Freedom of Information in France: Law and Practice

Marique, Yseult; Slautsky, Emmanuel

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-76460-3_3

Yseult Marique^6,7 &
Emmanuel Slautsky^6,8

Part of the book series: Governance and Public Management ((GPM))

565 Accesses

Abstract

In France, a legislation on freedom of information (FOI) granted every person the right to obtain communication of documents held by an administration within the framework of its public service mission, regardless of their form or medium, in 1978. This marked a stark break away from a tradition of administrative secrecy and sought to improve the relations between the French State and its citizens.

The French FOI act aims to find a balance between the right to access public information (a democratic requirement and a prerequisite for the exercise of fundamental rights), and other competing interests (privacy, competition, and public order and security). This equilibrium is constantly reshaped under the influence of technological developments and an increasing commodification of public information.

Changes and adaptation occur through legislative changes (such as the 2016 statute on ‘Republique numérique’) and through practice, for example, through the combined interaction of an independent authority—the Commission d’accès aux documents administratifs (CADA)—and the French administrative judge, the Council of State.

This chapter seeks to provide an assessment of how the law works in practice, thanks to interviews with senior practitioners in this matter such as legislators, judges, and information commissioners and the analysis of empirical data such as CADA’s annual reports, opinions, and advice. Three main issues emerge from this assessment: firstly, administrative inertia is still very strong nearly 40 years after the first FOIA was adopted; secondly, the exceptions to the principle of access to administrative documents have grown over time, reducing the actual scope of FOI; thirdly, fragmentation of the special regimes may lead to more confusion than transparency.

