Alert on the seizure of aircraft of foreign nationality or whose owner is not domiciled in France on French territory: LERINS has the provisions of Article R. 123-9 of the Civil Aviation Code ruled illegal by the Council of State.
At the initiative of our associate Elsa Rodrigues and her team, on October 14, 2022, the Council of State ruled as follows:
“It is declared that the provisions of Article R. 123-9 of the Civil Aviation Code are illegal insofar as they designate the magistrate judge of the place where the aircraft has landed as the competent judge to authorize the seizure of aircraft of foreign nationality or whose owner is not domiciled in France.”
This highly anticipated decision puts an end to a strong legal insecurity since the provisions of article R. 123-9 of the Civil Aviation Code were likely to call into question the validity of aircraft seizures carried out on French territory authorized by the Enforcement Judge and not the Magistrate’s Court
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From now on, French civil aviation law is clarified: any seizure of an aircraft of foreign nationality or whose owner is not domiciled in France must be authorized by the enforcement judge, and only him.
Decision of the Council of State