Question 9758 — commerce and crafts

Summary

The situation of tobacconists and the solutions mentioned were the subject of discussions, during a meeting held on June 6, 2018, between the delegate of the interministerial mission for the decentralization of parking (MIDS), representatives of the general directorate of public finances and the president of the confederation of tobacconists.  It should be remembered that the decentralization of paid parking was introduced by a senatorial amendment, adopted unanimously, in the law on the modernization of territorial public action and the affirmation of metropolises of January 27, 2014 (article 63). Since its entry into force on January 1, 2018, this reform, awaited for several years by associations of elected officials, gives full authority to communities to organize paid parking on their territory, in particular by setting the price scale of immediate payment of the fee and the rate of the post-parking package due in the absence of immediate payment. The examination of the solutions envisaged by the author of the question must take into account the consequences of this decentralization which establishes a new legal framework. Thus, unlike the proceeds from fines for non-payment of parking which abounded, until December 31, 2017, a special allocation account attached to the state budget, the proceeds from post-parking packages are now paid in full directly to local authorities for allocation within their local budgets. As desired by the associations of elected officials, the reform opens up the possibility for local authorities to entrust a private organization with the collection of parking fees and post-parking packages (FPS), in return for the conclusion of a mandate agreement, on the basis of the provisions of articles L.1611-7-1 and D.1611-32-9 of the general code of local authorities. As part of this system, communities are already using private service providers to collect these revenues. The latter offer users the usual payment channels, such as cash, check or innovative telepayment methods, notably mobile payment. From a legal point of view, tobacconists are also eligible for the mandate agreement system. Therefore, it is up to interested tobacconists to approach communities, with a view to proposing to them to conclude such an agreement. The implementation of this system involves both legal and operational constraints. The tobacconist who integrates this conventional system is subject to the obligations resulting from Decree No. 2015-1670 of December 14, 2015 laying down provisions relating to mandates entrusted by local authorities. As such, he must meet the reporting obligations, to the public accountant of the commissioning community, of the accounts, the sums collected and the supporting documents relating to the post-parking pass collection operations carried out within the framework of the mandate. Moreover, these operations must be exhaustively traced within the tobacconist's accounts. Ultimately, they will be subject to control by the assigning accountant, before their reintegration into the accounts of the mandating community.  Finally, it seems difficult to envisage creating a national collection network which would be entrusted to tobacconists given the diversity of the amounts of fees and flat rates applicable in the some 500 communities which have already implemented the reform: establishing such a network would in fact require that any tobacconist be able to collect the royalty due in any community and then remit it to them, which is not possible both for legal reasons relating to public accounting and for practical reasons given the volumes involved. Such a service could perhaps be offered by tobacconists for the fees and charges due in the city where they are installed. To do this, interested tobacconists would need to contact the communities concerned to obtain agreement and define the terms and conditions. These contacts would also make it possible to examine the possibility for tobacconists to offer additional services such as that allowing motorists to lodge their appeals. In this context of decentralization which gives full responsibility to communities in the organization of paid parking in their territory, the delegate of the MIDS recommended to the president of the confederation of tobacconists to get closer to associations of elected officials and parking professionals in order to explore solutions that would respond to their concerns. Tobacconists continue to receive from the State a commission in matters of road traffic offenses, whether for the electronic collection of fines relating to road traffic offenses or for the sale of fine stamps intended for the payment of these.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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