http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?home The Global Legal Monitor is an online publication from the Law Library of Congress covering legal news and developments worldwide. It is updated frequently and draws on information from the Global Legal Information Network, official national legal publications, and reliable press sources. You can search previous news by searching the archive. en-us http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403402_text Family - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 15 Nov 2012 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403402_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403387_text Abortion - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously,... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 07 Nov 2012 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403387_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403261_text Intellectual property - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 01 Aug 2012 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403261_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403233_text Budget - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).)... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403233_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403193_text Intellectual property - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 15 Jun 2012 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403193_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403192_text Criminal law and procedure - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave;... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 15 Jun 2012 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403192_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403078_text Identification - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403078_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403058_text Adoption - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403058_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403052_text Intellectual property - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave;... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205403052_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402984_text Trade and commerce - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402984_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402969_text Genocide - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402969_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402911_text Health and safety - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402911_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402887_text Nationality and citizenship - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402887_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402886_text Budget - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion)... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402886_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402868_text Religion - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402868_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402846_text Taxation - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402846_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402834_text Extradition - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402834_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402828_text Criminal law and procedure - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402828_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402829_text Taxation - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE).... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402829_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402830_text Energy - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 03 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402830_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402748_text Health - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402748_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402734_text Weapons - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402734_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402732_text Commerce and industry - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1,... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 01 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402732_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402731_text Immigration - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17,... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 01 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402731_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402682_text Human rights - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Tue, 24 May 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402682_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402683_text Criminal law and procedure - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Tue, 24 May 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402683_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402598_text Agriculture - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 04 Apr 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402598_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402589_text Communications and electronic information - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402589_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402584_text Women - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 23 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402584_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402581_text Budget - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Tue, 22 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402581_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402583_text Criminal law and procedure - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Tue, 22 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402583_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402497_text Family - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402497_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402499_text Taxation - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 02 Feb 2011 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402499_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402496_text Education - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Tue, 01 Feb 2011 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402496_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402479_text Criminal law and procedure - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 20 Jan 2011 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402479_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402415_text Human rights - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 13 Dec 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402415_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402409_text Adoption - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 06 Dec 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402409_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402385_text Pensions and retirement - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402385_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402386_text Border security - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 22 Nov 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402386_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402384_text Banks and financial institutions - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 19 Nov 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402384_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402378_text Government ethics - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29,... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 17 Nov 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402378_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402351_text Intellectual property - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI),... