The application will not be sent straight away to the Constitutional Council, as the law provides two screening mechanisms.
How is your application examined?
The Court
The court of first instance will examine your application first. The court will determine if your application is complete and if it is admissible. In other words, it will decide if the three criteria explained previously – that your application concerns a legal provision, that the Council has not ruled on that provision previously, and that your application is not devoid of seriousness – are met.
The court must answer “without delay”. There are two possible outcomes:
- if the court decides that your application fulfils those criteria, it will then send it to the supreme court of the order it belongs to (the Conseil d’État if you are involved in an administrative proceeding, or the Cour de Cassation for all other matters). Meanwhile, the court must stay the proceedings until it receives the answer to your application. However, this does not apply if your proceeding is a matter of urgency or if it concerns deprivation of liberty
- if the court decides to dismiss your application, the proceedings resume. You may appeal this decision during the appeal process of your case
The supreme court
The supreme court will conduct the same examination, albeit in more detail. The supreme court has 3 months to rule on your application. If the supreme court fails to respect this deadline, the application is transferred to the Constitutional Council. Again, there are two possible outcomes:
- the supreme court dismisses your application. In this case, you may not appeal this decision
- the supreme court submit your application to the Constitutional Council, because it believes that your application fulfils the requirements
The law gives the Constitutional Council 3 months to rule on the application. On average, the Council rules in 76 days. Given the short delay, notifications and exchanges are done by email. During this period, both parties may expose their written arguments. A public hearing is set before the Council renders its decision public. If lawyers are not mandatory to write and submit the application, only lawyers may plead before the Constitutional Council.
How long will it take?
The full examination of your application, including a judgement of the Constitutional Council, takes about 9 months. However, there may be a significant difference depending on which courts are first involved in the application. Some courts of first instance rule on the application in a month, while others may take up to 6 months.