Will his opinion be taken into account by the government? The Defender of Rights recommended on Wednesday the abolition of the tort fixed fine (AFD), a method of criminal sanction alternative to legal proceedings for a hundred small offenses, a device supposed to lighten the procedures but criticized.
Established in 2016, the AFD is a fine drawn up in flagrante delicto by a police officer or a gendarme on a mobile device and which is worth conviction and registration in the criminal record, as for any offense. The fixed fine procedure, originally reserved for fines, was extended to traffic offenses in 2016, before affecting others: in particular the use of narcotics, the illegal occupation of public or private land, or the occupation of building halls.
“Risk of arbitrariness”
In her opinion, consulted by AFP, the Defender of Rights notes “very many difficulties in the implementation of the AFD procedure which compromise respect for the rights of users. “Starting with” the risk of arbitrariness and disparities of treatment contrary to the principle of equality before the law “while the choice to resort or not to this sanction rests only on the appreciation of the agent.
“This transfer of powers leads to the exclusion of the prosecutor and the judge and gives considerable power to the enforcement agents. The strengthening of this power also includes a risk of increasing discriminatory practices”, considers the independent institution responsible in particular for defending users against the administration. The Defender of Rights recommends the pure and simple abolition of the AFD.
“Unsubstantiated” arguments
But this opinion – non-binding for the administration – is also accompanied, if necessary, by several ways of improving the system: clarifying the employment framework with agents, improving the information given to the fined person, increasing the control of the public prosecutor’s office and streamline the challenge procedures.
The Ministries of the Interior and of Justice estimated on Wednesday in a joint press release that the arguments of the Defender of Rights were “unfounded. “Thus, the low rate of recourse against the AFD in terms of narcotics (2.1%) proves, according to Beauvau and the Chancellery, “the acceptance of the system by the respondents. The two ministries also reject any risk of discriminatory practices on the part of the police, recalling that they act under the direction of the public prosecutor and obey the “local instructions” issued by each prosecution.