8. Difficulties inherent in Spanc management

8.1 Between service and coercion

In our view, there is still a real problem in defining the remit of the public sanitation inspection service and, more specifically, whether mayors have the power to apply coercive measures following an inspection of a system by a Spanc.

The "official line", perceptible when analyzing the various answers given to members of parliament who have asked questions on this subject, is that there can be no confusion whatsoever between Spanc's action and the administrative police powers entrusted to the mayor, and even less so with the activities of investigating and recording offences, which come under judicial police operations.

This leads to two things:

• it is...