1990 ‫ لعام‬1170 ‫القانون الفرنسي لجرائم الكمبيوتر رقم‬
FRECH STATUTES
Law number 90-1170 published in the December 30,1990 journal official .
ED. NOTE; The first 27 articles concern the encryption of information transmitted by
radio or mail.
Art. 28, - “ Cryptographic facilities” shall mean all facilities or services aimed at
transforming, by means of secret arrangement, information or clear signals into
information or signals unintelligible to third parties, or accomplishing the inverse
operation, by hardware or software means conceived for that purpose. In order to
preserve national defense interests and interior and exterior state security, the
furnishing export or use of cryptographic means or facilities are subject: a ) to prior
disclosure when the means or the facility has no purpose other than to authenticate a
communication or to assure the integrity of the message transmitted;
b) to prior authorization from the prime minister in all other cases.
A decree from the state council sets the conditions on which the disclosure is signed
and given the aforesaid authorization. This decree may anticipate simplified
regulations for declaration or authorization for certain types of material or facilities or
for certain categories of users.
II. – Without prejudicing the application of customs codes, a fine of between 6000
and 500000 francs or imprisonment of one to three months or both, will be imposed
on whomsoever shall export a means of cryptlolgy, furnish or cause to be furnished a
cryptographic facility without the authorization cited in paragraph I of the preceding
article. The court may, in addition, forbid the party form soliciting such authorization
for a period of up to two years, or five years in the case of a second offense.
In case of conviction the court may also confiscate the cryptographic means.
III. – Besides the officers and agents of the judicial police and customs agents in
exercise of their duties, agents qualified for such duty by the prim minister and sworn
to conditions set by decree of he state council may investigate and the rules set for its
application . Their charges are to be sent within five days to the attorney general.
They may have access to the premises, sites or customary means of transport, require
access to all professional documents and copy or collect, by warrant or on the spot,
information and evidence.
92-1358
Decree number 92-1358 of December 28,1992 published in the journal of December
30,1990.
Order of December 28,1992 concerning notification and petitions for authorization
related to cryptographic means and facilities.
Art.4 – concerning the above declaration, the furnishing export and use of services of
any sort or cryptological facilities …. Notably:
- The means, Whether hardware or software, capable of assuring
confidentiality of data in storage;
- The cryptographic facilities which assure confidentiality of part or all
of a communication or of data in storage;
- The means and facilities of cryptographic analysis.
Art 6 – Microprocessor cards which do not by themselves, that is to say without
recourse to an external cryptographic device, assure confidentiality of
communications benefit from declarations in force or authorizations obtained under
title of the means and facilities in which they are used.
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Art. 7 – Not considered as means of cryptography are means, whether hardware or
software especially conceived to protect programs from illicit copying or use, even if
they make use of methods or devices held secret, on condition that they to not permit
ciphering either directly or indirectly by the program concerned .
Art. 9 – In the case of uncertainty on the part of the petitioner as to whether a means
or facility belongs to the category of cryptographic means or facilities, the opinion of
the central security service of information systems is to be sought.
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