File n° 45 

I. –  committees of inquiry

1. –  The setting-up of a committee of inquiry  

From 1991 on, the single term “committee of inquiry” has been applied to bodies which formerly were known either as “committees of inquiry” per se (those which dealt with a specific situation) or “monitoring committees” (those which dealt with the administrative, financial or technical management of public services or national companies).

The setting-up of a committee of inquiry is entirely a parliamentary initiative. It takes the form of a motion tabled by one or several M.P.s requesting the setting-up of the said committee of inquiry. This motion must set out the reasons for the request and must establish the object of the inquiry.

It is then transmitted to the relevant standing committee, which has one month from the distribution of the motion to present its report. (This measure aims at avoiding the “burying” of the request to set up a committee of inquiry). The National Assembly then votes in plenary sitting. 

Since 1988, a convention has been established allowing each political group the annual right to have one such motion requesting the setting-up of a committee of inquiry, included on the agenda.

a) The Admissibility of the Motion

In its report the standing committee gives its opinion on the admissibility of the motion as regards the law and also upon the appropriateness of its timing.  

According to the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, the motion has to “clearly point out the events which must be investigated or the public services or the national companies whose management the committee must investigate”. This requirement is not particularly demanding in practice. 

In addition, the ordinance of March 17, 1958 on the functioning of parliamentary assemblies specifically forbids the setting-up of a committee of inquiry concerning events which have lead to legal proceedings and for as long as such proceedings continue. This is why the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly make provision for the President to notify the Minister of Justice as soon as such a motion has been tabled.

The problem of the precise limits of the respective areas for parliamentary inquiry and judicial investigation has led to a complex jurisprudence ; the interpretation which takes precedence is that the existence of proceedings does not prohibit the setting-up of a committee of inquiry when it is so desired, but nonetheless limits its field of investigation to events not covered by the proceedings. Thus the flexibility of the interpretation of this rule has not stopped for example the setting-up of committees of inquiry into the Service d’action civique (SAC), sects, the Crédit Lyonnais or the student social security system.

Whatever the case, the work of a committee of inquiry is automatically suspended upon the beginning of a judicial investigation concerning the events which led to its establishment.

b) The Make-up of Committees of Inquiry

Although the said ordinance of 1958 provides for the committee members to be appointed by majority vote, a compromise has always meant that political groups are represented proportionately. This practice was reinforced by a reform in 1994 which introduced the same mechanisms as for the appointment of members of standing committees, i.e. on the basis of candidates proposed by the political groups.

The committees of inquiry have a maximum of thirty members, who elect their Bureau and rapporteur by secret ballot. This Bureau must comprise of a chairman, two deputy chairmen and two secretaries. The position of chairman or that of rapporteur falls by right to a member of the group which includes the first signatory of the original motion to set up the committee or, in the case of several such motions having been tabled, to the first signatory of the first of such motions to be tabled, unless the said group makes it known to the President of the National Assembly that it does not wish its members to hold either of these positions.

Even though the rapporteur, whose role is essential, is always a member of the ruling majority (with the one notable exception of the committees on sects in 1996 and 2003), the chairman, who also plays an important role (he convenes the committee, directs its work and must ensure that this work does not impinge upon current legal proceedings), has since 2003, very often been a member of the opposition (committees of inquiry on the heatwave, on local taxation and the so-called “Outreau scandal”).

2. –  The work of the committees

a) Time Limits

The committees of inquiry are of a temporary nature. Their mission comes to an end upon the filing of their report or at the latest, six months from the date of the passing of the motion which set them up.

In addition, a committee of inquiry may not be reconstituted with the same mission within twelve months of the end of its original mission.

b)  Important Powers

According to the ordinance of 1958: “Committees of inquiry are created in order to gather information…with a view to submitting their conclusions to the assembly which established them”.

They organize their work according to the rules applicable to the standing committees. The law has drawn up their prerogatives in line with those of the Finance Committee:

― The right to summons: every person whose evidence before the committee of inquiry is deemed useful by the chairman of the committee, is bound to appear before it. This summons may be made through the person of a bailiff or a police officer. The witness’s testimony is given under oath except for minors of under sixteen years old. The witness testifies under the provisions of articles 226-13 and 226-14 of the Criminal Code, pertaining to professional secrecy. These obligations carry legal penalties if not carried out. In addition, the penalties applicable in the case of perjury or of bribery of a witness are equally applicable for parliamentary inquiries. Legal proceedings start upon the request of the chairman of the committee of inquiry or the Bureau of the National Assembly, if the report of the committee is published.