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Notes

1.
For instance: http://www.lemonde.fr/election-presidentielle-2017/article/2017/05/05/la-france-a-quitte-le-monde-de-l-opacite-de-la-connivence-et-de-la-complaisance_5123121_4854003.html; https://transparency-france.org/actu/interpelle-les-candidats-presidentielle-2017/ All links were last accessed on 27 July 2017.
2.
Davet and Lhomme (2016).
3.
Garin (2017), pp. 38–39. See also Debbasch in Debbasch (ed.) (1990), p. 12.
4.
Art. 7 Charter for the Environment 2004. Art. 15 French Déclaration des droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen provides that ‘Society has the right to ask a public official for an accounting of his administration’ (Transparence administrative, p. 46 (F. Moderne)). All legislative and executive acts mentioned in this chapter can be found on the official website of the French official journal: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/.
5.
CE, 29 April 2002, no 228830. The Conseil d’État has two databases: http://www.conseil-etat.fr/Decisions-Avis-Publications/Decisions/ArianeWeb (database comprising its case law) and http://www.conseil-etat.fr/Decisions-Avis-Publications/Avis/ConsiliaWeb (database comprising its opinions).
6.
For example: Haute Autorité pour la transparence de la vie publique (see Acts nos 2013-906 and 2013-907 of 11 October 2013); Haut Comité pour la transparence et l’information sur la sécurité nucléaire (Act no 2006-686 of 13 June 2006 (art. 23-27, today codified in art. L125-24- L125-40 environmental code)).
7.
The Open Government Partnership is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance (https://www.opengovpartnership.org/about/about-ogp).
8.
Act no 2016-1321 of 7 October 2016 (called hereafter French Digital Republic Act or FDRA).
9.
FDRA, Legislative proposal, p. 14.
10.
See for early assessment of this dimension: Chevallier (1988).
11.
We thank our interviewees who generously gave us their time to answer our questions: Mrs C. Bouchoux, Senate member (2011–2017) and CADA member (interview with Yseult Marique); Mr M. Dandelot, CADA Chair; Mrs C. Guichard, CADA Secretary General; Mrs C. Drèze, CADA Communication Officer; Mrs M. Perrière, CADA General Rapporteur; Mr P. Lemoine, CADA member (interviews with Emmanuel Slautsky).
12.
Available at http://www.cada.fr/ (official website—comprises CADA annual reports) and http://cada.data.gouv.fr/ (database comprising all CADA’s opinions and advices).
13.
Transparence administrative, pp. 21–28 (Moderne); Lallet (2014), at 3–5.
14.
Lasserre et al. (1987), pp. 13–53; Transparence administrative, pp. 29–32 (Moderne); Lallet (2014), at 8–17.
15.
The debates within the Council of Europe led to the adoption, in 1981, of the Rec No R (81) 19 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the access to information held by public authorities. In 2009, the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents was adopted. It will enter into force when ten states have expressed their consent to be bound by the Convention (this is not the case yet). France has not signed or ratified it. It is the first binding international treaty that contains a general right to access administrative documents (Garin (2017), p. 27).
16.
Chevallier (1988), pp. 243–246.
17.
Chevallier (1988), p. 246.
18.
A few months before, a Decree no 77-127 of 11 February 1977 had paved the way for the adoption of the FOIA, but its scope remained limited: notably, it did not establish as a default rule the possibility of gaining access to administrative documents (CADA, Annual report 1979–1980, pp. 5–6). See also, a few months after the Act of 17 January 1978, Act no 79-18 of 3 January 1979 on archives.
19.
Act no 2000-321 of 12 April 2000; Ordinance no 2005-650 of 6 June 2005.
20.
Lallet (2014), at 24.
21.
