9 September 2011 - Gide Loyrette Nouel, legal counsel to SCPA: the Conseil d'Etat directs the French Broadcasting Authority to invite new bids for radio spectrum:

Two decisions of the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA - the French Broadcasting Authority) authorising the Radio Culture Zouk company to broadcast the radio service of Zouk Radio in Guadeloupe were quashed by the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, in its judgment of 26 July 2011.

SCPA (Société de Communication et de Production Audiovisuelle) and its director, Mr Alex Fautra, owner of the Zouk Radio trade mark, jointly brought the case before the Conseil d'Etat.

They claimed that Radio Culture Zouk had made its bid in contentious circumstances given their rights to the pre-existing Zouk Radio service and their involvement in its operation. They also based their claim on the existence of several legal actions likely to result in a risk in the continued use of the service by this company.

The Conseil d'Etat judged that Radio Culture Zouk had not allowed the CSA to form a fair assessment of the criteria required for it to reach its decision, and in particular with regard to the "financing and perspectives for the operation of the service" by failing to inform it of the circumstances likely to substantially modify the information on which its bid was considered.

Furthermore, the Conseil d'Etat directed the CSA to invite new bids within three months for the allocation of the radio spectrum released by these decisions. It considered that the circumstances justified derogation from the usual consequences of quashing a decision of this kind. Indeed, the new allocation is, in principle, being carried out on the basis of the bids submitted for the initial procedure.

SCPA and Mr Alex Fautra were advised by Gide Loyrette Nouel: Rémy Fekete, partner, Stéphanie Berland-Basnier and Julien Guinot-Deléry, associates.