ICPE operator: what are your rights and obligations during an inspection?

If you're about to undergo an announced inspection visit, or are subject to an unannounced inspection, you'd like to know your rights and obligations vis-à-vis the inspector.

• Can you object to the inspector's visit?

• Can he come at any time, on any day?

• Do you have the right to be assisted by a person of your choice?

• Should the visit or inspection be contradictory?

• Are certain documents or parts of your premises protected?

• What happens at the end of the visit or inspection?

The inspector who checks your installation is an officer sworn in by the judicial authorities to carry out checks and draw up a report in the event of non-compliance. This report is then forwarded by the inspector :

• to the departmental prefect, to whom it may propose administrative sanctions;

• to the public prosecutor, who will decide whether or not to prosecute.

In this context, you have obligations and certain rights. But these rights are not governed by ordinary law, since ICPE regulations give precedence to general interests, such as environmental and health protection, over private interests, such as the preservation of your economic activity and the jobs associated with it.