Hogan Lovell OffshoreBook 2023 230809 OnlinePDF - Flipbook - Page 94
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the projects before the courts.
Finally, the administration can repeal or
remove a decision creating rights for its
beneficiary – such as the abovementioned
authorisations – within four months after
their award if it appears that the decision to
award such authorisations was illegal.
In practice, the most important risk is that of
a challenge of one or several authorisations
by environmental associations. The authorisations can, in principle, be challenged
before the administrative judge within two
months (or more if an administrative appeal
has been done) of the notification of the
decision to its beneficiary.
France
In such a case, the authorisation will be final
and binding only once all actions have been
served – i.e., in the past, after decisions have
been made by the court of first instance,
the appellate court and the highest court
and, now, only after the highest court (the
Council of State) has ruled. 32 After having
given the competence to the administrative
court of appeal of Nantes in first instance,
the legislator has indeed gone further in
2020 by adding a new provision stating that
the Council of State will directly rule in the
first and last instance for actions against
decisions regarding offshore wind farms,
their related works, the works of the related
public electricity networks and some related
port infrastructures. 33 The detailed list of the
concerned decisions is fixed by decree.
32 Decree n°2021-282 dated 12 March 2021 which created article R.311-1-1 in the Code of administrative justice.
33 Article L. 311-13 of the Code of administrative justice created by law n°2020-1525 dated 7 December 2020.
