Nautical bathes and activities

Policing powers of the mayor

> 1. Your policing powers as regards protection of the bathers

Under the terms of the item of the general Code of the territorial collectivities, you are held to ensure, as a mayor, the safety of the bathers and the rescue of the possible victims. This obligation carries as well on the bathes at sea or in river as in swimming pool.

Your policing powers allowing to ensure the safety of the bathers
In order to ensure the safety of the bathers you are held:

to define the areas of nondangerous bathe
>You must delimit one or more areas supervised in the parties of the littoral forwarding a guarantee sufficient for the security of the bathers.
example: It belongs to you to prohibit the bathe in a accessible to the public, because as well of the circulation of motor boats making the bathe dangerous, as of the pollution and the state of silting of the lake.

For the littoral communes, your competence to define the areas of nondangerous bathe is exerted until a limit of eters as from the limit of water.

to abolish the dangers
>You must make carry out the suppression of the dangers when this operation is technically realizable. You must in particular make withdraw the dangerous purposes which could be in the areas reserved for the bathe but also in the party close to the shore where the bathers are likely to regain a footing. (See Lyon, July 8th, 1993, Commune of , ).

to announce the dangers
>When it is not possible to abolish the danger, you must ensure a correct description of it. You must in particular announce the dangers other than those against which the bathers must personally by their prudence guard themselves.
example: It belongs to you to make announce the presence of ears near a supervised bathe. (See EC, June 28th, 1978, widowed Lady Moreau).
•It also belongs to you to make indicate the brutal declivity which is with approximately 60 centimetres of bank.
>The description must be particularly clear and insist on the dangerous character.
example: You do not deliver sufficiently exact information likely to inform the real risks incurred by limiting you to announce by a panel on the access path to a beach “dangerous bathes, current violent ones”.
(See Nantes, March 21st, 1990, Mrs.
and C./Common of Saint-Jean-Trolimon).

This obligation of indication of the dangers is all the more imperative when they are places strongly attended such as seaside resorts. In addition, this obligation of indication of the dangers relates to as well the arranged areas of bathe as those non made-up.

Your policing powers allowing to ensure the rescue of the possible victims
In order to ensure the rescue of the possible victims you are held:

to recruit
>In order to ensure the safety of the areas of supervised bathe, you must recruit swimming instructors of sufficient number by taking into account various parameters (the number of mining areas, the multitude, the existence or not of specific equipment).
example: You can be held for person responsible for the drowning of a child because the swimming instructors were of insufficient number and busy to give specific lessons. They did not exert of this fact any effective monitoring.
(See EC, June 14th, 1963, Husband, ).
• You can be held for person responsible for the drowning of a child because you let only an swimming instructor monitor a very attended mining area. This could not consequently make regular rounds around the mining area, this absence of round having involved a late intervention near the victim.
(See EC, February 8th, 1980, Consorts Furrier, ).
• You can also be held for person responsible for the death of a person because the swimming instructors were of insufficient number to make adhere to prohibition to use the diving board of five meters without prior approval.
(See EC, July 9th, 1975, Town of Cognac, ).
>You must also define the duration of the activity of the swimming instructors according to the frequentation of the places of bathe.
example: You can be held for person responsible for the drowning of a person because you provided for to begin the monitoring from the beaches on July 1st whereas as of on June 20th, day of the drowning, very many bathers were already present on the beaches.
•You can be held for person responsible for the drowning of a person if, at the time of the accident, the swimming instructor left its functions leaving the monitoring of the beach to a not specialized person.
(See Nantes, December 28th, 1990, , ).

To install an alarm system to accelerate
the intervention of the helps
>In the communes on the territory of which is located bathes which, without to be especially arranged, are the subject of a frequentation regular and important, you must take the necessary measures in order to allow the rapid intervention of the helps in the event of accident.
example: You can be held for person responsible for the death of a bather because you did not make install a telephone near the beach, this absence of telephone involving an important delay in the arrival of the helps.
(See EC, May 13rd, 1983, Mrs. , ).

> 2. Your policing powers as regards water sports

have a true capacity of regulation of the nautical activities. Within this framework, it belongs to you to reconcile the exercise of these sports with the security of the bathers and the peace of the vicinity. You can thus regulate the activities of , and jet ski.

Since the law of July 22nd, 1983, you have in addition the font of the marinas from which installation and the exploitation were transferred to the communes.

> 3. Your responsibilities

Within the framework of the exercise of your policing powers de bathe nautical activities, you can see your criminal responsibility and civil engaged.

Your criminal responsibility. You can be continued penally for homicide and involuntary injuries because you did not use your policing powers in a correct way.
example: You can be continued penally for manslaughter not to have prohibited the bathe at a particularly dangerous place, this absence of prohibition being at the origin of the drowning of a child.
•You can be continued for involuntary injuries because a bather fractured a member on an obstacle which you should have made announce.
•You can be continued for manslaughter to have let be held a competition of water sports whereas no means of help was provided for by the organizers, this absence of help having contributed to the disappearance of several participants after the shipwreck of a boat.

Your civil responsibility. If it is not proven that the use of the policing powers was the detachable fault purpose of your service, your civil responsibility will be always ensured by the commune.

Possible exemptions with your responsibility. You can see your responsibility attenuated or exonerated completely because of a fault of the victim or a third party.
example: The imprudence made by a young boy who does not check before diving of a pontoon if the level of water is sufficient is likely to involve a complete exoneration of your responsibility.
(See EC, February 9th, 1972, Lady, ).
•The fact that the people responsible for a group of schoolboys led the latter apart from the supervised area of bath, two of the children having to be embedded, is likely to attenuate the responsibility for the commune.
(See EC, February 9th, 1966, City of Paris-Beach).

Your responsibility and that of the commune are likely to be engaged because of the insufficiency of the prescribed preventive measures and rescue or a fault in the execution of these known as measurements while at the same time the common one the exploitation of the public service of the baths entrusted to a private individual by charging it with taking various measurements to ensure the protection of the bathers. (See EC, May 23rd, 1958, Consorts, ).

Card-index realized by Bernard , François and François

References:
of the general Code of the territorial collectivities
Decree of April 15th, 1991 relating to the monitoring and the teaching of the activities of .
More
Code general territorial collectivities, Tome 2, Article
Vade mecum of the municipal action, collection the Mail of the mayors and the town councilors, editions of the Monitor, “Organizes nautical ports and activities”, page 40
The legal year of the local communities, supplement of the Mail of the mayors and the town councilors, September 1998, pages 31-32.
Gazette of the communes, July 28th, 1997, pages 33-38,
“The beach and right”.

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