Directive 2003/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 November 2003 on the reuse of public sector information. See also Directive 2013/37/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 amending Directive 2003/98/EC on the reuse of public sector information. European law is only concerned with the reuse of public information, not access to administrative documents (see art. 1 Directive 2003/98/EC).
22.
Art. 10 Ordinance no 2005-650 of 6 June 2005.
23.
Art. L330-1 CRPA.
24.
Art. R330-4 CRPA.
25.
CADA, Annual report 2009, p. 80.
26.
See, for example, CADA, Guide des personnes responsables de l’accès aux documents administratifs et de la réutilisation des informations publiques, 2007, available on http://www.cada.fr/IMG/pdf/Guide_PRADA_.pdf and CADA, Annual report 2016, p. 66.
27.
Interview with M. Perrière. See Senate report, volume 1, p. 149. There were 1642 PRADAs in 2016 (CADA, Annual report 2016, p. 66). The CADA considers that more than 5000 PRADAs should be appointed if the obligations under the FOIA are to be respected (CADA, Annual report 2013, p. 107).
28.
Although it is only in 2005 that the CADA was explicitly classified as an independent administrative authority (art. 10 Ordinance no 2005-650 of 6 June 2005). Currently, the CADA also falls within the scope of a 2017 Act which regulates independent administrative authorities (Act no 2017-55 of 20 January 2017).
29.
Lallet (2014), at 379.
30.
Interviews with M. Dandelot et al. and M. Perrière.
31.
See organigram: http://www.cada.fr/IMG/pdf/organigramme_janvier_2017.pdf.
32.
Interview with M. Perrière. See also, for example, CADA, Annual report 2012, p. 59.
33.
Interviews with M. Dandelot et al. and M. Perrière. See also Delaunay (1993), pp. 557–558. The limited means of the CADA are also regularly highlighted in its annual reports (e.g. CADA, Annual report 2008, p. 52). The CADA is not the only French authority acting as a guardian of administrative transparency with very limited means. Another example is the Commission consultative du secret de la défense nationale (see Rapport de la Commission consultative dusecretde la défense nationale 2013–2015, Paris, La Documentation française, 2016, p. 95). On this commission, see Sect. 6.3.4.
34.
Interviews with M. Dandelot et al. and M. Perrière. For example, CADA, Annual report 2001, p. 2; Annual report 2007, p. 55.
35.
Art. L342-4, art. R342-4-1, and art. R342-5 CRPA.
36.
For example, CADA, Documents administratifs. Droit d’accès et réutilisation, Paris, La Documentation française, 2008.
37.
The FOIA also applies to some private entities and does not apply to all public bodies. The details of its scope of application will be discussed below. For reasons of convenience, we use the expressions‘public bodies’ or ‘public authorities’ to refer to the entities bound by the FOIA and only specify the nature of those entities when necessary for a correct understanding of the situation.
38.
Art. L342-1 CRPA, art. R343-1 CRPA. See also CE, 19 February 1982, no 24215; CE, 20 February 1985, no 55194.
39.
Art. R343-3 CRPA.
40.
In 2016, for example, the CADA took on average 69 days to issue its opinions (CADA, Annual Report 2016, p. 67). Over the years, the numbers have evolved as follows: 39.9 days (2011), 39.1 days (2012), 40.3 days (2013), 50.1 days (2014), and 58 days (2015).
41.
Art. R343-3 CRPA.
42.
Lallet (2014), at 391. See also Table 3.1.
43.
Art. R343-4 and art. R343-5 CRPA.
44.
Interview with M. Dandelot et al. The numbers have been high since the start (e.g. CADA, Annual report 1986–1987, p. 16; Annual report 1988–1989, pp. 24–27). Add CADA, Annual report 2013, pp. 7–15 (in-depth analysis of 120 refusals by the authority to follow the opinion of the CADA).
45.
No response in 57.2% of cases in 2015, 36.85% in 2014, 52.85% in 2013 (CADA, Annual Report 2015, p. 70). The 2016 Annual report mentions that the CADA tends to receive increasingly less information about the ways in which public bodies follow its opinions. It identifies gaining more information on this area as one key area for future work (p. 65).
