The French National Assembly might delay the reform of auction operations in France for at least another year following a move taken on April 26th 2000 by French auctioneers to block its adoption. Normally the reform should be voted before August but if things go badly it might postponed for another 12 or 18 months, meaning that Anglo-Saxon auction houses like Christie's or Sotheby's would not be able to operate in France before the year 2002.
A commission composed of seven members of parliament and seven representatives of the Senate is examining a draft. They have to determine a compromise solution regarding the indemnities to be allocated to those auctioneers who would opt for a termination of their activities.
If the commission manages to elaborate a satisfying solution then it will be up to the government and the parliament to dive a go-ahead for implementation of the reform.
If no agreement were found or if the Senate or the National Assembly rejected the final draft, the government would then ask the parliament to vote in order to determine whether the reform should be implemented. However, such contingency would not suffice because French auctioneers or at least 60 members of the parliament or an equal number of representatives of the Senate might seize the Constitutional Council to quash a parliamentary decision.
Most French auctioneers seem ready to adopt such attitude especially as they bank on the backing of a majority of representatives of the Senate. If the Constitutional Council had to decide whether a vote by the parliament was valid, it would need at least another year to come up with a decision.
The Constitutional Council would have three possible solutions.
1) If the adoption of the reform by the parliament were judged valid, it would endorse it.
2) If it decided that certain points regarding the indemnities to be allocated to auctioneers were not constitutional, the president of the republic might decide to endorse the law without the articles concerning these indemnities or ask the parliament to examine another draft.
3) It might decide that all points of the law should be respected and then the president of the Republic would have no say in this respect meaning that the government would have to submit a new draft. Therefore, French auctioneers would gain a respite while Anglo-Saxon houses would not be able to organise sales in France pending the adoption of a suitable draft.
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