Document type: Decision no. 461367 by the French Conseil d'Etat
Author: Conseil d'Etat
Preview: Having regard to the following process: Through a petition, registered on February 10, 2022 at the Secrétariat du contentieux du Conseil d'Etat, the following associations: Compassion in World Farming France (CIWF), Fondation Droit Animal Ethique et Science, Œuvre d'Assistance aux Bêtes d'Abattoirs, Welfarm - Protection mondiale des animaux de ferme, Société Protectrice des Animaux, L214, One Voice, Alliance Anticorrida and Animal Cross, ask the French Conseil d'Etat to disapply the last three paragraphs of Article 1 of Decree No. 2021-1647 of December 14, 2021, which set out the details for the implementation of Article L. 214-11 of the Code Rural et de la Pêche Maritime (the French rural and maritime fishing code) prohibiting the bringing into service of any new or refurbished building for the rearing of laying hens in cages. [...]Taking into consideration the following: [...]On internal legality :
- First, it follows from the provisions in Article L.214-11 of the Code Rural et de la Pêche Maritime, cited in point 1, which were clarified by the work of parliament on the Law of October 30, 2018 to maintain balanced trading relations in the agricultural and food sector, and healthy, sustainable food accessible to all, from which [these provisions] derive, that the legislative authority, by prohibiting the bringing into of production of any refurbished building for the rearing of laying hens in cages, did not intend to prohibit works or improvements enabling continued production where capacity remained unchanged, of an existing building assigned to the rearing of laying hens in cages. Consequently, by defining the redevelopment of a building, for the purposes of these provisions, to be the equipping of an existing building for the purpose of rearing laying hens in cages, or the equipping of an existing livestock building leading to an increase in the number of hens that can be reared in cages, the disputed decree does not infringe the provisions of article L. 214-11 of the French Rural and Maritime Fishing Code, which it applies.
- Second, operators of buildings that are already used for the caged rearing of laying hens are not in the same position, as regards the purpose of the ban, as operators of buildings used for other purposes. It follows that the argument that the difference in treatment instituted by the disputed decree between these two categories of operators infringes the principle of equality must be rejected.
- It follows from the foregoing that CIWF France and other associations have no grounds for seeking the disapplication of the last three paragraphs of Article D. 214-38 inserted into the Code rural et de la pêche maritime by Article 1 of the disputed decree of December 14, 2021.
I T I S D E C I D E D T H A T:
Article 1: The application lodged by Compassion in World Farming France and other associations is rejected.
Article 2: The present decision will be notified to Compassion in World Farming France, as the first named appelant, to the Prime Minister and to the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.
Deliberated at the close of the session of November 10, 2023, in which those sitting were: M. Pierre Collin, Deputy Chairman of the Administrative Jurisdiction Division, presiding; Stéphane Verclytte, Thomas Andrieu, Chamber Presidents; Frédéric Gueudar Delahaye, Philippe Ranquet, Hervé Cassagnabère, Jonathan Bosredon, Nicole da Costa, Conseiller d'Etat and Rose-Marie Abel, Maître des requêtes en service extraordinaire-rapporteure.
Decision leading to:
- press release from CIWF France on 04/12/2023 : Poules pondeuses: le Conseil d'Etat ne suit pas l'avis de la rapporteur publique et reporte la fin des cages
- an OABA press release on 08/12/2023: [Poules pondeuses] Le Conseil d'Etat ne suit pas l'avis de la rapporteur publique et report la fin des cages
