Challenging a Fraudulent ACD before the Council of State

A cousin resells his plot to a third party using a falsified ACD (Arrêté de Concession Définitive, the definitive concession order). A government office signs an ACD covering a parcel that has already been allocated. A seller conceals that his rights were revoked through forfeiture. In all three cases, the wronged buyer is not without recourse: the ACD is a unilateral administrative act, and can therefore be challenged before the administrative courts, which have the power to annul it. But the deadline is short and the admissible grounds are limited by law. The procedure itself leaves no room for approximation.

The framework is now set by Organic Law No. 2020-968 of 17 December 2020 on the powers, composition, organisation and functioning of the Council of State, published in the Journal officiel de la République de Côte d'Ivoire No. 4 of 14 January 2021. Its article 142 repealed Law No. 2018-978 of 27 December 2018, which governed the matter before it.

This is worth pausing on, because it illustrates the trap. The 2018 law belonged to a set of neighbouring numbers, alongside Law 2018-976 (Supreme Court) and Law 2018-977 (Court of Cassation), and a great deal of content still cites it as if it were in force. Before citing a text in a petition, check against the Official Gazette not only its number, but also that it has not been repealed since.

What the Ministry of Construction Says About Challenging an ACD

The Ministry of Construction devotes an inset to challenges against the ACD in its magazine BÂTIR (No. 000, October-December 2019, page 18):

"The Arrêté de Concession Définitive, like any unilateral administrative act deemed to cause harm, is open to a prior administrative appeal before the administrative authority and, where appropriate, to an appeal for abuse of power before the Council of State in accordance with Law No. 2018-978 of 27 December 2018."

The reference given by the magazine was accurate when it was published, in 2019. It no longer is: Law No. 2018-978, which it cites, has since been repealed by article 142 of Organic Law No. 2020-968. The mechanism it describes has not changed, and it is now articles 71 to 76 of the 2020 organic law that must be relied on.

That is the reflex to keep for any legal claim you read online, official sources included: the Ministry's doctrine and the Official Gazette are authoritative as of their date, and a text cited in good faith may have been repealed since.

Step 1: The Prior Administrative Appeal (Mandatory)

Before any case can be brought before a judge, the law requires a prior administrative appeal. It is mandatory, and skipping it makes any subsequent court action inadmissible.

In practice, this is a written, reasoned request addressed to the Minister in charge of Construction and Urban Planning. It is called a discretionary appeal when addressed to the authority that made the decision, and a hierarchical appeal when it goes to the superior authority. The deadline for filing it is two months from the publication of the ACD, its notification, or the date the applicant became aware of it (article 72 of Organic Law No. 2020-968). If the administration does not respond within two months, its silence counts as an implicit rejection (article 73): the path to litigation then opens.

This deadline was historically four months. The Ministry of Construction confirms that it was shortened to two months by the 2018 law, and the 2020 organic law kept that deadline in its article 73. In other words, any content that still cites four months is out of date, whatever its date.

Step 2: Litigation Before the Council of State

If the prior appeal is rejected, either explicitly or through the administration's silence, the wronged buyer may bring the matter before the Council of State, the supreme administrative court. The case is opened by filing a petition.

The deadline is 2 additional months, running from the notification of the total or partial rejection of the prior administrative appeal, or from the expiry of the 2-month period the administration had to respond. This is an appeal for abuse of power: the judge does not assess whether the concession was appropriate, but annuls the act if it is tainted by illegality.

The judge then examines the ACD's compliance with the law from four angles. Was the signing authority competent, knowing that the Minister signs for Abidjan and the Prefect signs outside Abidjan for plots of less than one hectare? Were the prescribed steps followed? Does the ACD match the documents filed? And was the act taken for a purpose other than the one provided by law, which constitutes misuse of power?

Admissible Grounds for Annulment

The Ministry of Construction (BÂTIR No. 000, page 18) and the case law of the Council of State highlight several classic grounds for annulment.

1. An ACD obtained through fraud. Falsified documents, false declarations, corruption of the reviewing officer: the act is "devoid of legal basis" and deemed never to have created definitive rights.
2. Two ACDs on the same land, benefiting different people. This is the classic case of double allocation. The later ACD is annulled; the earlier ACD prevails if it is valid.
3. An ACD covering a parcel of the public domain. That domain is inalienable: a road right-of-way, an administrative reserve, a public easement, or a parcel reclassified after the act all make the ACD open to annulment.
4. Forfeiture of the concession holder's rights. Since Decree No. 2021-783 of 8 December 2021, an ACD can be revoked if the land is not developed within the prescribed timeframe. The forfeiture procedure is separate, but it can lead to annulment.
5. Procedural defects. Absence of a valid Land Registry Attestation, failure to first create the Land Title (Titre Foncier, TF), or defective publication in the Land Register.
6. Lack of authority of the signatory. The Prefect signed for Abidjan, where the power belongs exclusively to the Minister, or for a plot of more than one hectare, or for land outside an approved subdivision.

The Effects of Annulment

Annulment of an ACD takes effect retroactively (ex tunc): the act is deemed never to have existed, and the rights it conferred were never validly transferred.

The land therefore reverts to the State, or to the earlier concession holder in cases of double allocation, and the purchase price may be refunded by the State. The wronged buyer also retains the option of bringing a civil liability action against the fraudulent seller. That leaves the question of a good-faith third party who acquired the land under a later notarised CMPF: their rights are preserved in certain cases, and the case law on this point is not yet settled.

What to Do Before Filing an Appeal

The case file is prepared before the appeal is filed, not during. You will need to gather:

• a copy of the contested ACD, or its notification;
• a land registry statement dated within the last 15 days, issued by the Land Registry (Conservation Foncière);
• a state land statement obtained from the DDU;
• the documents proving the alleged defect: expert report, witness statements, prior enforceable deeds;
• the opinion of a lawyer admitted to the bar, whose representation is required before the Council of State.

Challenging an administrative act remains a technical exercise. A mistake on the deadline or in the legal reasoning ruins the action, with no possibility of starting over, and it is the precise legal characterisation of the defect (lack of authority, procedural flaw, misuse of power) that determines admissibility.

The Question of [Stellionate](/glossaire/stellionat)

When land fraud triggers the seller's criminal liability, the challenge against the ACD is paired with a criminal complaint for stellionate, the fraudulent sale of property (article 3 of Law 2020-624). The two actions run in parallel: the first before the administrative judge, to have the act annulled; the second before the criminal judge, to have the fraudster punished and to obtain damages.

To go further: ACD vs Land Title: The Official Truth, Why Private Deeds Have Been Banned Since 2013, The 11 Official Steps to Obtain Your ACD.

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Official Sources

• Organic Law No. 2020-968 of 17 December 2020 (Council of State), Journal officiel de la République de Côte d'Ivoire No. 4 of 14 January 2021, which repealed Law No. 2018-978 of 27 December 2018
• Ministry of Construction, BÂTIR magazine No. 000, October-December 2019, p. 18
• Law No. 2020-624 of 14 August 2020 (Urban Planning Code), article 3 (stellionate)
• Decree No. 2021-783 of 8 December 2021 (forfeiture of rights)
• Ordinance No. 2013-481 of 2 July 2013
• conseil-etat.ci, litigation procedures

Do you believe an ACD was fraudulently obtained on land that concerns you? Is your own ACD at risk of revocation? Our advisers can direct you to lawyers specialising in administrative and land law.

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Doctrinal note. Timeframe for publication of the ACD in the Land Register: 180 days officially (BÂTIR No. 004, 2022), often longer in practice.