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 04 Nov 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402351_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402335_text Human rights - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 27 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402335_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402318_text Human rights - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself)... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402318_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402319_text Women - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 18 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402319_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402291_text Immigration - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402291_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402288_text War crimes - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402288_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402289_text Immigration - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402289_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402255_text Immigration - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402255_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402253_text Domestic violence - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402253_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402254_text National symbols - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402254_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402252_text War crimes - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 20 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402252_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402156_text Criminal law and procedure - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 13 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402156_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402159_text Environment - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement,... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402159_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402158_text Weapons - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code.... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 12 Aug 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402158_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402121_text Adoption - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402121_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402095_text Weapons - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote.... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402095_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402028_text Women - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205402028_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401930_text Women - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 19 Apr 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401930_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401929_text Immigration - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE,... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 19 Apr 2010 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401929_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401819_text Gender equality - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401819_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401815_text Women - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401815_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401799_text Human rights - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401799_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401787_text Freedom of the press - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File:... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 25 Jan 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401787_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401784_text Weapons - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401784_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401786_text Disability - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401786_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401758_text Banks and financial institutions - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401758_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401759_text Environment - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401759_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401761_text Banks and financial institutions - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401761_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401760_text Intellectual property - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401760_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401706_text International law - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401706_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401670_text Banks and financial institutions - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401670_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401615_text Taxation - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401615_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401590_text Communications and electronic information - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401590_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401575_text Environment - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal,... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401575_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401548_text Taxation - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401548_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401457_text Cultural property - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401457_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401420_text Health and safety - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401420_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401407_text Communications and electronic information - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009,... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401407_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401399_text Women - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401399_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401381_text Taxation - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401381_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401296_text Communications and electronic information - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services,... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 22 May 2009 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401296_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401065_text Money laundering - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401065_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401051_text War crimes - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l205401051_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540966_text Health and safety - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540966_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540921_text Terrorism - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540921_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540933_text Criminal law and procedure - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Tue, 13 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540933_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540895_text International law - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 05 Jan 2009 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540895_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540857_text Labor - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase On December 11, 2008, France's Constitutional Council ruled on the constitutionality of several provisions of the 2009 Law on the Financing of Social Security. Determination of the constitutionality of laws in France takes place before their... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 18 Dec 2008 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540857_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540814_text Corporations - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase On December 11, 2008, France's Constitutional Council ruled on the constitutionality of several provisions of the 2009 Law on the Financing of Social Security. Determination of the constitutionality of laws in France takes place before their Law 2008-776 on the Modernization of the Economy, which was passed by the French legislature on August 4, 2008, established a new single competition authority, the Autorit; de la concurrence. The creation of the Competition Authority... