Protection of personal data and privacy – Fundamental Rights in FRANCE.
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Safeguarding fundamental rights in today’s information society is a key issue for the European Union and its Member States, as more and more people use information and communications technologies (ICT) in their daily lives at work and at home.

As the European Agency for fundamental Rights explains pertinently :

“However, this growing use of ICT is creating fundamental rights challenges. These range from concerns about privacy and the potential misuse of personal data online to the threats posed by cybercrime or large-scale surveillance operations. As a result, every EU citizen may, at some point, face violations of their fundamental rights, such as their right to privacy, freedom of expression or freedom of association” (learn more : http://fra.europa.eu/en/theme/information-society-privacy-and-data-protection).


In France, the personal and biometric data of sixty million French holders of an identity card or a passport will now be compiled into a single file, called “secure electronic securities” (TES).

This database will replace the previous TES futures (dedicated to passports) and national management File (dedicated to identity cards), combined in this new file.

The resulting database will collect information such as the facial image, fingerprints, eye color, physical and digital addresses … In total, almost all the French are included, since it is sufficient to hold or have held an identity card or passport to be part of – the data is kept fifteen (for passports) to twenty years (for identity cards).

This French Decree – unnoticed – raises the question of its compatibility with the DIRECTIVE 95/46 / EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 24 October 1995 on the Protection of Individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of Such data, and the issue of the erosion of European Fundamental Rights, such as the right to protection of personal data and privacy, guaranteed by Articles 7 and 8 of the European Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Learn more :

Press article in “Le Monde” of October 31, 2016 : http://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2016/10/31/60-millions-de-francais-fiches-dans-une-base-de-donnees-commune-des-titres-d-identite_5023190_4408996.html?xtmc=fiches&xtcr=2

French Decree n° 2016-1460 of 28 october 2016 : https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000033318345&dateTexte=&categorieLien=id