Relations between the State and citizens reflected in the new Code on relations between the public and administration

The Code on the relations between the public and administration is the „newcomer“to the French legal scene. It is absolutely clear that it signifies an important stage in the new configuration of current administrative law. With the purpose of becoming the lex generalis for relations between the public and administration, this Code attempts in entirety to satisfy the aim of accessibility and clarity of the legal rule in dialogue which occurs daily between the administration and the „public“. The bearer of this new image of administration is loyal, close to citizens, accessible and open to all. This Code is original for a number of reasons. Firstly, the presentation will emphasise three particular characteristics of this originality. Firstly, there is the unheard of nature in the method of the formulation and composition of this Code. Secondly, its general philosophy which is at the intersection of two big concerns: on the one hand, the concern about the legal security obvious in improving citizens’ access to the law, availability and comprehension of the law. On the other hand, it is about modernising the government at whose centre are changes in relations between the administration and its users. And thirdly, its contents which combine codification with the aim of equalising the law with examples or simplifying complex legal regimes such as retracting illegal decisions which recognise the law or regime of law to which respecting a contradictory procedure applies. This Code, in its own way, bears witness to the big transformations experienced by administrative law and suggests a new adventure in the relations between the administration and all citizens at the beginning of the 21st century