The baseline is 76 codes in force, not 69
Légifrance currently lists 76 codes in force. The Plan’s target of no more than twenty should therefore be presented as a consolidation objective built on an updated, reproducible baseline.
Grouping must follow coherent legal domains and user needs. A single oversized code can be harder to use than several well-structured codes, so accessibility and search time are better success measures than the headline number alone.
Constant-law codification needs safeguards
Reorganisation of legal material should be separated from substantive changes to rights and obligations. Every consolidation should provide concordance tables, redirects, history and a transition period so that contracts, court decisions and professional practice can still trace older references.
User testing with judges, lawyers, administrations, companies and citizens should precede final validation. The political target remains useful as a pressure for consolidation, but it should not override intelligibility.
Costing and legal delivery
Enabling legislation, codification ordinances and ratification statutes, with concordance tables and constant-law controls.
Structural and legal-productivity effect; annual savings cannot be inferred from the number of codes alone.
Transition expenditure is reported separately from recurring savings, and transferred activity remains public expenditure unless the policy itself is discontinued.
What must be proved before implementation
One oversized, badly structured code can be less usable than several coherent codes.
The implementation file should map every existing code into a target legal architecture. It must distinguish right-constant codification from substantive reform, preserve citation continuity and report user testing before any merger is made irreversible.
Notes and sources
- Légifrance — codes en vigueur — primary/institutional source used for the measure framework.
- DGAFP — codification du Code général de la fonction publique — primary/institutional source used for the measure framework.
- Conseil d’État — Simplification et qualité du droit — primary/institutional source used for the measure framework.
- Légifrance — Code général de la fonction publique — primary/institutional source used for the measure framework.
