Title VIII: Criminal records

The automated national criminal record, which may include one or more processing centres, is kept under the authority of the Minister of Justice. It receives, as far as persons born in France are concerned and after checking their identity by means of the national register of identification of natural persons, the identification number may under no circumstances be used as a basis for verifying identity: 1° Contradictory convictions as well…

The automated national criminal record receives, as far as legal entities are concerned and after checking their identity by means of the national register of companies and establishments: 1° Unopposed convictions for felonies, misdemeanours or fifth-class offences handed down by any criminal court; 2° Unopposed convictions for misdemeanours of the first four classes, whenever a measure of prohibition, disqualification, incapacity, or a measure restricting rights is taken, as a principal…

An entry shall be made in the criminal record of sentences or exemptions from sentences handed down after deferral of sentence, pardons, commutations or reductions of sentences, decisions suspending or ordering the enforcement of a first conviction, decisions taken pursuant to the second paragraph of article 728-4 or the first paragraph of article 728-7, conditional release and revocation decisions, judicial supervision and re-incarceration decisions taken pursuant to article 723-35, safety…

The amending decisions provided for in the first paragraph of article 769. The third paragraph of article 769 applies to convictions handed down against legal persons.

The removal from the criminal record of a decision concerning a minor may be decided under the conditions set out in Article L. 631-4 of the juvenile criminal justice code. The removal from the criminal record of a conviction for offences committed by a person aged between eighteen and twenty-one may also be ordered on expiry of a period of three years from the date of conviction, if the convicted…

If a French national has been convicted by a foreign court and this conviction appears on bulletin no. 1 of his criminal record, he may apply to the criminal court of his place of residence, or of Paris if he resides abroad, to have this entry removed. The application may only be brought before the competent court, on pain of inadmissibility, at the end of the periods provided for in…

The automated national criminal record also receives the convictions, decisions, judgments or orders referred to in Article 768 of this code, concerning persons born abroad and persons whose birth certificate cannot be found or whose identity is in doubt.

In application of Regulation (EU) 2019/816 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019 and of Council Framework Decision 2009/315/JHA of 26 February 2009 as amended by Directive (EU) 2019/884 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 April 2019, the national criminal records department is competent to query, supply and update the centralised European data processing system known as “ECRIS-TCN”, which enables the…

For natural persons who have been convicted by a criminal court of a felony or a misdemeanour punishable by a prison sentence received in the criminal record pursuant to 1° and 8° of Article 768, including in the cases provided for in Article 771, the automated national criminal record registers and stores data relating to the simultaneous and rolled impressions of the fingerprints of each finger of these persons and…

The military authorities shall be notified, by sending a copy of the criminal record, of any convictions or decisions likely to alter the conditions of enlistment of individuals subject to compulsory military service. The same authorities shall also be notified of any changes made to the record or criminal record by virtue of articles 769 and 770.