At a national level, Article 6 of the amended Law no. 51-711 of June 7, 1951 on the obligation, coordination and secrecy of statistics defines statistical secrecy, its limits and conditions of application.

Statistical secrecy obligations apply to administrative data that may be disclosed by INSEE or ministerial statistical departments under the terms of article 7 bis of the aforementioned law, as well as to private data disclosed under the terms of article 3 bis. Generally speaking, when it comes to access to public data, confidentiality obligations relating to the protection of privacy or business secrecy, as well as the protection of personal data, are guaranteed by law (Article 1 of the Law for a Digital Republic).

At European level, the confidentiality of statistical information is affirmed by Article 338 of the Union Treaty. "The compilation of statistics shall respect (...) the confidentiality of statistical information". Statistical confidentiality is also the subject of Chapter V of Regulation 223/2009, as amended, and of Implementing Regulation 557/2013 concerning access to confidential data for statistical purposes.

A Statistical Confidentiality Committee ensures that these statutory guarantees are upheld. Its powers are set out in article 6 bis of Act no. 51-711 of June 7, 1951, as amended, on the obligation, coordination and secrecy of statistics, and in chapter II of Decree no. 2009-318 of March 20, 2009, on the National Council for Statistical Information and the Statistical Secrecy Committee. It is called upon to give its opinion on any question relating to statistical secrecy, and gives its opinion on requests for disclosure of individual data collected by means of statistical surveys or transmitted to the official statistical service, for statistical purposes. It may also be called upon by researchers to issue an opinion on access to various administrative data outside the scope of public statistics.

Chaired by a State Councillor, it includes representatives of the National Assembly and the Senate. The composition and operating procedures of the committee are laid down by decree in the Conseil d'Etat. The beneficiaries of data disclosures resulting from ministerial decisions taken on the advice of the Statistical Confidentiality Committee undertake not to disclose such data to any third party. Any breach of the provisions of this paragraph is punishable by the penalties set out in Article 226-13 of the French Penal Code.

Data are subject to statistical confidentiality.

No statistics are published for very small areas (fewer than 50 households and fewer than 100 people).

Five indicators (median declared income per CU, median disposable income per CU, number of households, number of people and number of CUs) are published for areas with more than 50 households or more than 100 people.

The other indicators (excluding percentiles) are published for areas with more than 1,000 households or more than 2,000 people, subject to statistical confidentiality. They are also published for sub-populations associated with a socio-demographic criterion with a minimum population of at least 200 people and at least 11 households.

Indicators relating to poor or low-income people (median for the poor or low-income sub-population, poverty or low-income intensity) are distributed to areas with more than 1,000 households or more than 2,000 people, in which at least 200 people and at least 11 households are poor or low-income. They are distributed to sub-populations associated with a socio-demographic criterion with a minimum population of at least 200 people and at least 11 poor or low-income households.

Poverty and low-income rates are published for areas with more than 1,000 households or more than 2,000 people, in which at least 200 people and at least 11 households are poor or low-income, and at least 200 people and at least 11 households are not poor or low-income. They are disseminated on sub-populations associated with a socio-demographic criterion having a headcount of at least 200 people and at least 11 poor or low-income households, and of at least 200 people and at least 11 non-poor or low-income households. Where rates lie within the intervals 0-5 and 95-100, the exact value is not displayed, but is replaced by the values 5% and 95% respectively.

Income components are broadcast for areas with more than 1,000 households or more than 2,000 people, provided that for each income component there are at least 11 households for which the component is non-zero. They are broadcast for sub-populations associated with a socio-demographic criterion (e.g. under-30s) with a minimum population of at least 200 people and at least 11 households, and provided that for each income component there are at least 11 households for which the component is non-zero. They are also disseminated by income bracket defined according to deciles of metropolitan per capita income, subject to a minimum of 200 people and at least 11 households per income bracket, and only for income brackets for which, for each income component, there are at least 11 households for which the component is non-zero.

The share of taxed households is broadcast for areas with more than 1,000 households or more than 2,000 people, in which at least 200 people and at least 11 households are taxed, and at least 200 people and at least 11 households are not taxed. When the share lies within the intervals 0-5 and 95-100, the exact value is not displayed, but is replaced by the values 5% and 95% respectively.

In addition, data is rounded off (to the nearest ten for income amounts in euros, to the nearest tenth or unit of point for individual shares) to prevent secrecy from being lifted.