Article L3341-1 of the French Public Health Code
Any person found to be intoxicated in public places shall, as a police measure, be taken at his own expense by officers of the national police force, members of the national gendarmerie, municipal police officers or rural wardens, after having undergone a medical examination, carried out within or outside the municipality, certifying that the person’s state of health does not preclude it, to the nearest national police or gendarmerie station…