FNAEG

The Fichier National Automatisé des Empreintes Génétiques (Automated National File of Genetic Prints) is the French national DNA database, used by both the national police force and local gendarmerie.

Origins of FNAEG
In 1996 Alain Marsaud, the former chief of the French central antiterrorist service, proposed the creation of a central DNA database. The following year, a bill was filed relating to the implementation of a national database for identification of child sex offenders. In June 1998, the Guigou law on the prevention of sexually-related crimes, passed by the Plural Left Jospin government, created a national DNA database. The implementation, originally planned for 1999, was finally completed in 2001, with the database itself located at Écully in the Rhône, managed by a subdirectorate of the technical and scientific departments of the French police force.

In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the USA in 2001, the French government increased the scope of the database to include DNA related to other serious criminal offences, such as voluntary manslaughter, criminal violence and terrorism.

A further 'law for interior safety' introduced by Nicolas Sarkozy on March 18, 2003 expanded the scope still further to cover almost all violent crimes to people or property and other serious crimes such as drug trafficking etc., but not traffic offenses or crimes committed abroad.

Relative size
As at October 1 2003, FNAEG was understood to contain the DNA records of approximately 8,000 convicted criminals and another 3,200 suspects. In 2006, this number was believed to now be in excess of 330,000 entries.

Privacy concerns
With the expansion of the database in 2003, it also became an offense for suspects to fail to provide a DNA sample, with punishment ranging from a prison sentence of between six months and two years, and a fine of between 7,500 and 30,000 euros.

At the end of 2006, the media raised the case of individuals refusing to provide DNA samples. Many of them were civil disobedience activists opposed to Genetically modified organism (GMO) (See fr:Faucheurs volontaires). Although this was only around 200 cases, they denounced what they regarded as the threat to personal freedom.