46.
Transparence administrative, p. 96 (Chevallier).
47.
Art. L211-1 Code of administrative justice. See also Tribunal des conflits, 2 July 1984, nos 02324 and 02325 and CE, 13 November 2002, no 225908.
48.
CE, 27 April 1983, no 46476.
49.
Between 1990 and 2002, refusals to grant access to administrative documents were submitted for advice to the CADA 42,000 times but were challenged only 1000 times before the judge (Puybasset (2003), p. 1308). Add, for example, CADA, Annual report 2004, p. 22; Annual report 2005, p. 69; Annual report 2010, p. 49 and p. 81; Annual report 2012, p. 80.
50.
CADA, Annual report 2010, p. 50.
51.
CE, 23 December 1988, no 95310.
52.
CE, 14 March 2003, no 231661.
53.
Lallet (2014), at 427–429.
54.
Art. L911-1 Code of Administrative Justice.
55.
CE, 12 July 1995, no 161803; CE, 5 May 2008, no 294645; CE, 6 October 2008, no 289389.
56.
Art. R811-1 Code of Administrative Justice.
57.
See book V Code of Administrative Justice.
58.
CE, 29 April 2002, no 239466.
59.
Lallet (2014), at 441–444.
60.
CE, 25 July 2008, no 296505.
61.
Report (2015), 16.
62.
Art. L300-1 CRPA.
63.
Art. L311-6 CRPA. See Sect. 6.4.1.
64.
Transparence administrative, p. 43 (Moderne).
65.
Art. 8. See also Lasserre et al. (1987), p. 106.
66.
Art. 1 FDRA.
67.
CADA, Annual report 2015, p. 65.
68.
There are no centralised statistics on the number or identity of people requesting access to administrative documents. The only statistics available concern applicants to the CADA.
69.
CADA, Annual report 2016, p. 13.
70.
See CADA, Annual report 2001, p. 3 (contains the statistics for all years between 1979 and 2001).
71.
CADA, Annual report 1982–1983, p. 8; CADA, Annual report 1986–1987, p. 9.
72.
This has been the case from early on: see, for example, CADA, Annual report 1982–1983, pp. 12–14; Annual report 1984–1985, p. 6.
73.
Transparence administrative, p. 14 (Denoix de Saint Marc), p. 104 (Delaunay).
74.
Transparence administrative, p. 14 (Denoix de Saint Marc), pp. 49–50 (Moderne).
75.
CADA, Annual report 2013, p. 86.
76.
See, for example, CADA, Annual report 2000, p. 57 (numbers for 1999 and 2000); Annual report 2005, p. 19 (numbers for 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005); Annual report 2009, p. 60 (numbers for 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009); Annual report 2013, p. 85 (numbers for 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013. In 2013, however, the requests were equally split between natural and legal persons).
77.
CADA, Annual report 2012, p. 68; Annual report 2013, p. 87.
78.
Art. L300-2 CRPA.
79.
The exclusion of judicial documents is a result of the case law (Lallet (2014), at 78). See, for example, CE, 7 May 2010, no 303168. On judicial documents related to civil status, see Lallet (2014), at 88–90. For parliamentary documents, see art. L300-2 CRPA.
80.
Art. L300-2 CRPA.
81.
CADA, Le lien avec la mission de service public, available on http://www.cada.fr/le-lien-avec-la-mission-de-service-public,6096.html.
82.
CE, 26 July 1985, no 35067; see art. 10 FDRA.
83.
Art. L300-2 CRPA. See Lallet (2014), at 50–60.
84.
CE, 17 April 2013, no 342372; CE, 24 April 2013, no 338649.
85.
For example, in 1988, the CADA estimated that a municipality of 30,000 inhabitants would receive 20–50 requests per week for access to documents on average (CADA, Annual report 1986–1987, p. 10). See also Transparence administrative, pp. 99–110 (Delaunay).
86.
Annual report 2015, p. 67 (our translation).
87.
Annual report 2013, p. 89; Annual report 2014, p. 59; Annual report 2015, p. 68.
88.
Lallet (2014), at 235.
89.
Art. L311-2 CRPA. This duty applies to both public and private bodies subjected to the CRPA. See CE, 15 October 2014, nos 365058 and 365063. A 2003 study in one French region showed that in a majority of the cases this duty was not respected (Transparence administrative, pp. 105–106) (Delaunay).
90.
Interview with M. Perrière.
