French Code of Criminal Procedure
In forceI. - As part of the investigations provided for in Article 17-1 of Law no. 95-73 of 21 January 1995, in Articles L. 114-1, L. 114-2, L. 211-11-1, L. 234-1 et L. 234-2 du code de la sécurité intérieure et à l'article L. 4123-9-1 of the Defence Code, the personal data contained in the processing which relates to legal proceedings in progress or closed, with the exception of cases where measures or decisions to discontinue proceedings, dismiss, discharge or acquit have become final, as well as data relating to victims, may be consulted, without the authorisation of the Public Prosecutor, by:
1° Police and gendarmerie personnel authorised in accordance with the procedures set out in 1° and 2° of I of Article R. 40-28 ;
2° Individually designated and specially authorised agents of the specialised intelligence services mentioned in article R. 234-2 du code de la sécurité intérieure ;
3° Officers from the national department known as the "service national des enquêtes administratives de sécurité", individually designated and specially authorised by the director general of the national police force ;
4° Agents of the national service called "Specialised Command for Nuclear Security", individually designated and specially authorised by the Director General of the National Gendarmerie;
5° Personnel entrusted with administrative police missions individually designated and specially authorised by the State representative. The authorisation shall specify exhaustively the reasons that may justify authorised consultations for each person. When the consultation reveals that the identity of the person concerned has been recorded in the processing as a respondent, the administrative investigation may not result in an unfavourable opinion or decision without first referring the matter, for additional information, to the competent national police services or national gendarmerie units and, for the purposes of requests for information on the legal consequences, to the competent public prosecutor(s). The public prosecutor sends the authorities managing the processing operation a statement of the legal consequences to be included in the criminal records processing operation relating to the person concerned. He shall indicate to the administrative police authority at the origin of the request whether this data is accessible pursuant to article 230-8 of this code.
II. - As part of the missions or interventions provided for in article L. 234-3 of the Internal Security Code, the personal data contained in the processing which relates to legal proceedings in progress or closed, with the exception of cases where measures or decisions have been taken to close the case without prosecution, to dismiss, to acquit or to acquit which have become final, as well as data relating to victims, may be consulted, without the authorisation of the Public Prosecutor, by police and gendarmerie personnel authorised in accordance with the procedures set out in 1° and 2° of I of Article R. 40-28.
This consultation may also be carried out, under the same conditions as in the previous paragraph, by intelligence service agents designated by the Minister of Defence, for the sole purpose of protecting the security of their personnel. These agents are individually designated and specially authorised by their respective directors.
III. - The data referred to in I may be received, for the performance of their administrative police duties and within the limits of their need to know, by international judicial police cooperation bodies and foreign police services under the conditions set out in Article L. 235-1 of the Internal Security Code.
