French Intellectual Property Code
In forceI.-To carry out the duties mentioned in Article L. 331-12, the Autorité de Régulation de la Communication Audiovisuelle et Numérique (Audiovisual and Digital Communications Regulatory Authority) shall have at its disposal public officials sworn before the judicial authority and authorised by its Chairman under conditions laid down by decree in the Conseil d'Etat. This authorisation does not exempt the application of the provisions defining the procedures authorising access to secrets protected by law.
II.
II - In order to carry out the duties set out in paragraph 1 of sub-section 3 of this section, the agents mentioned in I of this article shall receive referrals addressed to the authority under the conditions set out in article L. 331-19.
These agents may obtain information from the telecommunications operators and from the public authorities.
These agents may obtain from electronic communications operators the identity, postal address, electronic addresses available to them and telephone contact details of any subscriber whose access to online public communication services has been used to reproduce, represent, make available or communicate to the public protected works or objects without the authorisation of the holders of the rights provided for in Books I and II, where such authorisation is required.
III.
III - In order to carry out the duties set out in articles L. 331-25 and L. 331-27, the authorised and sworn agents of the Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique (Audiovisual and Digital Communications Regulatory Authority) may record acts likely to constitute the infringements set out in articles L. 335-3 and L. 335-4 when committed on electronic communications networks used for the provision of online public communication services.
Within this framework, the authority's authorised and sworn agents may, without being held criminally responsible:
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1° Participate under a pseudonym in electronic exchanges likely to relate to these offences;
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2° Reproducing protected works or objects on online public communication services;
3° Extracting, acquiring or preserving by this means evidence on these services for the purposes of characterising facts likely to constitute offences;
4° Acquire and study hardware and software likely to facilitate the commission of acts of counterfeiting.
On pain of nullity, these acts may not have the effect of inciting others to commit an infringement.
The officers referred to in the first paragraph of this III shall record the information thus gathered in a report which shall give an account of the conditions under which the faculties recognised in 1° to 4° were employed.
