Third-Party Direct Challenges to the Administrative Contracts and their Effects on the Parties of the Contract

Abstract

This Paper seeks to address the recent development introduced by the French administrative Judiciary concerning third-party direct challenges to administrative contracts. In doing so, this paper shall be divided into three sections: The first discusses the traditional doctrine on the effect of the annulment of administrative decisions with relevance to the Contract. In the second one, we discuss the limited scope of the 2007 Société Tropic ruling concerning third-party direct challenges to the contract. In the third and last section, we explore the 2014 Department of Tarn-et-Garonne ruling which has resulted in expanding the scope of third-party challenges before the administrative judge.

The study finally concludes with several recommendations and results, the most important of which are; that the French State Council's approach towards third-party challenges to administrative contracts is in line with the principle of legality. If further provides a radical solution, especially in cases where relevant administrative decisions to the contract have been annulled by the judiciary. And lastly, it reduces the risk of voiding the defective contract in the future.