The simplification of law in France: the time for assessment

1. The simplification of law in France:the time for assessment Charles-Henri Montin Head of (interministerial) B.R. Unit Ministry of Finance, France charles-henri.montin@dgme.finances.gouv.fr University Bocconi, Milan, 22 March 2006

2. Outline of the presentation « Il n’y a pas de liberté sans lois. » (J.J. Rousseau) • The context: the reform of the state • content • structures • The tools for the simplification of law • Enabling Acts • Codification • Loi anti-loi • Recent assessment of the results • Comité sur le coût et rendement des service publics • Conseil d’Etat

3. BR in the reform of the state Budget reform (LOLF 2001) Deconcentration and decentralization Electronic administration HR reform Better Regulation • Simplification of law and formalities • Measurement of burden • Rationalization of consultative commissions

4. A good moment to examine what has been done • The tools • 3 simplification laws (annual?) since 2003 • 15 codes • Loi anti-loi • Guide de légistique • New assessment (March 2006), introduction of new insights • Conseil d’Etat report • Comité d’enquête report • Much doubt and soul-searching. A new initiative ?

5. Structures in charge of S. • The ministry of the reform of the state • DGME and SQS • The consultative board (COSA) and the COSLA • Central bodies: secrétariat général du Gouvernement, conseil d’Etat « Plus l'État se décompose, plus les lois pullulent. » (Tacite)

6. 6 MP’s and senators 3 local councilors 6 experts Le Conseil d’orientation de la simplification administrative Composed of Contributes to the simplification programme Political initiative and support from Parliament Assists minister in surveying needs

7. Quality and simplification service • Coordinate the simplification of law process • Contribute to the BR policy • Implement public service quality-enhancement projects • Simplify official forms • Promote a simpler administrative language

8. Simplificaiton: origins of the issue Concern about the «normative inflation » The OECD peer review of France (2003) The concern of the highest authorities . Civil rights spirit embodied by the Conseil Constitutionnel: • accessibility and understandability of the law justify simplification (decision 473 dated 26/6/2003) • Excessive complexity is illegal (decision 530 of 29/12/2005) "en raison de son excessive complexité, qu'aucun motif d'intérêt général ne suffisait à justifier." « Les longues lois sont des calamités publiques » (St Just)

9. Why simplify ? To increase the efficiency of our economy To facilitate citizen access and understanding of the law To increase the efficiency of the administration

10. Techniques Simplify texts Codify texts Improve the consistency of legal norms

11. The procedures The main instrument : ordinances under Art.38 of the Constitution to empower the Government Two methods to select the contents of the simplification programme: - asks ministries for their projects (LH1 et LH2) • ask the citizens/users (PLS3 « Il y a tant de lois qu’il n’y a personne exempt d’être pendu.» (Napoléon I)

12. First approach Simplifications at the initiative of the ministries Laws dated 2 July 2003 and 9 December 2004 : • Facilitate everyday life of the public • Free up energies by reducing red tape • Modernise the administration

13. 1. Facilitate everyday life • Streamline the electoral procedure • Easier annual renewal of hunting permit • Introduce gratuity of administrative justice • Simplify planning permits • Develop electronic administration • Clarify rental subsidies

14. 2 – Free-up economic energies • A new social protection for crafts • Consistency of administrative decisions • One-stop shop for starting a business • Streamline fiscal procedures • Simplify elections to Trade and Industry Chambers

15. 3 - Modernise the administration • Simplify public enquiries • Reduce complexity of implementation of large project • Increase use of PPP • Plan Hôpital 2007 • Plan Santé 2007 • Suppress less useful consultative commissions (-348 ) • On-line Official Journal • Update judicial system: facilitate access to assistance

16. The second approach Start from the public’s concerns (PLS3 ) • Widespread consultation of associations and local authorities • Pilot schemes , local experiments • The finale: Assises of Simplification 12 April 2005 • One year later… • « Un peuple perdu dans un labyrinthe de règlements ne peut éviter de les transgresser; aussi, dans le souci de ne pas l’égarer, le bon souverain fait la loi lumineuse comme le soleil et la lune, large et unie comme la grand’route. Les sujets des régions les plus reculées peuvent en connaître tous les articles, la cuisinière la plus obtuse sait de quelles fautes elle doit se garder ». Confucius

17. The third simplification law (examples of articles) 1/ For the public • Simplify election procedures (electronic vote, single commission, leaflets, etc) • Suppress handwritten mentions in contracts • Change of matrimonial contract without court proceeding • Clarify victims’ appeals 2/ For businesses • Suppress specific declarations for apprentices • Harmonise rules about gaz transport by pipeline (7 laws at present) • Simplify litigation procedures 3/ For local authorities • Align procurement concepts • Practical measures to facilitate operations of local authorities

18. Clarification and simplification of texts Dynamic codification Codification Codification : a French tradition To promote access and understanding of the law Static codification No changes to the content • « Il faut être sobre de nouveautés en matière de législation » Portalis, discours prélimaire du code civil, 1804

19. The new codification 3 types, between which you need to choose carefully • 1/ re-writing: redraft unclear laws, abrogate useless or obsolete articles, or regulations within legislative area, harmonize and simplify the legal concepts. LH2 authorizes such codification for Public Health, Expropriations • 2/ inclusion of jurisprudence: not truly new law, when it is simplu interpretation, but must be authorized if it includes extension. Example the Administrative code which will regulate relations with the public • 3/ full scale renovation of existing texts, with reform of underlying principles. Example Code des propriétés publiques