91.
Delaunay (1993), p. 550.
92.
Art. R322-7 CRPA. For an example of a register, see http://www.bayonne.fr/la-mairie/repertoire-des-donnees-publiques/902-donnees-publiques.html (Bayonne municipality).
93.
Lallet (2014), at 461.
94.
See Delaunay (1993), p. 554.
95.
CADA, 8 June 2006, opinion no 20062173.
96.
Art. L311-2 CRPA.
97.
Between 2009 and 2013, 7% (2009), 11.3% (2010), 3.2% (2011), 5.3% (2012), and 1.94% (2013) of the unfavourable opinions issued by the CADA were justified by the abusive character of the requests (the numbers are not available in more recent years) (CADA, Annual report 2013, p. 98).
98.
CADA, Les demandes abusives, available on http://www.cada.fr/les-demandes-abusives,6147.html
99.
See, for example, CE, 25 July 2013, no 348669.
100.
See, for example, CE, 28 November 2014, no 373127.
101.
See, for example, CADA, 23 December 2008, opinion no 20084654.
102.
See, for example, CADA, 6 December 2007, opinion no 20074652.
103.
Art. R311-12 and R311-13 CRPA.
104.
See Sects. 3.2 and 3.3.
105.
Art. L311-14 CRPA.
106.
CE, 15 November 2006, no 264636 (per analogy).
107.
Art. L232-4 CRPA.
108.
See, for example, CADA, Annual report 1999–2000, p. 7; Annual report 2002, p. 18; Annual report 2003, p. 2; Annual report 2005, p. 26; Annual report 2013, p. 83. See also Transparence administrative, p. 87 (Chevallier).
109.
Interview with M. Dandelot et al. See also, for example, CADA, Annual report 2012, p. 62.
110.
Interview with M. Dandelot et al. See art. L312-1-1 CRPA.
111.
Interview with M. Dandelot et al.
112.
Interview with M. Dandelot et al. See Table 3.1.
113.
Roux in Debbasch (ed.) (1990), p. 91.
114.
Interview with C. Bouchoux.
115.
Lasserre et al. (1987), p. 199; Roux in Debbasch (ed.) (1990), pp. 91–92; Delaunay (1993), pp. 575–576; Puybasset (2003), p. 1308; Transparence administrative (2003), p. 107 (Delaunay). See also, for example, CADA, Annual report 2003, p. 2.
116.
Lallet (2014), at 63.
117.
CE, 16 January 1985, no 46591; CE, 30 September 1987, no 66573.
118.
CE, 9 March 1983, no 43438; CE, 27 September 1985, no 56543; CE, 30 September 1987, no 66573.
119.
Lallet (2014), at 65. As explained in Sect. 7.2, the situation differs in environmental matters.
120.
Art. L311-3 CRPA.
121.
Art. L311-3-1 CRPA. The algorithms may also themselves qualify as administrative documents in the sense of the FOIA (CADA, Annual report 2016, p. 18).
122.
FDRA, Legislative proposal, p. 11.
123.
FDRA, Legislative proposal, p. 14.
124.
Interview with M. Perrière; interview with C. Bouchoux.
125.
Interview with P. Lemoine. See also CADA, Annual report 2016, p. 19.
126.
Interview with P. Lemoine.
127.
Art. L321-4 and R321-5 CRPA. The conditions for reusing public information are examined in Sect. 5.6. See also art. L312-1 CRPA, art. L312-1-1 CRPA, art. L312-1-3 CRPA, and art. L312-2 CRPA (these provisions list documents and data that must be made publicly available).
128.
http://www.data.gouv.fr/fr/datasets/.
129.
Interview with P. Lemoine.
130.
CADA, Annual report 2016, pp. 20–21.
131.
CE, 15 May 2006, no 278544.
132.
See, for example, CADA, 3 May 2007, advice no 20071782.
133.
Art. L311-9 CRPA.
134.
See, for example, CE, 4 August 2006, no 263299.
135.
Art. R311-11 CRPA.
136.
Decree of 1 October 2001. It should be updated to take into account new technological developments (Lallet (2014), at 249), but this has not been the case yet.
137.
Art. 2 Decree of 1 October 2001.
138.
CADA, 25 January 2007, opinion no 20070331.
139.
CADA, 19 January 2006, opinion no 20060472.
140.
Art. 10 Act no 78-753 of 17 July 1978 as originally enacted.
141.
Title II of book III CRPA.
142.
Art. L300-4 CRPA.
143.
Senate report, volume 2, pp. 69–72.
144.
Art. L321-2 CRPA.
145.
Art. L322-2 CRPA.
146.
Art. L322-1 CRPA.
147.
Lallet (2014), at 446 ff.; Cluzel-Métayer (2017), p. 343.
148.
Art. L324-1 CRPA. See also art. L324-2 CRPA (digitalisation of cultural collections).
149.