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540814_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540697_text Environment - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase On December 11, 2008, France's Constitutional Council ruled on the constitutionality of several provisions of the 2009 Law on the Financing of Social Security. Determination of the constitutionality of laws in France takes place before their Law 2008-776 on the Modernization of the Economy, which was passed by the French legislature on August 4, 2008, established a new single competition authority, the Autorit; de la concurrence. The creation of the Competition Authority Law 2008-757 of August 1, 2008, on environmental liability, transposes Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 21, 2004, on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The Law also implements... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540697_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540693_text Criminal law and procedure - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase On December 11, 2008, France's Constitutional Council ruled on the constitutionality of several provisions of the 2009 Law on the Financing of Social Security. Determination of the constitutionality of laws in France takes place before their Law 2008-776 on the Modernization of the Economy, which was passed by the French legislature on August 4, 2008, established a new single competition authority, the Autorit; de la concurrence. The creation of the Competition Authority Law 2008-757 of August 1, 2008, on environmental liability, transposes Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 21, 2004, on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The Law also implements On September 29, 2008, a court of appeal in Bordeaux, France, confirmed a June 2007 ruling ordering Omar Bongo, the President of Gabon, to return 457,347 (about US$654,000) to the son of a French company director.... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540693_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540522_text Human rights - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase On December 11, 2008, France's Constitutional Council ruled on the constitutionality of several provisions of the 2009 Law on the Financing of Social Security. Determination of the constitutionality of laws in France takes place before their Law 2008-776 on the Modernization of the Economy, which was passed by the French legislature on August 4, 2008, established a new single competition authority, the Autorit; de la concurrence. The creation of the Competition Authority Law 2008-757 of August 1, 2008, on environmental liability, transposes Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 21, 2004, on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The Law also implements On September 29, 2008, a court of appeal in Bordeaux, France, confirmed a June 2007 ruling ordering Omar Bongo, the President of Gabon, to return 457,347 (about US$654,000) to the son of a French company director. Law 2008-496 of May 27, 2008, transposes into national law various measures to combat discrimination to comply with three European Union directives: Directive 2000/43/EU of June 29, 2000 (equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540522_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540575_text Identification - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase On December 11, 2008, France's Constitutional Council ruled on the constitutionality of several provisions of the 2009 Law on the Financing of Social Security. Determination of the constitutionality of laws in France takes place before their Law 2008-776 on the Modernization of the Economy, which was passed by the French legislature on August 4, 2008, established a new single competition authority, the Autorit; de la concurrence. The creation of the Competition Authority Law 2008-757 of August 1, 2008, on environmental liability, transposes Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 21, 2004, on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The Law also implements On September 29, 2008, a court of appeal in Bordeaux, France, confirmed a June 2007 ruling ordering Omar Bongo, the President of Gabon, to return 457,347 (about US$654,000) to the son of a French company director. Law 2008-496 of May 27, 2008, transposes into national law various measures to combat discrimination to comply with three European Union directives: Directive 2000/43/EU of June 29, 2000 (equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or On April 30, 2008, the French government issued a decree implementing biometric passports and creating a national database to store fingerprints, photographs, and information relating to the civil status of passport applicants. The decree was published... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540575_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540460_text Police - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase On December 11, 2008, France's Constitutional Council ruled on the constitutionality of several provisions of the 2009 Law on the Financing of Social Security. Determination of the constitutionality of laws in France takes place before their Law 2008-776 on the Modernization of the Economy, which was passed by the French legislature on August 4, 2008, established a new single competition authority, the Autorit; de la concurrence. The creation of the Competition Authority Law 2008-757 of August 1, 2008, on environmental liability, transposes Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 21, 2004, on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The Law also implements On September 29, 2008, a court of appeal in Bordeaux, France, confirmed a June 2007 ruling ordering Omar Bongo, the President of Gabon, to return 457,347 (about US$654,000) to the son of a French company director. Law 2008-496 of May 27, 2008, transposes into national law various measures to combat discrimination to comply with three European Union directives: Directive 2000/43/EU of June 29, 2000 (equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or On April 30, 2008, the French government issued a decree implementing biometric passports and creating a national database to store fingerprints, photographs, and information relating to the civil status of passport applicants. The decree was published France's National Commission on Ethics and Security (Commission Nationale de D;ontologie de la S;curit;), an independent administrative authority that has the power to investigate cases of abuses by police officers and others in charge of public... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 02 May 2008 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540460_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540419_text Criminal law and procedure - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase On December 11, 2008, France's Constitutional Council ruled on the constitutionality of several provisions of the 2009 Law on the Financing of Social Security. Determination of the constitutionality of laws in France takes place before their Law 2008-776 on the Modernization of the Economy, which was passed by the French legislature on August 4, 2008, established a new single competition authority, the Autorit; de la concurrence. The creation of the Competition Authority Law 2008-757 of August 1, 2008, on environmental liability, transposes Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 21, 2004, on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The Law also implements On September 29, 2008, a court of appeal in Bordeaux, France, confirmed a June 2007 ruling ordering Omar Bongo, the President of Gabon, to return 457,347 (about US$654,000) to the son of a French company director. Law 2008-496 of May 27, 2008, transposes into national law various measures to combat discrimination to comply with three European Union directives: Directive 2000/43/EU of June 29, 2000 (equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or On April 30, 2008, the French government issued a decree implementing biometric passports and creating a national database to store fingerprints, photographs, and information relating to the civil status of passport applicants. The decree was published France's National Commission on Ethics and Security (Commission Nationale de D;ontologie de la S;curit;), an independent administrative authority that has the power to investigate cases of abuses by police officers and others in charge of public On April 24, 2008, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ratified extradition treaties with France and Australia. Each treaty has 23 articles. The treaties cover, among... