Part Three: Combating disease and addiction

I.-The Director General of the Regional Health Agency, after consultation with the State representative in the department concerned, authorises one or more establishments with psychiatric authorisation to provide psychiatric care without consent, in application of Chapters II to IV of Title I of this Book or of Article 706-135 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. II.-The geographical area in which the health care organisation thus authorised carries out these tasks…

Persons admitted for psychiatric care without consent in the form of full hospitalisation, in application of Chapters II and III of Title I of this Book, may be taken in charge and transported to a health establishment mentioned in Article L. 3222-1 without their consent when this is strictly necessary and by means appropriate to their condition. For persons requiring psychiatric care in application of article L. 3212-1, in the…

The director of each health care institution referred to in Article L. 3222-1 shall enter into agreements with : 1° The representative of the State in the département or, in Paris, the Préfet de Police ; 2° The local authorities and their competent groupings; and 3° The Director General of the Regional Health Agency. The agreements mentioned in the first paragraph of this article set out the terms and conditions…

When a patient hospitalised in an establishment other than those mentioned in article L. 3222-1 is suffering from a mental disorder as defined either in I of article L. 3212-1 or in article L. 3213-1, the director of the establishment must, within forty-eight hours, take all necessary measures to implement one of the procedures provided for in articles L. 3212-1, L. 3212-3, L. 3213-1 or L. 3213-2.

The establishments mentioned in article L. 3222-1 are visited without prior publicity at least once a year by the State representative in the department or his representative, by the president of the judicial court or his delegate, by the public prosecutor in whose jurisdiction the establishment is located and by the mayor of the municipality or his representative. These authorities receive complaints from persons admitted for psychiatric care without their…

Members of Parliament and senators as well as representatives to the European Parliament elected in France are authorised to visit the health care organisations mentioned in article L. 3222-1 at any time.

Without prejudice to the provisions of article L. 3222-4, in each department a departmental commission for psychiatric care is responsible for examining the situation of persons admitted for psychiatric care pursuant to Chapters II to IV of Title I of this Book or article 706-135 of the Code of Criminal Procedure with regard to respect for individual freedoms and the dignity of persons.

I.- Seclusion and restraint are practices of last resort and may only be used on patients in full hospitalisation without consent. They may only be used to prevent immediate or imminent harm to the patient or others, on the basis of a reasoned decision by a psychiatrist and only in a manner that is appropriate, necessary and proportionate to the risk, after assessment of the patient. Their implementation must be…