Administrative appeal against a decision — recours gracieux or hiérarchique (France)
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This document is in French
The PDF you download is in French — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
For challenging a decision of a French administration — a refused application, a penalty, a decision of a town hall or préfecture — by asking its author (recours gracieux) or the author's superior (recours hiérarchique) to withdraw or change it. Lodged within two months, the appeal interrupts the deadline for the administrative court (article L. 411-2 of the French Code of Relations between the Public and the Administration), except in planning matters; two months' silence counts as rejection. The letter, in French, sets out the decision, your grounds and your request. Send it by registered post.
- Made for use in France
- Last updated October 13, 2026
When to use this document
- A town hall or préfecture in France refused your application and you want it to reconsider.
- A public authority imposed a penalty on you that you think is unfair.
- You want the superior of the official who took the decision to review it.
- You want to ask the administration to withdraw or change its decision before going to the administrative court.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Applicant
- Applicant's address
- Authority the letter is addressed to
- Recipient's postal address, as it publishes it
- City
- Date
- Kind of appeal (to the decision's author or to their superior)
- Date of the decision
- Decision number
- Summary of the decision
- Reason
- Requested outcome
- Attachments
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Recours gracieux or recours hiérarchique: which to choose in France?
- The recours gracieux goes to the author of the decision, the recours hiérarchique to the author's superior: a minister for a préfet, a director for a head of department. Decisions of a mayor or the president of a local authority, who have no hierarchical superior, are challenged by recours gracieux. Both can be lodged together. Enclose a copy of the decision and the documents supporting your grounds.
- What are the deadlines for an administrative appeal in France?
- Two months from notification or publication of the decision, the deadline for the administrative court (article R. 421-1 of the French Code of Administrative Justice). A recours gracieux or hiérarchique lodged within that period interrupts it; a new two-month period runs from the answer, or from the implied rejection that two months' silence creates. These deadlines run only if the decision states the remedies and time limits (article R. 421-5); otherwise a challenge is, as a rule, still limited to one year from when you learnt of the decision (Conseil d'État, 13 July 2016, no. 387763).
- When is this French administrative appeal not the right route?
- When a text imposes a specific prior appeal, which the decision then states: a tax claim, the CAF or CPAM appeals board, an appeal against a parking charge (forfait post-stationnement), an appeal against a visa refusal. Follow the route and deadline given. Against a planning authorisation (building permit, déclaration préalable…) or its refusal, the recours gracieux must be lodged within one month and no longer interrupts the court deadline (article L. 600-12-2 of the French Planning Code): go to court within two months without waiting for the answer. Nor does this appeal work against a court judgment.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
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