PART ONE: GENERAL PROVISIONS

Subject to compliance with the provisions of articles L. 1612-1, L. 1612-9 and L. 1612-10, amendments may be made to the budget by the deliberative body, up to the end of the financial year to which they apply. Within a period of twenty-one days following the end of the financial year, the deliberative body may, in addition, make amendments to the budget to adjust the appropriations in the operating section…

The local authority’s accounts are approved by a vote of the deliberative body on the administrative account presented by the mayor, the president of the departmental council or the president of the regional council, as appropriate, after the management account drawn up by the local authority’s accounting officer has been submitted by 1 June of the year following the financial year. The vote of the deliberative body approving the accounts…

The administrative account is sent to the State representative in the department no later than fifteen days after the deadline set for its adoption by articles L. 1612-9 and L. 1612-12. Failing this, the State representative will refer the matter, in accordance with the procedure set out in article L. 1612-5, the chambre régionale des comptes (regional audit office) for the local authority’s next approved budget.

When the accounts of a territorial authority show a deficit in the implementation of the budget, after verification of the accuracy of the revenue and expenditure entries, equal to or greater than 10% of the revenue of the operating section in the case of a municipality with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants and 5% in other cases, the regional audit chamber, to which the State representative refers the matter, proposes to…

The only compulsory expenditure for local authorities is that required to pay debts due and expenditure for which the law has expressly so decided. The regional audit chamber to which a matter has been referred, either by the representative of the State in the department, or by the public accountant concerned, or by any person with an interest, establishes that a compulsory expenditure has not been entered in the budget…

If the mayor, the president of the departmental council or the president of the regional council, as the case may be, fails to pay a compulsory expenditure within one month of being given formal notice to do so by the representative of the State in the department, the latter shall proceed to do so automatically. The period provided for in the previous paragraph is extended to two months if the…

The provisions of articles L. 1612-15 and L. 1612-16 are not applicable to the entry and payment of compulsory expenditure resulting, for local authorities, their groupings and their public establishments, from a court decision that has become res judicata. These operations remain governed by Article 1 of loi n° 80-539 du 16 juillet 1980 relative aux astreintes prononcées en matière administrative et à l’exécution des jugements par les personnes morales…

When the sums due in respect of default interest and the fixed indemnity for recovery costs mentioned in Articles L. 2192-8 and L. 3133-8 of the Public Procurement Code are not mandated within thirty days of the date of payment of the principal, the State representative in the department sends the authorising officer, within fifteen days of notification by the creditor, the public accountant or any other third party, formal…

The deliberative assemblies are kept informed as soon as they meet of the opinions formulated by the regional audit chamber and of the orders issued by the representative of the State in application of the provisions of this chapter. Without waiting for the deliberative assembly to meet, the opinions formulated by the regional audit chamber and the orders issued by the representative of the State pursuant to articles L. 1612-2,…

The deliberative assemblies must decide on the public utility nature of the expenditure having given rise to a declaration of de facto management by the Court of Audit during the closest meeting following the transmission of the request sent by the Court of Audit to the de facto accounting officer and the authorising officer of the local authority concerned. The deliberative assemblies must decide on the public utility nature of…