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 02 May 2008 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540419_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540349_text Criminal law and procedure - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase On December 11, 2008, France's Constitutional Council ruled on the constitutionality of several provisions of the 2009 Law on the Financing of Social Security. Determination of the constitutionality of laws in France takes place before their Law 2008-776 on the Modernization of the Economy, which was passed by the French legislature on August 4, 2008, established a new single competition authority, the Autorit; de la concurrence. The creation of the Competition Authority Law 2008-757 of August 1, 2008, on environmental liability, transposes Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 21, 2004, on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The Law also implements On September 29, 2008, a court of appeal in Bordeaux, France, confirmed a June 2007 ruling ordering Omar Bongo, the President of Gabon, to return 457,347 (about US$654,000) to the son of a French company director. Law 2008-496 of May 27, 2008, transposes into national law various measures to combat discrimination to comply with three European Union directives: Directive 2000/43/EU of June 29, 2000 (equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or On April 30, 2008, the French government issued a decree implementing biometric passports and creating a national database to store fingerprints, photographs, and information relating to the civil status of passport applicants. The decree was published France's National Commission on Ethics and Security (Commission Nationale de D;ontologie de la S;curit;), an independent administrative authority that has the power to investigate cases of abuses by police officers and others in charge of public On April 24, 2008, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ratified extradition treaties with France and Australia. Each treaty has 23 articles. The treaties cover, among A French law of February 25, 2008, provides, in exceptional cases, for keeping certain categories of violent offenders in specialized detention centers after the offenders have served their sentences if they are still deemed to pose... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540349_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540222_text Environment - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase On December 11, 2008, France's Constitutional Council ruled on the constitutionality of several provisions of the 2009 Law on the Financing of Social Security. Determination of the constitutionality of laws in France takes place before their Law 2008-776 on the Modernization of the Economy, which was passed by the French legislature on August 4, 2008, established a new single competition authority, the Autorit; de la concurrence. The creation of the Competition Authority Law 2008-757 of August 1, 2008, on environmental liability, transposes Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 21, 2004, on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The Law also implements On September 29, 2008, a court of appeal in Bordeaux, France, confirmed a June 2007 ruling ordering Omar Bongo, the President of Gabon, to return 457,347 (about US$654,000) to the son of a French company director. Law 2008-496 of May 27, 2008, transposes into national law various measures to combat discrimination to comply with three European Union directives: Directive 2000/43/EU of June 29, 2000 (equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or On April 30, 2008, the French government issued a decree implementing biometric passports and creating a national database to store fingerprints, photographs, and information relating to the civil status of passport applicants. The decree was published France's National Commission on Ethics and Security (Commission Nationale de D;ontologie de la S;curit;), an independent administrative authority that has the power to investigate cases of abuses by police officers and others in charge of public On April 24, 2008, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ratified extradition treaties with France and Australia. Each treaty has 23 articles. The treaties cover, among A French law of February 25, 2008, provides, in exceptional cases, for keeping certain categories of violent offenders in specialized detention centers after the offenders have served their sentences if they are still deemed to pose In October 2007, a highly publicized environmental forum took place in Paris, the "Grenelle de l'environnement." The forum resulted in many recommendations to combat global warming and protect the environment. President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to implement... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Sat, 02 Feb 2008 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540222_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l2054091_text Intellectual property - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase On December 11, 2008, France's Constitutional Council ruled on the constitutionality of several provisions of the 2009 Law on the Financing of Social Security. Determination of the constitutionality of laws in France takes place before their Law 2008-776 on the Modernization of the Economy, which was passed by the French legislature on August 4, 2008, established a new single competition authority, the Autorit; de la concurrence. The creation of the Competition Authority Law 2008-757 of August 1, 2008, on environmental liability, transposes Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 21, 2004, on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The Law also implements On September 29, 2008, a court of appeal in Bordeaux, France, confirmed a June 2007 ruling ordering Omar Bongo, the President of Gabon, to return 457,347 (about US$654,000) to the son of a French company director. Law 2008-496 of May 27, 2008, transposes into national law various measures to combat discrimination to comply with three European Union directives: Directive 2000/43/EU of June 29, 2000 (equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or On April 30, 2008, the French government issued a decree implementing biometric passports and creating a national database to store fingerprints, photographs, and information relating to the civil status of passport applicants. The decree was published France's National Commission on Ethics and Security (Commission Nationale de D;ontologie de la S;curit;), an independent administrative authority that has the power to investigate cases of abuses by police officers and others in charge of public On April 24, 2008, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ratified extradition treaties with France and Australia. Each treaty has 23 articles. The treaties cover, among A French law of February 25, 2008, provides, in exceptional cases, for keeping certain categories of violent offenders in specialized detention centers after the offenders have served their sentences if they are still deemed to pose In October 2007, a highly publicized environmental forum took place in Paris, the "Grenelle de l'environnement." The forum resulted in many recommendations to combat global warming and protect the environment. President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to implement France's Law 2007-1544 of October 29, 2007, on the Fight Against Infringement implements Directive 2004/48EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April, 2004, on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. The Directive... