TLDR: Before its repeal on 9 December 2020, the récépissé de consignation had to be presented upon request by officials and magistrates designated in Article L. 225 of the Livre des procédures fiscales. For itinerant merchants of gold and silver works only, the competent authorities were the municipal administration or its agent (mayors, deputies, police commissioners).
Generally competent authorities
Itinerant workers without a home or fixed residence in France for more than six months, carrying out a profit-making activity on or in a public place, had to present their récépissé upon request by officials and magistrates designated in Article L. 225 of the Livre des procédures fiscales. This obligation was expressly provided for in Article 302 octies of the Code général des impôts (CGI).
Special case of itinerant merchants of gold and silver works
For this specific category, the authorities empowered to record offences were the municipal administration or its agent, namely:
- mayors,
- their deputies,
- police commissioners.
This provision applied only to offences committed by these traders.
Scope of the scheme
The récépissé de consignation concerned exclusively persons carrying out a profit-making activity on or in a public place, without a home or fixed residence in France for more than six months. The obligation to hold and produce the document was linked to this temporal and geographical criterion.
Repeal of the scheme
The scheme was abolished by Article 127 of Law No. 2020-1525 of 7 December 2020, with effect from 9 December 2020. No authority may therefore require this document since that date.
Distinction between the authorities
The competent authorities differed according to the category of itinerant workers:
- Tax authorities (Article L. 225 of the LPF) for itinerant workers in general.
- Municipal authorities for itinerant merchants of gold and silver works only, in the context of offences.
Limits and clarifications
No other authority (gendarmerie, customs, etc.) was explicitly mentioned in the applicable texts as being able to require the récépissé from itinerant workers without a fixed address. Controls were limited to the legal figures cited.