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On a daily basis, you hear talk of "decree", "decree", "code", ... But what do these terms mean? How do regulations work in France and at European level? To whom does a directive or regulation apply? These are just a few of the questions that can legitimately be asked. We therefore propose to focus on decoding French and European regulations in general. The next two articles on this subject will illustrate this decoding through specific examples concerning EHS regulations.
Decoding regulations: what are the links?
Before going into the details of how to decipher the regulations, we'll start by outlining the regulations and the links that may exist between international law, European law and French law.
International law
International treaties and agreements are documents signed by states at international level. For example, the Kyoto Protocol commits signatory states to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
They are not directly applicable to companies, but to the signatory state. It is up to the latter to implement in its own law the rules needed to meet the requirements of the treaties, agreements or protocols.
European Union law
A European regulation is a binding piece of legislation applicable to all (e.g. REACH and CLP regulations).
A directive is a legislative act which sets objectives for member states, who must then transpose it into national law (in France, by law, ordinance or decree). States are free to decide what measures they wish to put in place to achieve the directive's objectives. The directive is therefore not directly applicable to companies.
Decisions are binding legal acts which may be general in scope or addressed to a specific addressee(s).
French law
General principle
The Constitution is considered the highest rule of the French legal system. Since 2005, it has included the Charter of the Environment.
Below these come laws and ordinances. They are often used to create articles (=codify) at legislative level in codes (labor code, environment code, etc.).
- Laws are passed by Parliament (consisting of the Senate and the National Assembly);
- Ordinances are acts issued by the Government in areas normally covered by the law. An enabling law must be passed by Parliament to authorize the Government to issue the ordinance, and once it has been issued, Parliament must pass a ratification law to make it valid.
Laws and ordinances define the general rules and operating principles for a given subject. Very often, they do not contain so-called operational and concrete requirements. They may be immediately applicable, or require an implementing decree.
Decrees are issued by the President of the Republic or the Prime Minister, generally in application of laws or ordinances, and often codify regulatory articles. Sometimes, a decree is required to complete the regulatory provisions.
This means that laws, decrees and orders apply to companies.
Circulars are administrative documents used to explain a regulatory text. They are not binding unless they are made mandatory by a prefectoral order.
There are also other types of text, such as notices, decisions, etc. Like the circular, in most cases these texts explain the regulations and provide methodological or technical details.
The codes
A code is a single document in a legal field (e.g. environment, energy, labor, etc.), consisting of a legislative part and a regulatory part.
They bring together dispersed requirements, whether legislative (articles "L" from laws or ordinances) or regulatory (articles "R" and "D" mainly from decrees), in order to coordinate them and make them more coherent and accessible through a logical plan.
The codes are then divided into :
- for certain codes, such as the Labour Code and the Public Health Code: in part, book, title then chapter;
- for other codes, such as the Environment Code and the Energy Code: in book, title, chapter.
In the context of health, safety and environmental regulations, it should be noted that :
- provisions relating to health and safety at work can be found in the fourth part of the Labour Code (for example, at regulatory level: articles R. 4121-1 to R. 4121-4 deal with the single document);
- Book V of the Environmental Code includes provisions relating to ICPEs in Title I (corresponding to articles numbered 51x) and to waste in Title IV (corresponding to articles numbered 54x).
In conclusion, you now know everything there is to know about decoding regulations. In Part 2, we'll show you how these regulations work, with examples from the environmental field. Finally, in Part 3, you'll find out how they're organized through occupational health and safety.