Your application must be submitted in writing.
Form
While your application must be submitted in writing, you do not need to fill in a specific form. Your application must be clearly distinct from the other written statements you may submit.
Language
The working language of the Constitutional Council is French. All documents have to be submitted either in French or submitted together with an official translation into French. The Council will not give you an interpreter during the proceedings. If you don’t speak or understand French and you need an interpreter, you have to arrange for the interpreter and pay for his/her services yourself.
Content
You must clearly state the consequences you wish to obtain through the application. In other words, you must explain how a constitutional issue is present in the proceeding. You must also explain what the consequences would be if the provision you are challenging was to be declared unconstitutional (ie. lack of legal basis).
In your application you need to clearly indicate:
- your personal information (name, profession, date of birth, place of birth, nationality, address)
- the provisions you are challenging
- how those provisions are infringing on rights and freedoms
- which rights and freedoms are supposedly infringed
- that your application fulfils the three conditions explained previously
- the facts of your situation (what has happened)
- what you are asking the Constitutional Council to declare
Try to write about the facts and issues which are related to the infringement you are complaining about only. To help the Constitutional Council to better understand the situation, try to keep the text simple, focused, well-reasoned and avoid emotional or derogatory language.
Time limits
The application to the Constitutional Council may be submitted at any point of the proceedings. However, for criminal matters that fall under the scope of the Cour d’assises, the application must be submitted before the hearings, or at a later stage during the appeal process.
Legal aid
You are entitled to the same legal aid (aide juridictionnelle) for applications before the Constitutional Court as you were before the court of first instance.
To apply to the Constitutional Council, you do not need a lawyer, but it is important to remember that your application will go through multiple screenings, by different courts, and each can refuse to accept your complaint if it considers that the legal arguments are not clear or sufficient. Furthermore, only lawyers may plead before the Council during the public hearing.