Subsection 1: Admission of new communes.

Within three years of the publication of the loi n° 99-586 du 12 juillet 1999 relative au renforcement et à la simplification de la coopération intercommunale, le périmètre des communautés urbaines peut être étendu aux communes dont l'inclusion dans le périmètre communautaire est de nature à assurer la cohérence spatiale et économique ainsi que la solidarité financière et sociale qui sont nécessaires au développement de la communauté urbaine et à son évolution en métropole régionale. It may not, however, include, without their agreement, the member municipalities of a community of municipalities whose eligibility for the grant provided for in the fourth paragraph of II of article L. 5211-29 has been established under the conditions set out in Article L. 5214-23-1.

The proposed extension of the community perimeter is decided by the representative of the State in the department when the communes are part of the same department, or by joint decision of the representatives of the State in the departments concerned when the proposed perimeter extends beyond a single department, after receiving the opinion of the departmental commission(s) for inter-communal cooperation concerned. This opinion is deemed negative if it has not been given within two months. The perimeter may be extended with the agreement of the council of the urban community and at least two-thirds of the municipal councils of all the municipalities included in the future perimeter and representing more than half of the total population of these municipalities, or at least half of the municipal councils of these municipalities representing two-thirds of the population. This majority must include the municipal council of the municipality whose population is greater than half of the total population concerned or, failing that, of the municipality with the largest population. If no decision is taken within three months of notification of the proposed extension of the perimeter, the agreement is deemed to have been given.

The extension of the community perimeter is decided by decree of the State representative(s) in the department(s). This order implies the withdrawal of the communes to which the perimeter is extended from the public establishments for inter-communal cooperation of which they are members. In the specific case of syndicates of communes or mixed syndicates, the withdrawal is carried out under the conditions set out in article L. 5215-22.

The extension of the perimeter entails the allocation of seats, in accordance with 1° of Article L. 5211-6-2,to each commune joining the urban community. It entails the application of the provisions set out in II of Article L. 5211-18 to all the public assets, facilities and services required to exercise the transferred competences, as well as the rights and obligations attached to these assets, facilities and services on the date of the transfer.

The procedure may be renewed every twelve years from the expiry of the three-year period provided for in the first paragraph.