French Senate approves law to use ANPR to fight crime
Law enforcement would have more power to track vehicles, but critics warn of ‘violation of fundamental freedoms’
Lawmakers are debating the expansion of automatic number plate recognition cameras in France
Victor Velter/Shutterstock
The French Senate has approved a law that would allow number plate recognition technology to be used by cameras across France, in a move designed to help law enforcement better tackle crime.
The law would enable cameras across the country to trace vehicles more easily using ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology, called Lecture Automatique de Plaques d'Immatriculation, LAPI in French).
ANPR technology is already used in France by some speed cameras, to check if a recorded vehicle has valid car insurance. It is also used by some car parks to check parking payments.
The data would be visible to law enforcement forces, and aim to help them better police the country, trace criminals across a wide area, and react more immediately to threats. It would also enable authorities to keep the data collected for up to two months (or up to a year if granted permission by a judge). Currently the limit is two weeks.
The new law would expand the ANPR network from 600 devices today, to more than 5,000 devices nationwide, and extend the cases in which the technology is legally permitted for use.
Law limits
The text outlines limits for the technology, in a bid to ensure checks on public privacy and freedoms.
Senators described the proposed changes as a “reasonable relaxation” to the law, and said that the offences that would permit ANPR use would need to “meet a threshold of seriousness”.
This means that law enforcement forces would only be able to use the technology when investigating alleged crimes or offences that are typically punished by prison terms of at least five years or more, the text stipulates. This includes crimes such as terrorism-related offences, child kidnapping, severe violence, serious fraud, certain types of aggravated theft, and economic offences.
Senators in favour of the law say that law enforcement “needs the means to react effectively” faced with the “constant evolution in organised crime practices”.
The text adds that ANPR would not be permitted for use in the investigation of more minor offences.
The technology is already used for criminal investigations in some other countries, including Belgium, where it is permitted in the case of offences such as vehicle theft, burglary, or failure to stop for police.
Critics
Support for the law is not unanimous, even among Senators, and also MPs.
Many critics, mainly from the Green Ecologistes party, have said that the law could threaten privacy laws, lead to increased surveillance, and normalise authorities’ tracking of people’s journeys.
Opponents to the law are calling for it to be subject to more intense scrutiny and debate before it comes into law, in a bid to avoid these ‘slippery slope’ freedom and privacy issues.
Human rights group la Ligue des droits de l’homme (LDH) has denounced the text, saying that it amounts to an “excessive generalisation of surveillance” that is neither “necessary, appropriate nor proportionate to the aim pursued”.
It has said that the text will “significantly strengthen” surveillance of individuals, and “thus increase in an unprecedented manner the existing means of social control of any person in public spaces” across the country, “which constitutes a very serious violation of fundamental freedoms and rights”.
The French authority on data and privacy, the CNIL (La Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés) has not yet examined the bill.
Yet, it recently issued an opinion on the use of ANPR technology, stating that “particular vigilance must be exercised in the implementation of ANPR systems due to the potential risks they pose to the protection of individual freedoms and privacy”.
Parliament still to vote
The law is not certain to come into force, however.
The law was passed by 67.8% votes in favour in December 2025, after having been brought to the chamber by Senator Pierre-Jean Rochette in October.
Now, it will have to be debated and voted on in the Assemblée Nationale if it is to become law. If it is successfully voted through, it will come into force from January 1, 2028 at the earliest.