20. La loi anti-loi: issues • Official name: law abrogating dispositions outdated or rendered meaningless • A symbolic dossier favored by ministers • Legal issues, leading to C.E. reserves about the idea • Most texts have been codified (70%), i.e. 212000 articles. Not many « orphans » • Need for an décret anti décret • Simplification is the main tool, it includes abrogation • Near impossible to find whole laws to fit the criteria • Review the whole corpus to track down the suspects « Les lois inutiles affaiblissent les lois nécessaires » (Montesquieu – 1754)

21. How much progress have we achieved ? • Two major assessments published in recent weeks • Conseil d’Etat: “sécurité juridique et complexité du droit” (March 2006) • Comité sur le coût et rendement des service publics: “effets de la loi du 2 juillet 2003” (February 2006)

22. Conseil d’Etat: a new diagnostic of complexity 1/ Complexity from new sources of law • development and extension of EU law (result of institutional reform). Primacy of EU law over internal law • new regulators : independent administrative authorities- the new principle of "free administration of territorial authorities« - special legal regimes of overseas territories 2/ L'intempérance normative - misuse of legislative power to further political agendas, or pander to public opinion transient moods - answer to the "social demand" asking for new norms, specially in the fields of security and social affairs

23. Consequences as listed by Conseil d’Etat • the simplification process itself contributes to cluttering the legislative agenda • the new laws are not consistent with existing legislation hence complexity/ obscurity / instability for the judges • there is a loss of control by Parliament • lacunae in the implementation; excessive use of internal instructions to provide guidance to services (not legally binding, and often not published) • penalisation of economic actors and citizens (legal insecurity, administrative burden reaching 3 to 4% of GDP), with the resulting loss of competitivity

24. C.E.’s recommendations for change • Time –limits: OECD diagnosed that the system of written Roman law does not ascribe time-limits to legislation, hence the piling up of texts, which existing codification has failed to contain. ►Avoid sedimentation; assess corpus and abrogate outdated/useless norms • The simplification process has generated too many new texts: 150 ordonnances, which in many cases have been changed several times, or haven't been implemented because the minstries cannot agree on the décrets d'application. ►Stem the flow of new legislation.

25. The report of the CECRSP One great step forward: consider not only the evolution of law but the "transformation of administrative action", as measured by savings; A. Scope and limits of the simplification of law 1/ Simplification of texts necessary but not always enough to bring about a simplification of practices • inconsistencies in norms • practices cannot keep pace with rapidly changing texts (volatility) • there is a fair amount of purely formal (clearing) of texts going on • there are two many exogeneous projects inserted into LH 2/ Simplification of law can be useful when applied to elementary procedures, not complex schemes

26. CECRSP : the tool is not effective 3/ The ordinance is not an efficient vector for fundamental reform • no proper discussion in Parliament, hence risk • piecemeal approach, no overall scheme to uniformise regimes dealing with similar situations • only surface treatment of complexity • the ordinance can even be harmful, dressing up as simplification what is just a lightening of procedure. • many simplifications have been introduced without reference to the shift to LOLF • the simplification agenda gets diluted or lost in the buzz of multiple reforms on the same subject

27. CECRSP : the implementation is faulty 4/ Implementation is generally chaotic and piecemeal: • the simplification measures are drowned in the mass of instructions the services receive, many of which get higher priority • delays in issuing implementation rules. : O 1/7/04 on commissions still not in force • stratification between the policy makers and the end-users. • simplification is a resource-driven process « Le législateur, en élaborant la loi, ne doit jamais perdre de vue l'abus qu'on peut en faire » (Victor Hugo)

28. CECRSP : where the simplification was successful 2/ Simplification works best for technical improvements • Open new exchanges of information between administrations • Centralise operations hitherto distributed between different departments (example social affairs) • Deal with operations and processes, example professsional elections, rather than principles • Suppress least cost-effective tools, such as fiscal stamps • Reduce ex ante control: replace authorization regime by a declaration

29. CECRSP : you must manage simplifications ►(strategic) • a better definition, and a strategy ≠ "réforme de l'Etat • avoid introducing new norms • simplify the process itself: focus on simple measures. ►(practical) • look at the process rather than the text • measure the impact and cost each measure • include the regulatory measures in the project • monitor implementation (the complexity does not disappear when the text is published in the JO) • weakness of the "big-bang" approach

30. CONCLUSION Major issues for discussion: • How to contain the growth of legal norms while meeting the expectations of citizens for security ? • Should all legislation be codified ? • Consultation and AB to assist simplification • Lawyers must adopt new tools to be more effective

31. Food for thought • And the last word to… an Italian • « Charondas de Catane avait observé que ceux qui proposaient de réviser les lois étaient si nombreux que l’on aboutissait à une corruption des lois. Il institua en conséquence une loi tout à fait originale : quand on voulait faire réviser une loi on devait, en déposant sa proposition, se présenter le cou passé dans un nœud coulant et rester jusqu’à décision du peuple. Si l’assemblée acceptait la nouvelle rédaction, son auteur était quitte ; si elle la rejetait, il était immédiatement étranglé ». (Diodore de Sicile 90-21 BC)