Art. L323-1 and art. L323-2 CRPA. A licence for reuse can be imposed in other cases as well.
150.
Art. L326-1 and art. L342-3 CRPA.
151.
Art. L325-1 and art. L325-2 CRPA.
152.
Section 5.3.
153.
Lallet (2014), at 140.
154.
6.5% (1990), 7.5% (1995), 4.1% (2005), 9.2% (2010), 9.8% (2015).
155.
CADA, Annual report 1984–1985, p. 7.
156.
See Sect. 5.1.
157.
Art. L311-2 CRPA. See Sect. 5.5. Add to these exclusions abusive requests.
158.
To be contrasted with the special regime applicable for environmental information (see Sect. 7.2).
159.
CADA, Annual report 1999–2000, pp. 19–20.
160.
For example: peak for preparatory documents of 39.8% in 1992 (CADA, Annual report 1992, p. 33) while now the statistics average 10% (CADA, Annual report 2013, p. 98).
161.
Lallet (2014), at 110–122.
162.
Ordinance no 2014-1328 of 6 November 2014 (now Art. L311-2 al 2 CRPA).
163.
Art. L311-2 al 3 CRPA.
164.
Lallet (2014), pp. 109–139.
165.
For example, art. 15 TFEU.
166.
Art. 7 Act no 2000-321 of 12 April 2000.
167.
Art. L311-5, 1° CRPA.
168.
http://www.conseil-etat.fr/Decisions-Avis-Publications/Avis/ConsiliaWeb.
169.
http://www.vie-publique.fr/actualite/alaune/gouvernement-rend-publics-avis-du-conseil-etat-20150319.html.
170.
Art. 40 Act no 2000-1257 of 23 December 2000.
171.
See Sect. 4.2 and Art. 2, 2° Ordinance no 2009–483 of 29 April 2009.
172.
Art. 50 Act no 2011-525 of 17 May 2011.
173.
Art. 20 Act no 2013-907 of 11 October 2013.
174.
CADA, Délibérations du Gouvernement, available on http://www.cada.fr/le-secret-des-deliberations-du-gouvernement-et,6099.html.
175.
CADA, 7 June 2007, n° 20072239.
176.
CE, 30 March 2016, no 383546.
177.
CADA, Annual report 2008, p. 67. Similar results in CADA, Annual report 1999–2000, p. 71 (1995–2000) and CADA, Annual report 2004, p. 16 (2001–2004). The situation was, however, different earlier on: for example, in 1993, 3.6%, and in 1994, 2.7% (CADA, Annual report 1993–1994, p. 76).
178.
Lallet (2014), at 164–165.
179.
CADA, Annual report 2008, p. 67.
180.
CADA, Annual report 2004, p. 16.
181.
Guillaume (1998), 1223.
182.
Act no 98-567 of 8 July 1998, now Art. L2312-1 ff. Defense Code.
183.
Respectively, Art. L231-2, I, 3° and 5° Defense Code.
184.
CADA, Annual report 2008, p. 67.
185.
CADA, Annual report 2004, p. 16.
186.
CADA, Annual report 1982–83, pp. 15–16.
187.
Cinquième rapport de la Commission consultative du secret de la défense nationale, Paris, La Documentation française, 2010, p. 8 (for 2005, 2006, and 2007, average of 20 opinions a year). Despite variations across the years, the overall trend is confirmed in the following years (Rapport de la Commission consultative du secret de la défense nationale 2013–2015, 2016, p. 85).
188.
Rapport de la Commission consultative du secret de la défense nationale 2013–2015, 2016, p. 85.
189.
Art. 11 Act no 2009-928 of 29 July 2009. Legislative elaboration: https://www.senat.fr/dossier-legislatif/pjl97-297.html; opinion from the commission, https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichSarde.do?reprise=true&page=1&idSarde=SARDOBJT000007104682&ordre=null&nature=null&g=ls; more information on this commission is available in the Projet de loi relatif à la programmation militaire pour les années 2009 à 2014 et portant diverses dispositions concernant la défense.
190.
On the events see https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/09/pakistan.rorymccarthy.
191.
Crim., 31 August 2011, no 11-90.065.
192.
CC, 10 November 2011, no 2011-192 QPC (official translation on the website of the CC).
193.
CADA’s statistics only refer to public security and give the following figures: 4.9% (2009), 1.5% (2010), 2% (2011), – (sic–2012), 1.94% (2013) (CADA, Annual report 2013, p. 98).
194.
Exception added by Act no 2000-321 of 12 April 2000, art 7-V.
195.
Lallet (2014), at 167–171.
196.
Art. 2, II, 1° FDRA.
197.
Lallet (2014), at 174.
198.
CADA, Annual report 2004, p. 16.
199.
CADA, Annual report 2008, p. 67.
200.
CADA, Annual report 2013, p. 98.
201.
