other measures it has taken with the aim of Comply with the terms of this Charter.
PART III
Article 15
Signature, ratification, entry into force
1. This Charter is open for signature by the member states of the Council of Europe. It will be subject to ratification, acceptance or approval. Instruments of ratification, acceptance or approval shall be deposited with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe.
2. This Charter shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the expiration of a period of three months After the date on which four member states of the Council of Europe have expressed their consent to be bound by the Charter, in accordance with the provisions of the preceding
. For any Member State which subsequently expresses its consent to be bound by the Charter, it shall enter into force on the first day of the month following the expiration of a period of three months after the date of the deposit of the instrument of ratification, Approval.
Article 16
Territorial clause
1. Any State may, at the time of signature or at the time of deposit of its instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession, designate the territory or territories to which this Charter shall apply.
2. Any State may, at any other Subsequently, by a declaration addressed to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, extend the application of this Charter to any other territory designated in the declaration. The Charter shall enter into force in respect of that territory on the first day of the month following the expiration of a period of three months after the date of receipt of the declaration by the Secretary
. Any declaration made under the two preceding paragraphs may be withdrawn, in respect of any territory designated in that declaration, by notification addressed to the Secretary General. The withdrawal shall take effect on the first day of the month following the expiration of six months after the date of receipt of the notification by the Secretary General.
Article 17
Denunciation
1. No Party may denounce this Charter before the expiry of a period of five years after the date on which the Charter comes into force as far as it is concerned. Six months' notice will be notified to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe. Such denunciation shall not affect the validity of the Charter in respect of other Parties provided that the number of such Parties is never less than four.
2. Any Party may, in accordance with the provisions set out in paragraph To denounce any paragraph of Part I of the Charter which it has accepted, provided that the number and category of paragraphs to which that Party is held shall remain in accordance with the provisions of Article 12 (1). Any Party which, following the denunciation of a paragraph, no longer complies with the provisions of Article 12 (1), shall be deemed to have also denounced the Charter itself.
Article 18
Notifications
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe notifies the member states of the Council:
(a) Any signature;
(b) The deposit of any instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval;
(c) Any date of entry into force of this Charter, in accordance with Article 15;
(d) Any notification received pursuant to the provisions of Article 12 (2) and (3);
e) Any notification received in accordance with the provisions Article 13;
(f) Any other act, notification or communication relating to this Charter.
In witness whereof the undersigned, being duly authorized to that effect, have signed this Charter.
Done at Strasbourg, on 15 October 1985, in The two texts being equally authentic, in a single copy which will be deposited in the archives of the Council of Europe.
The Secretary General of the Council of Europe shall transmit certified copies to each State Members of the Council of Europe.
French declarations
The French Republic considers that the Provisions of Article 3 (2) shall be interpreted as reserving to States the right to institute the responsibility, before the deliberative body of a territorial community, of the executive body to which it is endowed
Article 12, paragraph 2, the French Republic considers itself bound by all the paragraphs of Part I of the Charter, with the exception of paragraph 2 of Article 7.
In accordance with Article 13, local and regional authorities The application of the Charter is the territorial authorities which appear in Articles 72, 73, 74 and Title XIII of the Constitution or which are created on their basis. The French Republic therefore considers that public institutions of inter-communal cooperation, which do not constitute territorial communities, are excluded from its scope.
Done at Paris, May 3, 2007.
Jacques Chirac
By the President of the Republic:
The Prime Minister,
Dominique de Villepin
Le Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Philippe Douste-Blazy
For the Government
of the Republic of Austria:
Hans G. Knitel
For the Government
from the Kingdom of Belgium:
Jan R. Vanden Bloock
For the Government
of the Republic of Cyprus:
the Government
of the Kingdom of Denmark:
Erling V. Quaade
For the Government
of the French Republic:
Henri Ourmet
For the Government
of the Federal Republic of Germany:
Gunter Knackstedt
Horst Waffenschmidt
For The Government
of the Hellenic Republic:
Agamemnon Koutsogiorgas
For the Government
of the Icelandic Republic:
the Government
of Ireland:
For the Government
of the Italian Republic:
Oscar L. Scalfaro
For the Government
of the Principality of Liechtenstein:
Nicolas de Liechtenstein
For the Government
of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg:
Jean Spautz
For the Government
of Malta:
For the Government
of the Kingdom of the Netherlands:
For the Government
of the Kingdom of Norway
For the Government
of the Portuguese Republic:
João Pereira Bastos
For the Government
of the Kingdom of Spain:
Felix Pons Irazazabal
For the Government
of the Kingdom of Sweden
For the Government
of the Swiss Confederation:
For the Government
of the Turkish Republic:
For the Government
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland
Certified copy of the original single copy in English and French, deposited in the archives of the Council of Europe.
Strasbourg, 4 November 1985.
The Director of Legal Affairs
of the Council of Europe,
Erik Harremoes