― The rapporteur has very specific powers. He carries out his mission “sur pièces et sur place”. All information which can make his task easier must be provided to him. He is empowered to see all department documents with the exception of those which are classified and concern national defence, foreign affairs, and the internal or external security of the State. This must all be carried out in accordance with the principle of the separation of the judiciary from the other branches of power. He may also request the assistance of the Court of Auditors (this was the case for example of the committee of inquiry on privatization in 1989).

― The public nature of the hearings: each committee of inquiry is free to organize the public nature of its hearings as it wishes, including television broadcasting. It may also, on the contrary, decide to meet “in camera”. Secrecy continues to apply to the rest of the work of the committee: its internal deliberations must not be made public, except if its final report itself refers to them.

Each committee of inquiry has a secretariat made up of civil servants of the National Assembly. The hearings (often very numerous) which it carries out, are presented in minutes, which are often contained in annexes to its report. It may carry out missions in France (and, if necessary, abroad) and has a special budgetary allocation in the budget of the National Assembly for that purpose. It may also have recourse to the technical help of specialists.

c)  The Conclusion of Its Work

The report is adopted by the committee of inquiry and filed with the President of the National Assembly ; this filing is recorded in the Journal Officiel. The report is then published, unless the National Assembly meeting “in camera”, following a request which must be made within five days of the filing, decides otherwise. The report of a committee of inquiry may also be debated in plenary sitting without a vote (this was the case for the committee of inquiry on sects in 1996).

Anyone who divulges or publishes any information relative to the non-public work of a committee of inquiry within thirty years, unless the report published at the end of the work has made reference to such information, is subject to legal penalties.

3. –  The ability to influence without the power to oblige

a)   Orienting Governmental Action

The conclusions reached and the proposals made have an important position in the reports of the committees of inquiry. These reports obviously reflect the opinion of the majority of the committee, but it is customary to include in a separate section the opinion of minority commissioners.

The conclusions of the reports may lead to a debate without vote in plenary sitting. M.P.s may also refer to them by using the procedures of classic parliamentary law, in particular by asking questions to the Government. In addition, a reform of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, adopted on 12 February 2004, makes provision, in the six months following the publication of the conclusions of the inquiry, for a member of the relevant standing committee, appointed by it, to present a report to it on the implementation of the recommendations put forward by the committee of inquiry.

Even though these conclusions in themselves are not decisions, the publication of the reports and their repercussions in the media incite the Government to accept certain suggestions or place it in the position of being almost forced to act on account of public opinion, especially if the area in question is particularly sensitive. 

b)   Leading to Judicial Action

In carrying out their investigations, the committees of inquiry may uncover criminal actions. Although they may not characterize such actions judicially or give a verdict on the penalties to be applied, the committees of inquiry may transmit information to the Minister of Justice, upon his request, with a view to opening a judicial inquiry. They may also refer these cases directly to the Public Prosecutor’s Office in accordance with article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (this was the case of the committee of inquiry on the influence of organizations classifiable as sects on minors, in 2006).

c)   Encouraging Parliamentary Action

Standing committees, in their turn, may take up an issue examined by a committee of inquiry and go further in its investigation ; it can also happen that former members of a committee of inquiry may be involved in the tabling of a bill aimed at counteracting the shortcomings in legislation revealed by the inquiry.

II. –  the fact-finding missions set up by the conference of Presidents

A new provision of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly, adopted in March 2003, in the framework of the modernization of the work methods of the National Assembly, grants the Conference of Presidents the possibility of setting-up fact-finding missions upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly. The Constitutional Council made it clear that such missions should be temporary and limited their role to fact-finding.

The setting-up of such missions within the Conference of Presidents, upon the initiative of the President of the National Assembly, confers a certain formality to work on sensitive subjects or current issues which interest all the political groups and all the committees. This is even more the case as the President of the National Assembly may chair such missions (fact-finding missions on the question of religious symbols in schools and on the problem of health insurance).

Although three fact-finding missions appointed their chairman as a rapporteur (missions on the question of religious symbols in schools, on caring for people at the end of their lives and on the problem of health insurance), the eight others alternated between the governing majority and the opposition as regards the positions of rapporteur (governing majority) and chairman (opposition).

The work of the missions involves hearings and perhaps even travel within France and abroad. The reports may lead to a debate without vote, in plenary sitting. Depending on the theme of the mission, they can lead to the tabling of a Members’ bill, co-sponsored by all the members of the mission (mission on caring for people at the end of their lives), a Government bill (mission on religious symbols in schools and on the family and the rights of children) or a decree (mission on the prohibition of tobacco in public places).