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Sun, 02 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l2054091_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l2054082_text Government ethics - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase On December 11, 2008, France's Constitutional Council ruled on the constitutionality of several provisions of the 2009 Law on the Financing of Social Security. Determination of the constitutionality of laws in France takes place before their Law 2008-776 on the Modernization of the Economy, which was passed by the French legislature on August 4, 2008, established a new single competition authority, the Autorit; de la concurrence. The creation of the Competition Authority Law 2008-757 of August 1, 2008, on environmental liability, transposes Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 21, 2004, on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The Law also implements On September 29, 2008, a court of appeal in Bordeaux, France, confirmed a June 2007 ruling ordering Omar Bongo, the President of Gabon, to return 457,347 (about US$654,000) to the son of a French company director. Law 2008-496 of May 27, 2008, transposes into national law various measures to combat discrimination to comply with three European Union directives: Directive 2000/43/EU of June 29, 2000 (equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or On April 30, 2008, the French government issued a decree implementing biometric passports and creating a national database to store fingerprints, photographs, and information relating to the civil status of passport applicants. The decree was published France's National Commission on Ethics and Security (Commission Nationale de D;ontologie de la S;curit;), an independent administrative authority that has the power to investigate cases of abuses by police officers and others in charge of public On April 24, 2008, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ratified extradition treaties with France and Australia. Each treaty has 23 articles. The treaties cover, among A French law of February 25, 2008, provides, in exceptional cases, for keeping certain categories of violent offenders in specialized detention centers after the offenders have served their sentences if they are still deemed to pose In October 2007, a highly publicized environmental forum took place in Paris, the "Grenelle de l'environnement." The forum resulted in many recommendations to combat global warming and protect the environment. President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to implement France's Law 2007-1544 of October 29, 2007, on the Fight Against Infringement implements Directive 2004/48EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April, 2004, on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. The Directive Law 2007-1598 of November 13, 2007, on the Fight Against Corruption amends the Penal Code to bring it into conformity with the 1999 Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption and the 2003 United Nations... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Sun, 02 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l2054082_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l2054090_text Immigration - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase On December 11, 2008, France's Constitutional Council ruled on the constitutionality of several provisions of the 2009 Law on the Financing of Social Security. Determination of the constitutionality of laws in France takes place before their Law 2008-776 on the Modernization of the Economy, which was passed by the French legislature on August 4, 2008, established a new single competition authority, the Autorit; de la concurrence. The creation of the Competition Authority Law 2008-757 of August 1, 2008, on environmental liability, transposes Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 21, 2004, on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The Law also implements On September 29, 2008, a court of appeal in Bordeaux, France, confirmed a June 2007 ruling ordering Omar Bongo, the President of Gabon, to return 457,347 (about US$654,000) to the son of a French company director. Law 2008-496 of May 27, 2008, transposes into national law various measures to combat discrimination to comply with three European Union directives: Directive 2000/43/EU of June 29, 2000 (equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or On April 30, 2008, the French government issued a decree implementing biometric passports and creating a national database to store fingerprints, photographs, and information relating to the civil status of passport applicants. The decree was published France's National Commission on Ethics and Security (Commission Nationale de D;ontologie de la S;curit;), an independent administrative authority that has the power to investigate cases of abuses by police officers and others in charge of public On April 24, 2008, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ratified extradition treaties with France and Australia. Each treaty has 23 articles. The treaties cover, among A French law of February 25, 2008, provides, in exceptional cases, for keeping certain categories of violent offenders in specialized detention centers after the offenders have served their sentences if they are still deemed to pose In October 2007, a highly publicized environmental forum took place in Paris, the "Grenelle de l'environnement." The forum resulted in many recommendations to combat global warming and protect the environment. President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to implement France's Law 2007-1544 of October 29, 2007, on the Fight Against Infringement implements Directive 2004/48EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April, 2004, on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. The Directive Law 2007-1598 of November 13, 2007, on the Fight Against Corruption amends the Penal Code to bring it into conformity with the 1999 Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption and the 2003 United Nations On November 15, 2007, the Constitutional Council of France found that voluntary recourse to DNA testing, limited to showing the relationship with the mother when there is serious doubt regarding the authenticity of a document presented... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Sun, 02 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l2054090_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540164_text Government organization - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase On December 11, 2008, France's Constitutional Council ruled on the constitutionality of several provisions of the 2009 Law on the Financing of Social Security. Determination of the constitutionality of laws in France takes place before their Law 2008-776 on the Modernization of the Economy, which was passed by the French legislature on August 4, 2008, established a new single competition authority, the Autorit; de la concurrence. The creation of the Competition Authority Law 2008-757 of August 1, 2008, on environmental liability, transposes Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 21, 2004, on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The Law also implements On September 29, 2008, a court of appeal in Bordeaux, France, confirmed a June 2007 ruling ordering Omar Bongo, the President of Gabon, to return 457,347 (about US$654,000) to the son of a French company director. Law 2008-496 of May 27, 2008, transposes into national law various measures to combat discrimination to comply with three European Union directives: Directive 2000/43/EU of June 29, 2000 (equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or On April 30, 2008, the French government issued a decree implementing biometric passports and creating a national database to store fingerprints, photographs, and information relating to the civil status of passport applicants. The decree was published France's National Commission on Ethics and Security (Commission Nationale de D;ontologie de la S;curit;), an independent administrative authority that has the power to investigate cases of abuses by police officers and others in charge of public On April 24, 2008, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ratified extradition treaties with France and Australia. Each treaty has 23 articles. The treaties cover, among A French law of February 25, 2008, provides, in exceptional cases, for keeping certain categories of violent offenders in specialized detention