Territorial collectivity

A collectivité territoriale (French; in full: collectivités territoriales de la République, before the constitutional amendment of 28 March 2003 also collectivités locales) is the French form of territorial authority below the national level. It is a public corporation that has territorial sovereignty over a spatially delimited part of the French national territory. This sovereignty also includes the inhabitants, whereby the inhabitants entitled to vote (citizens) are full legal members of the corporation. The collectivité territoriale is characterised by its relationship to a territory in the form of sovereignty, within the framework of the tasks assigned to it, over all persons who reside on its territory, as well as by the domicile (or registered office in the case of legal persons) of its members, which is located in its territory. It thus corresponds to the German territorial authority.

The territorial administrative organisation in France is essentially regulated by the Code général des collectivités territoriales (CGCT). Collectivités territoriales de la République are:

1. the approximately 36,800 communes including the 3 communes with special status: Paris, Lyon, Marseille; France has by far the largest number of communes in the European Union. According to the 1990 census, 32,150 communes have fewer than 2,000 inhabitants; 21,600 even fewer than 500 inhabitants, which poses considerable problems for efficient administration. The municipality is constituted in accordance with Art. L. 2121-1 et seq. CGCT, the municipality consists of a municipal council, a mayor and a municipal administration.
2. the 101 departments, including the 5 overseas departments;
3. the 18 regions including the 5 overseas regions;
4. the territorial entities with special status, in particular Corsica (also incorrectly referred to as a region with special status) and the 3 provinces of New Caledonia: North, South, Loyalty Islands;
5. 5 of the overseas territories (collectivités d'outre-mer): French Polynesia, Saint-Barthélemy, Saint-Martin, Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, Wallis and Futuna.

In the territories of Paris (commune/department) and French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Réunion (département/region), two congruent territorial communities with different missions coexist.

No territorial authorities of the Republic are in particular: