Decision No. 2016-606/607 PRIORITY MATTER OF CONSTITUTIONALITY of 24 January 2017, XX and XX

• 2017
• France

Topics

Legal bases

Courts

Laws

Relevant links

• https://www.conseil-constitutionnel.fr/decision/2017/2016606_607QPC.htm

Facts

This question was raised in connection with the challenge of the regularity of identity checks that took place on October 8, 2015.

Legal grounds

Article 78-2 of the Criminal Procedure Code provides: "At the written request of the public prosecutor for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting offences specified by him, any person identity may also be checked, in the same way, in the places and for a period of time determined by that magistrate. The fact that the identity check reveals offences other than those referred to in the requisitions of the public prosecutor does not constitute a ground for nullity of the incidental proceedings".

Findings

While it is open to the legislator to provide that the controls implemented may not be linked to the behavior of the person, the practice of generalized and discretionary identity checks would be incompatible with respect for personal freedom, in particular the freedom to come and go. Secondly, it is clear from the contested provisions that the public prosecutor's requisitions may only concern specific places and periods of time. These provisions cannot, without infringing the freedom to come and go, allow the public prosecutor to select places and periods unrelated to the search for the offences referred to in his requisitions. Nor can they authorize, in particular by accumulating requisitions relating to different places or periods, the practice of generalized identity checks in time or space.