centers after the offenders have served their sentences if they are still deemed to pose In October 2007, a highly publicized environmental forum took place in Paris, the "Grenelle de l'environnement." The forum resulted in many recommendations to combat global warming and protect the environment. President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to implement France's Law 2007-1544 of October 29, 2007, on the Fight Against Infringement implements Directive 2004/48EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April, 2004, on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. The Directive Law 2007-1598 of November 13, 2007, on the Fight Against Corruption amends the Penal Code to bring it into conformity with the 1999 Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption and the 2003 United Nations On November 15, 2007, the Constitutional Council of France found that voluntary recourse to DNA testing, limited to showing the relationship with the mother when there is serious doubt regarding the authenticity of a document presented Two of France's intelligence organizations, the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST, Directorate of Territorial Security) and the Renseignements G;n;raux (RG, Central Directorate of General Information), are merging into one agency, the Direction Centrale du... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 02 Nov 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540164_text http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540173_text Immigration - France's Council of Ministers (Conseil des Ministres, Cabinet) approved a draft law on November 7, 2012, that legalizes marriage for same-sex couples. The proposal gives such couples the rights usually assigned to marriage, as On October 26, 2012, the National Assembly, the lower house of France's legislature, approved a bill to extend government payment for abortions to all French women. Previously, On July 12, 2012, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a search engine that systematically sends users, by automatically suggesting key words associated with their queries, to websites On July 4, 2012, Pierre Moscovici, France's Minister of Economy, presented a revision of the 2012 Finance Law to the Council of Ministers. (Loi de finances rectificative pour 2012, Portail du Gouvernement (July 4, 2012).) On June 11, 2012, Google and the French Societ; des Gens de Lettres (SGDL) announced that they had signed an agreement that ends a lawsuit on copyright infringement begun against Google in 2006. The primary mission In an opinion rendered on June 5, 2012, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, found that foreign nationals cannot be placed in police custody (garde andagrave; Law 2012-410 of March 27, 2012, on Identity Protection was published in France's official gazette of March 28, 2012, without several of its original provisions. (Loi nanddeg; 2012-410 du 27 mars 2012 relative andagrave; la On March 15, 2012, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) determined that there is no right of a person in a same-sex union to adopt a partner's child under the European Convention for the Protection France's Law 2012-287, of March 1, 2012, on the Digital Exploitation of 20th Century Unavailable Books, was published in France's official gazette of March 2, 2012. (LOI nanddeg; 2012-287 du 1er mars 2012 relative andagrave; On February 1, 2012, the Paris Commercial Tribunal found Google and its French subsidiary guilty of unfair competition. The plaintiff, the French cartography company Bottin Cartographes, claimed that Google was abusing the dominant position of its On January 23, 2012, the French Senate adopted, without any modifications, the draft law passed earlier by the National Assembly making a criminal offense "the denial or extreme minimization of one or several genocide crimes as On December 29, 2011, the French Parliament adopted Law No. 2011-2012, on reinforcing drug safety, aimed at restoring public trust in the drug regulatory system following the scandal that erupted in France in connection with the On November 15, 2011, France's Haut conseil andagrave; l'int;gration (High Council for Integration) presented to the Minister of the Interior a draft of a charter listing the rights and duties of the French citizen. Foreign nationals On November 7, 2011, the French Council of Ministers announced new austerity measures aimed at further reducing the public debt and achieving financial balance by 2016. The government hopes to save 17.4 billion (about US$23.5 billion) On October 27, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Versailles found that it is lawful for a private nursery school to prohibit the display of religious symbols at work under its internal code of conduct. This On August 24, 2011, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, rejected the request of a Swiss subsidiary of the British bank HSBC to have the database EVAFISC set aside. EVAFISC is designed to On September 28, 2011, the Investigating Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals issued a decision opposing the extradition of Agathe Habyarimana, the widow of former Rwandan President Juv;nal Habyarimana. Mrs. Habryarimana is sought by the Law 2011-939 of August 10, 2011, on the Participation of Citizens in the Functioning of Criminal Justice and the Adjudication of Minors, was published in France's official gazette of August 11, 2011, after the Constitutional Council Law 2011-1117 of September 19, 2011, on Amending the 2011 Financial Bill, was published in France's official gazette on September 20, 2011 (Loi no. 2011-1117 du 19 septembre 2011 de finances rectificative pour 2011, LEGIFRANCE). France adopted an ordinance on September 14, 2011, that transposes EU Directives 2009/28 and 2009/30 into national law (Ordonnance no. 2011-1105 du 14 septembre 2011 portant transposition des directives 2009/28/CE et 2009/30/CE du Parlement europ;en Law 2011-814 of July 7, 2011, on bioethics was finally adopted by the French Parliament after months of debate and published in the JOURNAL OFFICIEL, France's official gazette, of July 8, 2011. (Loi nanddeg; 2011-814 France's Law 2011-702 of June 22, 2011, on Controlling Import and Export of War Materials and Similar Equipment, Simplifying Transfers of Defense-Related Products Within the European Union, and Defense and Security Markets, was published in the The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-590 of May 26, 2011, on the price of digital books (Loi nanddeg; 2011-590 du 26 mai 2011 relative au prix du livre num;rique, LEGIFRANCE (last visited July 1, France's Constitutional Council found Law 2011-672 of June 16, 2011, on Immigration, Integration and Nationality constitutional (with the exception of some minor provisions), whereupon the Law was published in the country's official gazette on June 17, Two laws relating to the creation of a "Defender of Rights" were published in France's official gazette on March 30, 2011 (Loi organique no. 2011-333 du 29 mars 2011 relative au d;fenseur des droits [Law The French Parliament adopted Law 2011-392 of April 14, 2011, on Police Custody, following a decision of the Constitutional Council on July 30, 2010, which held that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing On February 3, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's Supreme Court for administrative matters, referred several questions on interpretation of European Union law regarding genetically modified organisms to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for a preliminary On March 17, 2011, the Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libert;s (National Commission on Information Technology and Liberty, CNIL) fined Google 100,000 (about US$141,000) for violating French data privacy laws. (D;liberation 2011 de la On March 3, 2011, a circular implementing Law 2010-1192 on Prohibiting the Wearing of Clothing Concealing One's Face in Public Spaces was published in France's Official Gazette (Circulaire du 2 mars 2011 relative andagrave; la The French government has recently prepared draft provisions to be inserted in the 1958 Constitution that would amend in depth the governance of public finances. The proposal aims to balance the budget. (Projet de loi A new Law on Guidelines and Programming for the Performance of Internal Security was published in France's official gazette on March 15, 2011. (Loi