Second Book of the statute of the local elected official - Law 2019/024 of 24 Dec 2019 on the General Code of Decentralized Territorial Communities

ARTICLE 116 - (1) The status of local elected representative shall be acquired and lost in accordance with the legislative and regulatory provisions governing the mandate concerned;

(2) The status of member of the Executive of the Territorial Communities is established by a decree of the Minister in charge of Territorial Communities.

ARTICLE 117 - (1) The status of local elected representative entitles the holder to be issued with a local elected representative's card.

(2) The modalities of issuance and the characteristics of the card provided for in paragraph 1 above shall be determined by an order of the Minister in charge of local authorities.

ARTICLE 118 - (1) In addition to the local elected representatives' card referred to in Article 117 above, members of the Executive of Territorial Communities may be issued with a service passport, under the conditions laid down by the regulations in force.

ARTICLE 119 - (1) During official ceremonies and in the solemn circumstances of the exercise of their duties on the territory of their Territorial Collectivity, local elected representatives shall wear official attributes and insignia.

(2) The wearing of attributes and insignia is compulsory on the following occasions:

• • official celebrations and ceremonies;
• • official visits to the Collectivité Territoriale by government authorities and senior figures;
• • wedding celebrations;
• • The funeral of a local councillor.
• • (3) Wearing the badge is recommended on the following occasions:
• • sessions of the deliberative body;
• • all other public meetings and events.

(4) During official ceremonies attended by the President of the Republic and Members of Parliament, as well as on solemn occasions in the performance of their duties, members of the Executive of Local Authorities shall wear a sash in the national colours, with gold fringed tassels for the Head of the Executive and silver fringed tassels for other members of the Executive.

(5) However, when presiding over the Municipal Council, the celebration of a marriage or the signing of an agreement, the members of the Communal Executive may wear, slung over their shoulders, a scarf in the national colours, with gold fringed tassels for the Mayor and silver fringed tassels for the Deputy Mayors.

(6) The badge and scarf in the national colours mentioned above may not be worn together with the symbols of a political party, association or religious organisation.

ARTICLE 120 - (1) Members of the Executive of the Collectivité Territoriale shall affix a roundel to their official vehicles to enable them to be identified by day and night.

(2) The characteristics of the said roundel shall be determined by decree of the President of the Republic.

ARTICLE 121 - The badge, the scarf in the national colours, the roundel and the local elected representative's card mentioned above are purchased from the budget of the Territorial Collectivity.

ARTICLE 122 - In the performance of their duties, local elected representatives shall enjoy the following rights:

• • right to participate ;
• • entitlement to sessional allowance ;
• • right to training and information ;
• • right to health;
• • right to protection ;
• • right to transport and travel ;
• • right to a funeral.

ARTICLE 123 Local elected representatives shall attend meetings, events and consultations organised in or in connection with the Territorial Community.

ARTICLE 124- (1) A local elected official who does not hold an executive office within the Territorial Community shall enjoy, with regard to his/her employer, the right to participate in the sessions and activities of the said Community.

(2) When notified in writing at least three (03) days before the deadline, the employer is obliged either to arrange working time or to allow the local elected official the time necessary to attend, in particular:
sessions of the deliberative body
meetings of committees set up by the deliberative body;
meetings of deliberative assemblies and boards of organisations, and any other meetings where the elected representative represents the Local Authority.

(3) The absence of the local elected representative from his/her place of work due to his/her participation in the sessions of the deliberative body may not be a cause for downgrading in category or index, disciplinary sanction or termination of the employment contract, on pain of damages to his/her benefit.

(4) Local elected representatives wishing to suspend their employment contract in order to devote themselves fully to the exercise of their mandate must inform their employer by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.

(5) The agreement obtained ensures that the elected representative who so requests simply suspends the effects of his employment contract until the expiry of his term of office.

(6) At the end of their term of office, local elected representatives whose contracts have been suspended may, if they so wish, resume their professional activity and find an equivalent job within two (02) months.
ARTICLE 125 - All local elected representatives are entitled to a sessional allowance, the amount of which is set by regulation, when a session or meeting of the deliberative body is held.
ARTICLE 126 - (1) Local elected representatives are entitled to training appropriate to their mandate.

(2) Within three (03) months of his/her election, the deliberative body of the Territorial Community shall adopt a training plan for local elected representatives. It determines the guidelines, priorities and credits allocated for this purpose.

(3) The summary table of training courses for local elected representatives financed by the Commune or the Region is appended to the administrative account.

(4) Training must be organised during the first six (06) months of the term of office for the members of the Executive and the chairpersons of the deliberative body's committees.

