Referral to the CADA after a refused document request (France)
Published byDocMuse
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 someone to whom a French administration refused a document, or did not answer within a month. The Commission d'accès aux documents administratifs (CADA) is approached free, preferably through the online form on its website. This letter, in French under French law, refers the matter by post: it names the administration, the date of the request, the documents and the answer received, and asks for a favourable opinion. Referral within two months of the refusal is compulsory before the administrative court.
- Made for use in France
- Last updated October 13, 2026
When to use this document
- A public office in France refused to give you a copy of a document it holds.
- You asked a town hall for an administrative document and never received an answer.
- You want a copy of your own file and the office keeps ignoring your request.
- You want to refer a refused document request to the CADA by post.
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
- Administration holding the documents
- Date of the request
- Documents requested
- How the administration answered
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- How and when is the French CADA approached?
- Within two months of the administration's written refusal, or of the end of the one-month period without an answer (article R. 343-1 of the French Code of Relations between the Public and the Administration). Referral is free: the simplest route is the online form on the CADA's website; post is still possible. Enclose a copy of your request and of any answer. UFC-Que Choisir also publishes a free model.
- Does the CADA's opinion oblige the French administration to disclose the document?
- No: the CADA gives an opinion within one month of registering the referral (article R. 343-3 of the French Code of Relations between the Public and the Administration), and the administration then decides. If it confirms its refusal, or stays silent for two months from that registration, which counts as confirmation, you may go to the administrative court within two months; referral to the CADA first is the condition for that action. The claim is filed online through Télérecours citoyens or by post to the court registry.
- Which address is used to write to the French CADA?
- Copy the postal address published on the CADA's website, exactly as shown, into the recipient's address box, and the name “Commission d'accès aux documents administratifs” into the authority box. A registered letter is not required, but it dates the referral — useful if the two-month deadline is near. Keep a copy of everything you send.
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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