no. 2011-267 du 14 mars 2011 d'orientation et de programmation pour On January 28, 2011, the French Constitutional Council found that the French Civil Code's provisions providing that marriage must be between a man and a woman are not in violation of the Constitution (Décision 2010-92 QPC Law 2010-1657 of December 29, 2010, on Finances for 2011 contains measures aimed at reducing France's public deficit from a level of 7.7% of the gross domestic product to 6%. The ultimate goal is to reduce Decree 2011-89 of January 21, 2011, sets forth the modalities under which family allowances may be either suspended or revoked, in totality or partly, when a child fails to attend school as provided by Law 2010-1127 The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2011-13 of January 5, 2011, on Fighting Piracy and on State Police Powers at Sea. It is aimed at reinforcing the intervention capabilities of the French state, in particular, on On November 23, 2010, in the case of Moulin v. France, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that France violated article 5, section 3 (right to liberty and security), of the European Convention on On October 6, 2010, the French Constitutional Council ruled on an application for a priority preliminary ruling lodged by the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, on the issue of the On November 9, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that the reform of the retirement system, which raised the legal minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the age for receipt of a full pension Decree 2010-1274 of October 25, 2010, creates an automatic personal data processing system referred to as PARAFE, Passage Rapide aux Frontiandegrave;res Ext;rieures (Automated Fast-Track Crossing at External Borders) to decrease the cost of border control and On October 22, 2010, the French Parliament adopted a very complex Law on Banking and Financial Regulation that implements the decisions of the 2009 G20 meeting in Pittsburgh at the national level. (Loi 2010-1249 du 22 On November 9, 2010, the criminal chamber of the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, overruled the decision of the Indictment Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal of October 29, France's newly independent administrative authority, the High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Haute Autorit; pour la diffusion des oeuvres et la protection des droits sur internet, HADOPI), On October 19, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled in three decisions that some of the provisions of French law on police custody (garde andagrave; vue) violate On October 14, 2010, the European Court of Human Rights condemned France for violating article 6, sections 1 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (right to remain silent and not to incriminate oneself) In its decision number 2010-613 DC of October 7, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found the law prohibiting the wearing of clothing covering one's face in public spaces constitutional, with one reservation. (Decision no. 2010-613DC du On September 29, 2010, members of the European Commission met to discuss France's recent deportations of Roma to Romania and Bulgaria, to determine whether the French government either 1) is complying with European Union law on The French Constitutional Council recently reviewed the constitutionality of several articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure relating to the National DNA Database (Fichier National Automatis; des Empreintes G;n;tiques (FNAEG)). (Conseil Constitutionnel, D;cision 2010-25 QPC du Starting October 1, 2010, biometric data (digital photographs and fingerprints) of foreigners who benefited from repatriation aid will be stored in a database referred to as OSCAR (Outil Simplifie de Controle des Aides au Retour- Tool The debate on a draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality is scheduled to begin September 28, 2010, before the French National Assembly (Assembl;e Nationale, Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la The French Parliament has adopted Law 2010-769, of July 9, 2010, on Violence Against Women, Violence Between Spouses, and the Effects of These Types of Violence on Children, which sets forth new means of protection against France's Decree 2010-835 of July 21, 2010, on the offense of desecration of the national flag, prescribes that, in addition to the cases covered by article 433-5-1 of the Criminal Code, the desecration of the flag France's Law 2010-930 of August 9, 2010, on adapting the Criminal Code to the International Criminal Court, aims at implementing the principle of complementarity contained in article 1 of the Rome Statute of July 1998, which On July 30, 2010, the French Constitutional Council found that certain provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure governing the general regime of police custody (garde andagrave; vue) are unconstitutional. The Council gave the government until The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-788 of July 12, 2010, on National Commitment for the Environment, also referred to as the "Grenelle II Law." (Loi 2010-788 du 12 juillet 2010 portant engagement national pour l'environnement, The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-819 of July 20, 2010, on the Elimination of Cluster Munitions. The Law adds a Chapter IV, entitled "Cluster Munitions," to Title IV, Book III, of the Defense Code. On July 8, 2010, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal matters, ruled that a judgment rendered by the Superior Court of the County of Dekalb, Georgia, authorizing the adoption of a On July 6, 2010, the French National Assembly adopted a bill that prohibits the use of cluster munitions; the vote was unanimous. The bill had been approved previously by the Senate, also by a unanimous vote. On May 19, 2010, the French Council of Ministers endorsed a draft law, prepared by the Ministry of Justice, that would prohibit the wearing of clothing that covers the face in public spaces (Projet de loi On March 30, 2010, the Conseil d'Etat, France's highest administrative court, acting in its capacity as legal adviser to the French government, presented a report on the legal basis for a complete ban on the wearing On March 31, 2010, the French Immigration Minister presented a new draft law on immigration, integration, and nationality to the Council of Ministers. (Projet de loi relative andagrave; l'immigration, andagrave; l'int;gration et andagrave; la nationalit;, LEGIFRANCE, The French Ministry of Health has issued a decree that removes gender identity disorder, also referred to as transsexualism, from the list of officially recognized mental illnesses. The Decree 2010-125, of February 8, 2010, was published On January 26, 2010, the President of the National Assembly published on the Assembly website the report prepared by the Parliamentary Commission to Study the Wearing of the Full Veil in France. (Assembl;e Nationale, Rapport d'information On December 17, 2009, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found that registration in the French national sex offender database did not violate article 7, andsect;1 (no criminal penalty without a law) and article 8 The French Parliament adopted Law 2010-1 of January 4, 2010, on the Protection of Journalistic Sources. (Loi 2010-1 du 4 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la protection du secret des sources des journalistes, legifrance, http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr (File: The French Parliament recently adopted Law 2010-2 of January 5, 2010, on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Loi 2010-5 du 5 janvier 2010 relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des On December 31, 2009, the French Parliament adopted Law 2009-1791 of December 31, 2009, ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention was signed on March 30, 2007, and entered into On December 16, 2009, at a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, French Minister of Economy and Finances, unveiled a draft law on regulating banking and finance aimed at implementing, at the national level, the decision On December 29, 2009, France's Constitutional Council, which ensures the constitutionality of laws prior to their promulgation by the President of the Republic, invalidated the carbon tax set forth in article 7 of the draft 