French Code of Criminal Procedure
In forceI.-Any person placed in police custody may, at their request, have a person with whom they usually live or one of their direct relatives or one of their brothers or sisters informed by telephone of the measure taken against them. They may also notify their employer. Where the person in custody is of foreign nationality, he or she may have the consular authorities of his or her country contacted.
Unless there are insurmountable circumstances, which must be mentioned in the record, the steps incumbent on the investigators or, under their supervision, the investigation assistants pursuant to the first paragraph must be taken within three hours of the time when the person made the request at the latest.
The public prosecutor may, at the request of the judicial police officer, decide that the notification provided for in the first paragraph of this I will be deferred or will not be given if this decision is, in the light of the circumstances, essential in order to enable evidence to be gathered or preserved or to prevent a serious attack on the life, liberty or physical integrity of a person.
If police custody is extended beyond forty-eight hours, the postponement of the notice may be maintained, for the same reasons, by the liberty and custody judge or the investigating judge, except when the notice concerns consular authorities.
II.-The judicial police officer may authorise the person in police custody who so requests to communicate, in writing, by telephone or during an interview, with one of the third parties mentioned in I of this article, if it appears to the officer that such communication is not incompatible with the objectives mentioned in article 62-2 and that it is not likely to enable an offence to be committed.
In order to ensure the good order, safety and security of the premises in which the person is held in police custody, the officer or agent of the judicial police shall determine the time, procedures and duration of this communication, which may not exceed thirty minutes and shall take place under his supervision, if necessary in his presence or in the presence of a person he designates. If the request for communication concerns the consular authorities, the judicial police officer may not oppose it beyond the forty-eighth hour of police custody.
This II does not apply in the event of a request for communication with a third party who has been decided in application of the last two paragraphs of I of this article that he or she could not be notified of the police custody.
