The Conseil d’Etat is asked to rescind the decree n°98-648 of 23 July 1998 on the nature reserve of Roque-Haute. The lands were recognized as nature reserve by the decree of 9 December 1975. A second decree of 24 July 1998 recognizes again as nature reserve most of the lands recognized in the first decree.
The claimant argued that the investigating commissioner (“commissaire enquêteur”) did not notive his conclusion after the public inquiry according to R.11-10 et R.11-11 of the Expropriation Code and that the public inquiry did not expose clearly and precisely the reasons linked to the environmental protection that justified the modification of the nature reserve perimeter.  

First, the Conseil d’Etat observed that the investigating commissioner has properly based his conclusion.
Then, the fact that the new decree includes certain lands that, if they were in the reserve in 1975, were noted in the documents subject to the public inquiry as excluded of the reserve. This modification aimed to take into account the consultations realized, and was inspired by the willingness to reinforce the protection of rare vegetal species. This modification did not have the effect to impact the coherence of the project. Consequently, the modified project was legally adopted, and a new public inquiry was not necessary.