Judgment of the Council of State
On 9 May 2017, an association of professionals in the yachting industry, composed of shipowners, seamen, shipyards and port operators, lodged an appeal with the Council of State against the decree requiring French resident seamen to be members of ENIM. The residence corresponds for the administration to an uninterrupted presence on the hexagonal territory of more than 3 months.
On 10 July 2017, the Council of State dismissed the application for interim measures, considering that the supplementary nature of the text did not entail any urgency, the obligation applying only in the absence of social security. According to the decree, seafarers subject to the"social legislation" of a foreign State with international social security agreements may suspend their obligation to join ENIM.
A way out of the crisis for professionals
Although the procedure on the merits is still ongoing, the professionals of the large pleasure craft see in the judgment of the Council of State a perspective of way out of the crisis. Franck Dosne, director of Riviera Ports, the manager of the marinas of Cannes, Antibes, Nice and Villefranche-sur-mer, explains it as follows. "The validation of the supplementary nature by the Council of State shows that seamen covered by a social security scheme under the MLC are not obliged to be members of ENIM. The Department's services must therefore review their interpretation of the text along these lines. This is a real solution to neutralise the negative effects of this decree and return to a competitive solution for the French State. As I requested on August 2, 2017, during our meeting with Benjamin Maurice, social adviser to Minister Elisabeth Borne, we must otherwise set a moratorium of 6 months to exchange and reflect together on a new text
