French Administrative Supreme Court Specifies The Conditions For The Regularization Of Environmental Authorizations

In a ruling issued on March 1, 2023¹, the Conseil d'Etat (French Administrative Supreme Court) clarified the conditions under which the administrative judge exercises his/her power to stay proceedings for the purpose of correcting the defects of an environmental authorization.

In a prefectoral order dated July 29, 2019, the préfet (local representative of the Government)of the Deux-Sèvres department granted to the company Ferme éolienne de Saint-Maurice an environmental authorization for the implementation and operation of a wind park comprising 6 wind turbines on the territory of the Saint-Maurice-Etusson municipality.

Following an appeal lodged by a local resident, the Bordeaux Administrative Court of Appeals annulled in part the authorization insofar as it did not include the derogation from the prohibition on the destruction of non-domestic animal species and their habitats provided for under Article L. 411-2 of the French Environmental Code, suspended the