See Sect. 4.2.
202.
1.2% (2009), 0.9% (2010), 2.4% (2011), 3.8% (2012) and 1.23% (2013) (Annual report 2013, p. 98).
203.
Lallet (2014), at 177–178.
204.
CE, 28 September 2016, no 390760.
205.
Lallet (2014), at 179.
206.
Lallet (2014), at 180–183.
207.
CADA, Annual report 2013, p. 98.
208.
CADA, Annual report 2008, p. 67.
209.
Art. 2, II, 2° FDRA.
210.
On this directive see Sect. 7.2.
211.
CADA, Autres secrets protégés par la loi, available on http://www.cada.fr/autres-secrets-proteges-par-la-loi,6229.html.
212.
When it had dipped from slightly higher levels the previous years (CADA, Annual report 2004, p. 16).
213.
CADA, Annual report 2008, p. 67.
214.
CADA, Annual report 2013, p. 98.
215.
Art. L311-6 CRPA.
216.
Art. 9 Act no 79-587 of 11 July 1979.
217.
It is mentioned in art. L311-6 CRPA but refers to a special regime detailed elsewhere (art. L111-7 public health code). Medical information is disclosed to the person concerned directly or through a doctor, according to her wish (art. L311-6 last alinea CRPA). CADA, Informations à caractère médical, available on http://www.cada.fr/informations-a-caractere-medical,6092.html.
218.
Lallet (2014), at 191–212.
219.
CE, 17 April 2013, no 344924.
220.
CE, 8 June 2016, no 386525.
221.
http://www.cada.fr/protection-de-la-vie-privee,6111.html.
222.
Art. 7, 7° Act no 2000-321 of 12 April 2000. For details, CADA, Appréciation, jugement de valeur et comportement, available on http://www.cada.fr/appreciation-jugement-de-valeur-et-comportement,6113.html.
223.
CE, 20 January 1988, no 68506.
224.
CE, 10 March 2010, no 303814.
225.
Lallet (2014), at 206.
226.
CADA, Annual report 2013, p. 98.
227.
Art. L311-6, al.1, 1° CRPA (our translation) as inserted by the FDRA, art. 6, 1°.
228.
CADA, Annual Report 2016, p. 29. For the detail of what each aspect includes, CADA, Les documents couverts par le secret en matière commerciale et industrielle, available on http://www.cada.fr/les-documents-couverts-par-le-secret-en-matiere,6069.html.
229.
CADA, 22 September 2016, advice no 20163396.
230.
CE, 21 April 2017, no 394606.
231.
CADA, Annual report 2016, pp. 31–32.
232.
CADA, Annual report 2008, p. 67; Annual report 2013, p. 98. Before 2006, the statistics had always been below the 10% threshold.
233.
For an account of the facts in English: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/mar/24/areva-creusot-nuclear-forge-france-hinkley-point; https://www.economist.com/news/business/21711087-electricit-de-france-has-had-shut-down-18-its-58-nuclear-reactors-frances-nuclear-energy.
234.
CADA, 6 October 2016, opinion no 20163114.
235.
Ordinance no 2005-650 of 6 June 2005, introducing a III in art. 6 FOIA.
236.
Lallet (2014), at 232.
237.
CE, 22 May 1995, no 152393.
238.
CADA, 25 May 2000, opinion no 20001636.
239.
CE, 7 November 1990, no 95084; CE, 11 December 2006, no 279113.
240.
Lallet (2014), at 64.
241.
See Table 3.1.
242.
Lallet (2014), at 393; interview with M. Dandelot et al.
243.
For the first systematic discussion of the articulation between the FOIA and special regimes, see CADA, Annual report 1995, chapter 1.
244.
See interview with M. Dandelot et al.
245.
http://www.cada.fr/les-dispositions-legislatives-nationales,6145.html.
246.
Act no 2008-696 of 15 July 2008 (now art. L211-1 ff Code du patrimoine).
247.
For an overview of the time limits, see Senate report, volume I, p. 39.
248.
Requests in relation to electoral lists are increasing. The CADA ensures that access to electoral lists is limited to a specific use, namely, ensuring that the electoral lists are correctly established. Purely commercial uses (art. R16 last alinea electoral code) are not allowed (CADA, Annual report 2016, pp. 35–36). CE, 2 December 2016, no 388979 (concl. Rapporteur public A. Bretonneau) took a stricter approach: the mere serious risk that the person requesting access to electoral lists might use them at least partly for commercial purposes was enough to justify the mayor rejecting the request.
