the planning advice certificate icertiflcat d urbanisme is issued by the mairie or by the prefet and provides general planning information on a particular site it may be best described as an in principle planning consent it does not give planning permission for a particular project for which specific approval must be sought but it does suggest that the proposed use is allowable within the current law planning certificates are useful documents in that they offer a strong assurance for routine developments but they do not provide the same level of guarantee as planning permissions and they contain far less detail in cases where there is a first division of land for one or more new dwellings a special kind of consent called a declaration prealable or a permis damenager where more than one dwelling is required