ACA-Europe held a seminar entitled « Soft law, legal norms and sources of law » at the headquarters of the Council of State of France on 18 December 2013. The seminar was opened by Mr Jean-Marc Sauvé, in his capacity as President of ACA-Europe, and consisted of three round-table discussions.

 

The seminar was based on a questionnaire concerning the hierarchy of norms which participants responded.

The first round table discussed the following subject : « The practice of soft law under the supervision of the administrative judge: the assessment », chaired by Mr. Robert Andersen, first President of the Council of State of Belgium. Ms Catherine Bergeal, councillor of State at the Council of State of France, and Mr. Peter Van Buuren, councillor of State at the Raad van State of the Netherlands were the speakers of the round table.

The second round table discussed the following subject : « Soft law and legal norms - useful functions, conditional efficacy and genuine risks: advantages / disadvantages », chaired by Mr. Giuseppe Barbagallo, President of the first section of the Council of State of Italy. Mr Laurent Cytermann, member of the Council of State of France, Mr Klaus Rennert, vice-president of the federal administrative court of Germany, and Ms Angela Julcher, judge at the administrative court of Austria, were the speakers of the round table.
The third round table discussed the following subject : « Soft law, Union law and hierarchy of norms: the impact on law », chaired by Mr. Jacek Chlebny, member of the administrative Supreme Court of Poland and President of the administrative court of Warsaw. Mr Jacky Richard, councillor of State at the Council of State of France, Mr. Michael Vilaras, councillor of State at the Council of State of Greece, and Mr. Jean-Paul Keppenne, legal advisor at the European Commission, will be the speakers of the round table.
IMG 3582 Mr Christian Vigouroux, Chairman of the Reporting and Research Section of the Council of State of France, spoke about the results of the work.