Finance law

A finance law is a Loi of which the goal is to present the receipts and the expenditure of the State.

In France

It should not be confused with the Finance law of the social security which, voted at the same period of the year and according to a close procedure by the Parliament, relates to only the budget of the Social security.

Various types of finance laws

The finance law of the year

The finance law of the year is voted by the French Parlement each year, from October at December, and applies to the following year. It is then in the form of a finance bill (PLF). According to the rules fixed by the Organic law concerning at the finance laws (LOLF) of 2001, it recalls the appropriations of the State in missions and programs. Until the finance law for 2005, the appropriations were gathered in budgetary titles and chapters (ordinance 59-2 of January 2nd, 1959).

The budgetary documents are accompanied by many annexed documents, among which one finds:

annual projects of performances (PAP) or “blue budgetary” (with cover dark blue). Each one of these documents describes in detail the contents of a mission of the general budget.
“budgetary yellows” annexed to the PLF, devoted to certain subjects as private individuals (agencies of water, Town and country planning, Environment…)
of the “documents of transverse policy” instituted in 2005, which describe the policy of the State in eight fields covering several missions: action external of the State, policy in favor of the development, road safety, civil security, higher education, social inclusion, overseas and city.

The procedure of adoption of the finance law is described in the Constitution of 1958 in article 47, specified by the LOLF. The initial finance law must be adopted at the latest on December 31st of the year preceding its execution.

The corrected finance law

The purpose of a corrected finance law, known in the language running under the name of supplementaru estimate , is to correct with the rise or the fall the expenditure and receipts laid down in initial finance law. These modifications are current.

The law of payment

The law of payment is a finance law which supervise the implementation of the Budget of the State. It constitutes a kind of administrative account of State, insofar as it fixes in a final way the unit of the operations of the past year.

LOLF states that “the bill of payment is filed in at the latest on June 1st of the year following that of the implementation of the budget to which it is referred” (article 46). A parliamentary assembly cannot examine with the autumn of the year NR the finance law for the N+1 year before to have voted in first reading on the law of regulation on the N-1 year.

Development, formal presentation, execution, control of the finance laws

Working of a finance bill

Article 39 of the Constitution of 1958 lays out that the initiative of the Loi S belongs jointly to the Prime Minister and with the members of the Parlement. The finance bills (as all the Bills) are deliberated in the Council of Ministers after opinion on the Council of State. The finance bills are subjected initially to the National Assembly.

Presentation of the finance laws

Execution of the finance laws

The Article 47 of the Constitution of the fifth French Republic lays out that the Court of Auditors assists the Parlement and the Gouvernement in the control of the execution of the finance laws.

Supervise implementation of the finance laws

See also: Control of the execution of the finance laws

See too

External bonds

Budgetary documents relating to the finance law for 2007 (French government)

the full text of the LOLF

the full text of the ordinance of January 2nd, 1959

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