A global policy for mountain areas has been in the making over recent years. A parliamentary board of inquiry (Souchon board) and a report by M. Besson are important steps in the shaping of a law for the development and protection of mountain areas. It has been voted by the Chamber of Deputies and is being examined by the Senate. Its two guiding principles are differentiation and self development. However applications of different policy measures to certain pacts of the territory is contrary to administrative usage and to commodity approaches. So the mountain law is a kind of test of the ability of policies to approach problemswith less uniformity.