(5) A local elected representative who is a salaried employee and who benefits from training provided by his or her Territorial Collectivity must submit a written request to his or her employer at least ten (10) days before the start of the said training.

ARTICLE 127 - Local elected representatives have the right to information on all matters concerning the Territorial Community. The representative of the State and the heads of decentralised State services are obliged to provide him/her, at his/her request, with all or part of the information and documents useful for the management of the Territorial Community.
ARTICLE 128 - The Local Authority may take out an insurance policy to cover accidents and illness suffered by a local elected official during the exercise of his/her mandate.
ARTICLE 129 - (1) Local elected representatives are protected in accordance with current criminal legislation and special laws against threats, insults, violence or defamation to which they may be subjected in the exercise of their mandate or by reason thereof.

(2) The Collectivité Territoriale is obliged, in collaboration with the competent services of the State, to ensure this protection and to compensate, where appropriate, for any damage resulting therefrom.

(3) The protection referred to in paragraph 2 above is extended to the spouses, children and direct ascendants of the Heads of Executive or their deputies, who die in the performance of their duties, as a result of the acts giving rise to their death or for acts committed after their death but as a result of the duties performed by the deceased elected representative.

(4) Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraph 1 above, contempt and insult committed against the Head of the Executive of the Territorial Collectivity or the Chair of the meeting during sessions of the deliberative body are punishable by the penalties laid down by criminal law. The Collectivité Territoriale is then subrogated to the rights of the victim to obtain from the perpetrators of these offences the restitution of sums paid to the elected representative concerned. To the same end, it also has a direct action that it can bring before the criminal court, if necessary by filing a civil action.

ARTICLE 143 - (1) The Mayor, the Deputy Mayors, the President, the First Deputy President, the Vice-Presidents or the Members of the Bureau of the Regional Council must devote their activity to the full exercise of their mandate.

(2) During their term of office, the remuneration of the members of the Executive of the Territorial Collectivities may not be combined with the pay of a civil servant or any other salary paid by a public or semi-public employer.

(3) Any civil servant of the State or of the Territorial Collectivity elected Mayor or Deputy Mayor, President, First Vice-President, Vice-President or Member of the Bureau of the Regional Council, is automatically on secondment to the Territorial Collectivity for the duration of the term of office.

(4) The employment contract of a public employee covered by the Labour Code or in the private sector, elected to the above-mentioned positions, is suspended for the duration of the term of office.

(5) The local elected representative shall attend meetings of the deliberative body and of the bodies to which he has been appointed.

ARTICLE 144 - (1) Members of the Executive of the Collectivité Territoriale are obliged to reside in the capital of the Collectivité Territoriale.

(2) The obligation to reside is understood both as an obligation to reside effectively on the territory of the Collectivité Territoriale and as an obligation to perform acts related to the exercise of duties in the services and territory of the said Collectivité.

(3) The absence of a member of the Executive from the territory of the Collectivité Territoriale must be notified in advance:
the Governor of the Region for Members of the Regional Executive ;
to the Prefect, in the case of Members of the Municipal Executive, and, in an emergency, to the Sub-Prefect.

(4) Where a member of the Executive does not reside within the jurisdiction of his/her Territorial Collectivity, the Minister responsible for Territorial Collectivities may, after an unsuccessful formal notice from the representative of the State, suspend the remuneration of the said member.

(5) In the event of a persistent breach of the residence requirement, the Minister responsible for local and regional authorities shall suspend the Member of the Executive from his/her duties. After a period of ninety (90) days from the date of suspension, the Executive Member may be removed from office by decree of the President of the Republic.

ARTICLE 145 - (1) In the exercise of their mandate, local elected representatives shall pursue the general interest, to the exclusion of any personal interest, direct or indirect, or any particular interest.

(2) Local elected representatives shall perform their duties with impartiality, objectivity, diligence, dignity, probity, loyalty and integrity. To this end, they, their spouses and successors are prohibited from providing goods or services in return for remuneration to the Territorial Collectivity in which they hold office.

(3) The local elected representative shall immediately prevent or put an end to any conflict of interest. Where his personal interests are involved in matters submitted to the deliberative body of which he is a member, the local elected representative shall make them known before the debate and vote.

ARTICLE 146 - (1) Local elected representatives are bound by the obligations of professional discretion and reserve. To this end, they must refrain from using, for their personal interest or that of their close relations, or from communicating, facts and information of which they have become aware in the performance or on the occasion of the performance of their duties.

(2) He shall, at all times, refrain in public from any act or gesture, comment or demonstration likely to bring discredit on national institutions and on the Territorial Collectivity of which he is the elected representative.