Justice in France in figures

The administrative courts hear most disputes involving a public body (the State, a local authority, a public hospital or another public institution) and an individual, a company or an association. They have three levels, administrative tribunals, administrative courts of appeal and the Conseil d'État, whose roles are described further down. For each court, the table gives the number of decisions, the change over one year, the dismissal rate and the median time to judgment.

The largest number of decisions comes from the Tribunal administratif de Paris, with 31,106 decisions in 2025, followed by the Tribunal administratif de Cergy-Pontoise (16,907) and the Tribunal administratif de Nantes (16,301); together, these three tribunals issued 26% of first-instance decisions. Over one year, 34 of the 40 administrative tribunals with published decisions issued more decisions than in 2024. Among the tribunals with at least 200 decisions, the dismissal rate ranges from 46% to 71%.

The mix of subjects differs from one court to another (immigration cases, for instance, weigh on the dismissal rate and on time to judgment): see “Understanding these figures”. Median time: judgments only, excluding orders. Rate and time not computed below 200 decisions in the year.

Back to contents

Time to judgment is the time between the filing of the application and the judgment. It is summarised by the median: half of the cases are decided faster, the other half more slowly. The quartiles add a second benchmark: a quarter of the cases are decided before the first quartile, a quarter after the third. The chart spreads the administrative tribunal judgments over bands of duration.

In 2025, an administrative tribunal judgment comes a median of 7 months after filing: a quarter of the cases are decided in less than a month, a quarter wait more than 21 months. This median is the same as in 2024. Before the administrative courts of appeal, the median time is 15 months (14 months in 2024); it is 7 months before the Conseil d'État. Among the administrative tribunals with at least 1,000 decisions, the median time ranges from 3 months to 19 months.

• Administrative tribunals7 monthsmedian time
• Administrative courts of appeal15 monthsmedian time
• Conseil d'État7 monthsmedian time

See also Tribunal administratif de Grenoble Tribunal administratif de Rennes Tribunal administratif de Versailles Tribunal administratif de Mayotte Tribunal administratif de Bastia all courts

Judgments only, excluding orders (summary proceedings), counted from the first application filed.

Back to contents

Administrative judges hear a wide range of disputes: residence permits and removal orders, taxes, building permits, the careers of public servants, housing, social benefits, driving licences, public procurement. Grouping the decisions by subject shows which disputes take up most of the courts' work, and how the dismissal rate and time to judgment change from one field to another.

Immigration alone accounts for 40% of administrative court decisions in 2025, that is 111,932 decisions, 9% more than in 2024. It is followed by tax (4%) and housing (4%). Among the subjects with at least 1,000 decisions, the median time ranges from 4 months for immigration to 24 months for tax and civil service. The dismissal rate ranges from 32% for housing to 74% for employment law.

Subject determined from the legal texts cited in each decision; “other matters” groups decisions without a characteristic text.

Back to contents

The outcome sums up what the decision does: the claim is dismissed, it is granted in whole or in part, or the case ends without the court having to rule on the merits. On appeal and in cassation, a dismissal leaves the contested decision in place, whether the appeal came from the individual or from the public body: the dismissal rate alone does not say who wins the case.

The dismissal rate rises from one court level to the next: 57% before the administrative tribunals, 75% before the courts of appeal and 83% before the Conseil d'État, among the 2025 decisions with a stated outcome. Compared with 2024, the first-instance rate is unchanged. Before the administrative tribunals, 22% of the decisions annul the contested act or grant the claim, while withdrawals and “no need to rule” decisions, which end the case without a ruling on the merits, account for 18%, against 5% before the courts of appeal.

Decisions with a stated and classified outcome, excluding interim decisions (expert report, investigation).

Back to contents

This chart follows, year by year, the number of decisions issued at each level of the administrative courts. This volume measures judicial output and is not the same as the number of cases filed in the same year: a case may be decided months, or even years, after it was filed.

Over the period, the total number of decisions rose every year, from 243,188 in 2023 to 279,322 in 2025 (+15%). The number of decisions of the administrative tribunals rose every year, from 206,562 to 244,677; that of the courts of appeal fell every year, from 29,052 to 27,140; that of the Conseil d'État went from 7,574 to 7,505. In 2025, the administrative tribunals alone issued 88% of the decisions of the administrative courts.

• Administrative tribunals
• Administrative courts of appeal
• Conseil d'État

Series start in 2023, the first full year in which the administrative tribunals and courts of appeal published their decisions.

Back to contents

The Constitutional Council checks that legislation complies with the Constitution. A law can be referred to it before enactment (“DC” decisions) or, once in force, through a priority question of constitutionality (QPC): a party raises it during a trial, and the Conseil d'État or the Cour de cassation passes it on to the Council. It also rules on disputes over National Assembly and Senate elections and oversees the regularity of the presidential election.

The Constitutional Council issued 309 decisions in 2025, including 55 QPC (42 in 2024), 26 decisions reviewing laws (DC) and 218 election decisions. From 2016 to 2025, its yearly output ranged from 76 decisions in 2020 to 523 in 2018, including 421 election decisions. Of the 606 QPC decided over this period, 44% led to a provision being struck down in full or in part, or upheld with reservations; a QPC is decided a median of 2 months after referral.

• QPC
• Review of laws (DC)
• Elections
• Other

See also Constitutional Council

Back to contents

The CNIL (Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés) is the independent administrative authority that oversees the protection of personal data. Its deliberations cover very different acts: opinions on draft legislation, authorisations (in particular for research using health data), recommendations, formal notices and sanctions (the latter imposed by its restricted committee). Sanctions can be challenged before the Conseil d'État.

The CNIL adopted 426 deliberations in 2025, 6% fewer than in 2024; it adopted 2,238 from 2021 to 2025. Research authorisations account for 69% of them over the period. It imposed 66 sanctions over these five years, between 8 and 18 a year.

See also CNIL

Back to contents

The Autorité de la concurrence is France's independent competition authority. It reviews mergers above certain turnover thresholds, fines anticompetitive practices (cartels, abuse of a dominant position), can order interim measures when a practice causes serious and immediate harm to the economy, to the sector concerned, to consumers or to the complainant company, and issues opinions. Its decisions on anticompetitive practices can be challenged before the Paris court of appeal, its merger decisions before the Conseil d'État.

The French Competition Authority published 354 decisions and opinions in 2025, including 328 merger control decisions (295 in 2024) and 9 decisions on anticompetitive practices. Its fines totalled EUR 6.7 billion from 2016 to 2025; the yearly amount ranged from EUR 168 million in 2023 to EUR 1.8 billion in 2020. In 2025, 5 decisions imposed fines, for a total of EUR 379 million.

See also Competition Authority

Back to contents