Key Benefits:
The Prime Minister,
On the report of the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries,
Considering the rural code;
Vu le Decree No. 87-389 of 15 June 1987 modified for the organization of central administration services;
Vu le Decree No. 2001-1038 of 8 November 2001 amended bearing particular status of the body of the general inspection of agriculture;
Vu le Decree No. 2002-262 of 22 February 2002 amended on the specific status of the body of veterinary public health inspectors;
Vu le Decree No. 2007-993 of 25 May 2007 amended on the powers of the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries;
Vu le Decree No. 2008-636 of 30 June 2008 Amending the organization of the central administration of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries;
Vu le Decree No. 2009-1106 of 10 September 2009 bearing special status of the body of bridge, water and forest engineers;
Considering the advice of the special technical committee Cabinet of 9 June 2009;
Having regard to the advice of the ministerial technical committee on 1 July 2009;
Decrete:
The General Council for Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas, under the authority of the Minister for Agriculture, is responsible for chairing it, designing, defining and evaluating public policies for which the Ministry responsible for agriculture, food and fisheries is responsible or for which it contributes.
As such:
(a) He assists the Minister in the overall design of policies and strategies, provides and interprets the necessary foresight and reflection elements;
(b) It conducts the audit, inspection, evaluation and control of policies carried out by central and decentralized departments under or under the authority of the Minister, as well as public institutions to which the Minister is responsible. It may also carry out audits of the bodies subject, by the provisions that govern them, to the control of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries or that receive funding from that department or from one of the public institutions involved in its areas of competence;
(c) He assists the Minister in the management of crises and the evaluation of their treatment, and proposes the changes they call;
(d) At his request, he carries out advisory, expertise, mediation, support and international cooperation missions.
He participates in inter-ministerial missions, work and reflections. At the request of the Prime Minister, or interested ministers under the terms and conditions provided for by their Attribution Order or with the agreement of the Minister responsible for agriculture, he carries out missions, if any joint with services of other departments, inspection, control, foresight or reflection.
For support missions, it may also be requested by the directors of public services or institutions of the State concerned.
Finally, it may be responsible for missions within its areas of competence, at the request of territorial authorities, the European Union, an international organization or a foreign state, with the agreement of the Minister for Agriculture.
The General Council for Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas is composed of the following members:
(a) The Vice-President, Section Chairs and the Secretary-General;
(b) General engineers of bridges, waters and forests, general inspectors of veterinary public health and general inspectors of agriculture assigned to them;
(c) Within 20% of the number of personnel referred to in (b), members of category A bodies, or non-members of the same level, with the skills necessary to carry out the duties of the General Council of Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas, designated under conditions fixed by the Minister for Agriculture.
The general board of administrative and technical staff is also assigned.
Associate members may be appointed under conditions fixed by order of the Minister for Agriculture.
The General Council of Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas shall meet in a general assembly or in sections under the conditions defined by a rules of procedure, approved by the Minister for Agriculture, which specifies the terms of reference for the operation and conduct of the work of the council.
The General Assembly shall bring together the members referred to in a, b and c of section 2 under the chairmanship of the Minister or Vice-President of the General Council.
It ensures the board's design and action unit under conditions that the Vice-Chair defines and submits to the Minister's approval. The strategic project and annual program of activities referred to in section 4 as well as the annual report referred to in section 7 are approved by the Minister after being presented in a general meeting.
The General Council for Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas, under conditions established by a decree of the Minister for Agriculture, includes a section responsible for the audit, inspection and control of thematic sections whose number cannot exceed six and a general secretariat.
The Vice-President directs the activity of the General Council for Food, Agriculture and Rural Spaces.
The office comprises, under the chairmanship of the Vice-President, the chairs of the sections and the Secretary-General. It assists the Vice-President for the Management of the General Council, the definition of its activities and methods and the allocation of resources.
With the support of the office, the Vice-President develops the multi-year strategic plan of the General Council and its annual activity program, which he submits to the Minister for approval.
The members of the General Council for Food, Agriculture and Rural Spaces carry out their duties in accordance with a charter of ethics.
This charter guarantees, inter alia, the appointment by the Vice-President of the General Council of personnel responsible for the execution of the missions entrusted to the Board, their independence in the exercise of these missions, the freedom to draft reports and conclusions, the right of each member to maintain a different opinion, the collective review of work.
The ethics charter is developed and followed in its implementation by an ethics committee composed of officials outside the General Council. It is approved by the Minister for Agriculture.
The composition of the ethics committee, the conditions under which it may be seized and the modalities for its operation shall be determined by order of the Minister for Agriculture.
The members responsible for audit, control and inspection missions shall have all investigative powers, on-site and on-site, to carry out their duties, to the departments of the Ministry of Agriculture or other departments that have entrusted a mission to the General Council and to public institutions under their supervision under the provisions that govern them. They have submitted all necessary documents, administrative correspondence, study reports, documents and other information materials to their missions. They have free access to the premises of the services and facilities inspected. They receive, in the course of these missions, the assistance of officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries and, as appropriate, other administrations.
In terms of internal audit, the General Council conducts its work in accordance with recognized international standards.
At the end of the missions, the reports are sent to the Minister concerned by the Vice-President, who proposes the terms and conditions under which they may be communicated.
The General Council for Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas prepares an annual report to the Prime Minister for Agriculture to the other ministers and chairs of the relevant parliamentary committees, which is made public.
By derogation from the fourth paragraph of Article 3, to December 31, 2010, it may be maintained in the General Council not more than eleven thematic sections.
Decree No. 2006-487 of 26 April 2006 on the General Council of Agriculture, Food and Rural Spaces is repealed.
In Article 1 of the above-mentioned Decree of 30 June 2008, the words: "General Council for Agriculture, Food and Rural Spaces" are replaced by the words: "General Council for Food, Agriculture and Rural Spaces". The same applies to all existing regulations.
The Minister of Budget, Public Accounts, Public Service and State Reform and the Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries are responsible, each with respect to it, for the execution of this decree, which will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
Done in Paris, February 10, 2010.
François Fillon
By the Prime Minister:
Minister of Food,
agriculture and fisheries,
Bruno Le Maire
Minister of Budget, Public Accounts,
Civil Service
and state reform,
Eric Woerth