249.
Article L342-2 CRPA.
250.
Art. 10-V Act no 95-73 of 21 January 1995.
251.
Art. L147-1 ff Code of social action and families.
252.
Saison (2016). 556. Add. CADA, Annual report 2007, p. 41: Combinaison de la loi du 17 juillet 1978 avec des régimes spéciaux.
253.
CE, 27 March 2015, no 382083. For the available objections to this solution, see Lessi and Dutheillet de Lamothe (2015), p. 981.
254.
Rambaud (2015), p. 598.
255.
CADA, Annual report 1982–83, pp. 8–9 noted the different strategies used by environmental associations. Some targeted specific issues (e.g. access to documents pertaining to emissions in the environment) while others focused on gaining access to local projects (e.g. urban projects or road building). For an overview of the situation before a special regime was developed, see CADA, Annual report 1988, second part.
256.
See Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention, 1998), as well as the EU legislation, especially the Directive 2003/4/EC on Public Access to Environmental Information.
257.
Act no 95-101 of 2 February 1995 (Prieur 1988).
258.
France was found in breach of first European Council Directive 90/313/EEC of 7 June 1990 on the freedom of access to information on the environment (CJEU, 26 June 2003, C-233/00).
259.
Senate report, volume I, 42.
260.
‘Everyone has the right, in the conditions and to the extent provided for by law, to have access to information pertaining to the environment in the possession of public bodies and to participate in the public decision-taking process likely to affect the environment’ (translation from the Constitutional Council).
261.
CC, 19 June 2008, no 008-564 DC; confirmed in CC, 13 July 2012, no 2012-262 QPC; CC, 27 July 2012, no 2012-270 QPC; and CE, 3 October 2008, no 297931.
262.
Art. L124-1 environmental code.
263.
Lallet (2014), at 328.
264.
Art. 124-4-II-1° environmental code.
265.
CADA, 27 November 2008, no 20084434.
266.
CADA, 26 September 2013, no 20133131.
267.
CE, 24 April 2013, no 337982.
268.
CE, 21 November 2007, no 280969.
269.
CJEU, 17 February 2009, C-552/07.
270.
CE, 9 December 2009, no 280969.
271.
CADA, Annual report 1982–83, pp. 11–12.
272.
Delaunay (1993), 570.
273.
See hearings of various journalists: Senate report, volume II, pp. 63 ff, 69 ff, 73 ff, and 79 ff.
274.
CE, 27 March 2015, no 382083.
275.
These administrative documents do not have to be communicated immediately. The different appeal possibilities that are available during the validation process of the electoral accounts need to have been exhausted or time to introduce them needs to have lapsed.
276.
Robitaille-Froidure (2015).
277.
Interview with C. Bouchoux.

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Center for Public Law, Université libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium
Yseult Marique & Emmanuel Slautsky
Deutsches Forschungsinstitut für öffentliche Verwaltung Speyer, Speyer, Germany
Yseult Marique
Leuven Centre for Public Law, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Emmanuel Slautsky

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Center for Good Governance Studies, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj Napoca, Romania
Dacian C. Dragos
Faculty of Administration, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Polonca Kovač
Department of Constitutional Law, Administrative Law and Public Administration, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands
Albert T. Marseille

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Marique, Y., Slautsky, E. (2019). Freedom of Information in France: Law and Practice. In: Dragos, D.C., Kovač, P., Marseille, A.T. (eds) The Laws of Transparency in Action. Governance and Public Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76460-3_3

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76460-3_3
Published: 21 July 2018
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