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Statistical confidentiality and data protection

Statistical confidentiality is defined in Law N°51-711 of 7 June 1951, amended, relating to statistical obligation, coordination and confidentiality. According to the Law, communication of any data concerning private and family life, and more generally, any act or behaviour of a private nature collected during a statistical survey is forbidden, and this sanction lasts for seventy-five years unless special dispensation is given, after the approval of the statistics confidentiality committee stipulating that the purpose must be for public statistics or scientific or historic research. As for economic or financial information, this may not be passed on to anyone for twenty-five years, unless special dispensation is given, after the approval of the statistics confidentiality committee forbidding any use of this information for the purposes of tax inspections or punitive measures.

The purpose of Law N°78-17 of 6 January 1978, amended, relating to information technology, files and liberties, was to ensure that the processing of data of a private nature does not infringe anyone's private life or the exercise of their individual freedom.

Civil servants and agents of the State are all subject to legislation and regulations on professional confidentiality and the obligation of discretion, applied to cases and information of which they have knowledge in the course of their work. Like all civil servants, statisticians from public departments are subject to obligations. Moreover, the legislators have produced specific texts for data of a private nature.

The "Information Technology and liberties" Law

The amended French Law of 6 January 1978 on information technology, files and liberties sets out the rules for the protection of private life in the use of data files of a personal nature. This legislation reaches beyond the area of statistics, and covers all processing of such information, whoever the author may be, whether from an administration or not, and for whatever reason. The 1978 Law created a body to control the processing of data of a personal nature, the French Data Protection Authority (Cnil).

Rules relating to statistical information

Statistical confidentiality - defined by the 1951 Law - applies to all individual information collected by public statistics departments, but its provisions differ according to whether the information concerns private behaviour or whether it is economic and financial information. Statistical confidentiality, which is the confidentiality of individual data collected during statistical surveys, is to protect private life on the one hand and the economic interests of the agents on the other.

Subject to certain stipulations in the French Criminal Procedure Code (articles 40, 56, 76, 97 and 99), individual information that appears in questionnaires and which concerns private and family life and, generally, relates to acts and behaviour of a private nature, may not be the subject of any communication by the depositing department before seventy-five years have elapsed after the date the census or the survey is carried out. However, the administrative authority may, if given permission by the Statistical Confidentiality Committee, and solely for the purpose of public statistics or scientific or historic research, allow individual data on private and family life to be communicated and, more generally, those relating to acts and behaviour of a private nature.

Subject to the same stipulations in the French Criminal Procedure Code, individual information of an economic or financial nature that appears in the questionnaires may not be used in any communication by the depositing department before twenty-five years have elapsed following the date when the census or the survey is carried out. However, the administrative authority may, after seeking the opinion of the Statistical Confidentiality Committee, agree to the communication of individual data of an economic or financial nature to those who request it. Such applicants must provide justification for the research that has motivated the request and agree not to pass this information on to anyone, to ensure it is maintained in materially secure conditions and to destroy it on a date set by the Statistical Confidentiality Committee. Data transmitted in this way can under no circumstances be used for the purposes of tax inspections or punitive measures.

These rules also prohibit the publication of data which would enable the indirect identification of respondents and their replies, a concept called "impossibility of identification". The rules limit the level of detail allowed in information to be disseminated. Very strict rules are specifically set for censuses. For surveys where households are questioned, it is usually impossible to identify them through the results, and no particular rules have been drawn up.

For companies, no result is published which concerns fewer than three companies, nor any data for which a single company represents 85% or more of the value obtained. However, the dissemination of lists taken from the register of companies and establishments may mention economic activity, an employee category and turnover bracket.

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Obligation to declare the processing of data of a personal nature

The Cnil is the independent administrative authority in France responsible for guaranteeing that private life, individual liberties and public liberties are respected when personal data is processed.

It is made up of parliamentarians, members of the highest courts in France - Conseil d'État (State Security Court), Cour de Cassation (Supreme Court of Appeal) and Cour des Comptes (Court of Auditors) - and other highly qualified individuals.

All processing of data of a personal nature is the subject of a declaration, a request for an opinion or a request for an authorisation from the Cnil, depending on the type of information being processed. A simplified, but nevertheless fully justified, declaration is possible in the case of a statistical project which has had a favourable opinion from the Cnis (National Council for Statistical Information).

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Restrictions on processing and controlling nominative information

The Cnil also checks that the legal obligations of those responsible for files are respected. Except under strictly defined circumstances, it is prohibited to process data of a personal nature which reveal the racial origins, opinions (political, philosophical or religious), trade union affiliations or health circumstances of people.

Individuals have the right to know and contest the information and data processing that concerns them personally; they can demand the rectification or deletion of information that is erroneous, inaccurate, out of date, or which cannot legally be stored.

Information may not be used for anything other than its declared purpose. The conservation and storage of information are covered by regulations and their application is closely monitored by Cnil.

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