Subsection 1: Procedure

For the application of articles L. 743-3 to L. 743-18, the competent liberties and detention judge is that of the judicial court within whose jurisdiction the foreign national is held in detention or assigned to residence.However, the liberties and detention judge competent to rule on the continued detention of a foreign national in the case provided for in article L. 742-6 is that of the Paris judicial court. This judge…

On pain of inadmissibility, the application shall state the grounds on which it is based, be dated and signed, as appropriate, by the foreign national or his representative or by the administrative authority that ordered the detention.When the application is made by the administrative authority, it shall be accompanied by any useful supporting documents, in particular a copy of the register provided for in article L. 744-2.When the application is…

On receipt of the application, the court clerk registers it and stamps it and any attachments with the date and time of receipt.He immediately notifies by any means the administrative authority that ordered the detention, the public prosecutor, the foreign national and his or her lawyer, if any, of the day and time of the hearing set by the liberty and custody judge.

The application and the documents attached to it are, as soon as they arrive at the registry of the judicial court, made available to the foreign national’s lawyer and to the administrative authority. They may also be consulted there, before the opening of the proceedings, by the foreign national himself, assisted, if necessary, by an interpreter if he does not speak sufficient French.

The administrative authority competent to propose to the liberty and custody judge that the hearing take place with the use of audiovisual telecommunication means, as provided for in article L. 743-8, is the departmental prefect and, in Paris, the police prefect.

At the hearing, the administrative authority that ordered the placement in detention or its representative, is heard at its request or that of the liberties and detention judge.The foreign national, unless he or she does not appear, although duly summoned, and, if applicable, his or her lawyer, are heard. The judge appoints an interpreter if the foreign national does not sufficiently speak French.The public prosecutor may make his opinion known.

The order of the liberty and custody judge is handed down within forty-eight hours of its referral. It is notified on the spot to the parties present at the hearing, who acknowledge receipt. The judge shall orally inform the parties present of the time limit for appeal and the procedures by which this remedy may be exercised and shall simultaneously inform them that only the appeal lodged by the public…

When an order terminates the foreign national’s detention and the public prosecutor considers that he does not need to request the first president to declare the appeal suspensive, he returns the order to the magistrate who issued it, stating on it that he does not oppose its enforcement. The measure to keep the foreign national at the disposal of the justice system is then immediately terminated.