The Commission hears the applicant. It may also hear, on its own initiative or at the written request of the commission secretariat, any person whose opinion is relevant to the examination of the application before it.
When it examines the first commercial development authorisation application submitted for a project, except for the procedure laid down in article L. 752-4, the departmental commission also hears the persons mentioned in I of article L. 751-2, up to a limit of two associations per commune.
With a view to this hearing, the mayor of the municipality in which the project is to be set up will draw up a list for the committee containing the contact details of the person responsible for organising the town centre trade in his municipality, the trade agency responsible for his municipality and the retailers’ associations in his municipality. For their part, the mayors of the municipalities bordering the municipality in which the store is located and included in the catchment area draw up a list containing the contact details of the retailers’ associations in their municipality.
The retailers’ associations interviewed must have been registered with the prefecture for at least one year prior to the date of submission of the application for authorisation to operate a business.
Of the two associations heard per municipality, subject to the seniority requirement set out above, the association with the largest number of traders in the town centre will be included, the second association being the one that, other than the first, has the largest number of traders in the municipality. Failing this, for each municipality concerned, the two associations proving that they have the largest number of retailers in the municipality will be considered.
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