2010 On December 16, 2009, following a Council of Ministers meeting, Christine Lagarde, the French Minister of Economy and Finances, announced that any bonuses above 27,500 (about US$39,345) paid to bankers for the year 2009 will be On December 18, 2009, the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance (Court of General Competence) ruled that Google has infringed French copyright law by digitalizing and publishing online excerpts of French books without the authorization of the In a decision rendered on November 4, 2009, the Cour de Cassation, France's Supreme Court for civil and criminal decisions, denied recognition in France of an Islamic divorce obtained in Morocco. The spouses, both citizens of On November 3, 2009, the Ministry of the Economy, Industry and Employment (MEIE) of France issued a regulation on compensation of financial market professionals, more specifically, on variable compensation, e.g. bonuses. The regulation is in line The French government has proposed inserting in the Finance Amendment Law 2009, scheduled for adoption by Parliament at the end of the year, several measures to reinforce its fight against tax evasion in uncooperative tax haven On September 22, 2009, the French Parliament adopted an additional law on Internet piracy to replace a provision of Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and the Protection of Creation on the On September 10, 2009, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced his government's controversial plan to impose a new "carbon tax" (taxe carbone), to take effect on January 1, 2010, on emissions from fossil fuels such as coal, The French Ministry of the Economy recently clarified the tax treatment of two of the main Islamic finance instruments used in France: Murabaha and Sukuk. The term Islamic finance covers all financial transactions and financial products In recent years, the Government of New Zealand has made concerted efforts to recover preserved Maori heads taken abroad so that they can be returned to the appropriate tribe (iwi) for burial. New Zealand has signed On June 30, 2009, the French National Assembly adopted a draft law on the compensation of victims of French nuclear testing (Projet de loi relative andagrave; la reconnaissance et andagrave; l'indemnisation des victimes des essais nucl;aires Law 2009-669 of June 12, 2009, on Favoring the Diffusion and Protection of Creations on the Internet, also known as the HADOPI Law, was published in the Journal Officiel, France's official gazette, on June 13, 2009, On June 23, 2009, the Presidents' Conference of the National Assembly, which comprises all the presidents of that body's political groups, upon the proposal of the President of the National Assembly created a commission to study On June 12, 2009, France and Switzerland agreed to amend their existing bilateral tax treaty by adding a provision that allows the exchange of bank information for tax purposes, bringing the treaty up to the standard Law 2009-257, on the appointment of the presidents of the companies France Televisions, Radio France, and the Company Tasked with External Audiovisual [Communications], and Law 2009-258, relating to audiovisual services and the new television public services, The French government recently issued Ordinance 2009-104 of January 30, 2009, which transposes into national law the EU Directive on the Prevention of the Use of the Financial System for the Purpose of Money Laundering and On February 16, 2009, the French Council of State, France's highest administrative court, issued an advisory opinion on the responsibility of the French State in the deportation of Jews resulting from anti-semitic persecution during World War France's Minister of Health recently signed a regulation increasing the maximum age for donating blood to 70 from 65. The regulation also reiterates the prohibition on blood donations by gay men. During an interview, the Minister Law 2008-1245 of December 1, 2008, prolongs the application of articles 3, 6, and 9 of Law 2006-64 of January 23, 2006, on Combating Terrorism and on Various Provisions Concerning Security and Borders Controls, which was On January 7, 2009, during his address to the Cour de Cassation, France's highest judicial Supreme Court, President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed his wish that investigating judges no longer lead criminal investigations in France; if his wish On December 22, 2008, Brazilian President Luiz Inandaacute;cio Lula da Silva and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed several agreements in the area of defense during Sarkozy's visit to Rio de Janeiro. The agreements include the purchase On December 11, 2008, France's Constitutional Council ruled on the constitutionality of several provisions of the 2009 Law on the Financing of Social Security. Determination of the constitutionality of laws in France takes place before their Law 2008-776 on the Modernization of the Economy, which was passed by the French legislature on August 4, 2008, established a new single competition authority, the Autorit; de la concurrence. The creation of the Competition Authority Law 2008-757 of August 1, 2008, on environmental liability, transposes Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 21, 2004, on the prevention and remedying of environmental damage. The Law also implements On September 29, 2008, a court of appeal in Bordeaux, France, confirmed a June 2007 ruling ordering Omar Bongo, the President of Gabon, to return 457,347 (about US$654,000) to the son of a French company director. Law 2008-496 of May 27, 2008, transposes into national law various measures to combat discrimination to comply with three European Union directives: Directive 2000/43/EU of June 29, 2000 (equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or On April 30, 2008, the French government issued a decree implementing biometric passports and creating a national database to store fingerprints, photographs, and information relating to the civil status of passport applicants. The decree was published France's National Commission on Ethics and Security (Commission Nationale de D;ontologie de la S;curit;), an independent administrative authority that has the power to investigate cases of abuses by police officers and others in charge of public On April 24, 2008, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ratified extradition treaties with France and Australia. Each treaty has 23 articles. The treaties cover, among A French law of February 25, 2008, provides, in exceptional cases, for keeping certain categories of violent offenders in specialized detention centers after the offenders have served their sentences if they are still deemed to pose In October 2007, a highly publicized environmental forum took place in Paris, the "Grenelle de l'environnement." The forum resulted in many recommendations to combat global warming and protect the environment. President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to implement France's Law 2007-1544 of October 29, 2007, on the Fight Against Infringement implements Directive 2004/48EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April, 2004, on the Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights. The Directive Law 2007-1598 of November 13, 2007, on the Fight Against Corruption amends the Penal Code to bring it into conformity with the 1999 Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption and the 2003 United Nations On November 15, 2007, the Constitutional Council of France found that voluntary recourse to DNA testing, limited to showing the relationship with the mother when there is serious doubt regarding the authenticity of a document presented Two of France's intelligence organizations, the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST, Directorate of Territorial Security) and the Renseignements G;n;raux (RG, Central Directorate of General Information), are merging into one agency, the Direction Centrale du Following a campaign promise made by presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy, in the last few weeks the French Parliament has debated a new immigration law that would further tighten the requirements for family reunification. Law 2006-911 of... The Global Legal Monitor from the Law Library of Congress covers legal news and developments worldwide. Fri, 02 Nov 2007 12:00:00 EDT http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_l20540173_text