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Overseas territorial authority / COM

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Definition

Since the constitutional revision of 28 March 2003, the term overseas authority (COM) refers to the legal status of certain territories of the French Republic, a status governed by article 74 of the Constitution. They group together former overseas territories as well as other territorial authorities with a special status. The administration of governing powers (defence, police, justice, treasury) is the role of the French government.

There are currently five overseas authorities. These territories have diverse statuses and internal organisations, specified for some by the organic law of 21 February 2007 :

1. Saint-Pierre and Miquelon (Atlantic coast off of Canada) which was an overseas department from 1976 to 1985 ;
2. Wallis and Futuna (Pacific Ocean) has a very specific organisation that is not subdivided into municipalities. The archipelago is organised into three territorial districts, each one corresponding to a kingdom under customary law, competent in certain domains (the management of a domain under customary law, etc.) ;
3. French Polynesia (Pacific Ocean), a set of 5 French archipelagos corresponding to 5 administrative subdivisions (Marquesas Islands, Windward Islands, Tuamotu-Gambier Islands, Austral Islands and Leeward Islands is also an overseas authority. It benefits from wide-ranging political autonomy ;
4. Saint-Barthélémy, the Lesser Antilles (Caribbean) and Saint-Martin, northern half of the island of the same name in the Lesser Antilles, have been COMs since the organic law of 2007. From the municipalities of Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthélemy, formerly part of the overseas department of Guadeloupe, the creation of these two authorities has been effective since 15 July 2007.

Note

Mayotte (island in the Indian Ocean, separated from the Comoro Islands in 1976), which had borne the name "departmental authority of Mayotte" from 2001 till 2011. From April, 2011 it becomes an overseas department (Dom).