In
France,
Italy,
Belgium, and some other
civil law countries, a circulaire (
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
), circolare (
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional It ...
) or omzendbrief (
Dutch) consists of a text intended for the members of a service, of an
enterprise
Enterprise (or the archaic spelling Enterprize) may refer to:
Business and economics
Brands and enterprises
* Enterprise GP Holdings, an energy holding company
* Enterprise plc, a UK civil engineering and maintenance company
* Enterprise ...
, or of an
administration
Administration may refer to:
Management of organizations
* Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal
** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...
.
Within the French and Belgian
civil service
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
, a ''circulaire'' originates from a
ministry with the aim of giving an interpretation of a legal text or of a
regulation (a
decree, ''arrêté'' or
Royal Order), with a view to applying such a regulation consistently. As such, a ''circulaire'' depends on the general principles of law, but carries more weight than mere administrative acts.
''Circulaires'' provide recommendations: they apply only to employees of the civil service. In certain cases, ''circulaires'' introduce new rules (''circulaires réglementaires''); such that under certain conditions one can appeal against
abuse of power
Abuse is the improper usage or treatment of a thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, crimes, or other t ...
.
The body of
jurisprudence relating to ''circulaires'' has developed extensively. In principle, ''circulaires'' exist only to comment on existing law and to explain its application in concrete terms.
The contentious side of ''circulaires'', of ''notes de services'' and of ''instructions'' has brought about several legal responses, varying according to several criteria and according to the type of text involved:
* the regulatory nature of the text
* the character of the measure of internal administration
* the regulatory power of Ministers within their Departments
* Government decisions
The ''
Conseil d'État'' (French) or ''
Raad van State'' (Dutch) thus far retains a unique criterion for determining whether to bring a disputed decision in front of a
judge: the imperative character of the decision.
CE 18 December 2002, Section, Mme Duvignères, N° 233618
. See the conclusions of Madame Pascale Fombeur in RFDA 2003.280.
If this condition applies, judges examine the legality of the text. This has been the case for the Peeters directive
The Peeters directive ( nl, Omzendbrief-Peeters, french: Circulaire Peeters), officially Circular BA 97/22 of 16 December 1997 concerning the use of languages in municipal councils of the Dutch language area, is a '' circulaire'' of the Flemish gov ...
in Belgium, restricting the use of French in officially Dutch-speaking municipalities.
References
{{Authority control
Law of France
Belgian legislation
pt:Circular