French Public Health Code
In forceI.-Reports sent to the Regional Health Agency or the National Public Health Agency by doctors and managers of medical biology departments and laboratories may only concern the following categories of personal data:
1° The identity and contact details of the doctor and the department or establishment in which he or she practices or, in the case of biological diagnosis, of the head of the medical biology department or laboratory which issues the alert. When the report is made by the head of the medical biology department or laboratory, the identity and contact details of the prescriber are also entered;
2° The sex, year of birth or age, home postcode of the person concerned by the alert and a non-representative number created by irreversible computer coding, based on their identity data. When the diagnosis of the disease is based on a biological examination, this computer coding is carried out by the head of the medical biology department or laboratory. In other cases, the number is created by the reporting doctor or by authorised staff from the regional health agency;
3° For the diseases mentioned in I of Article R. 3113-1 only, the identity and contact details of the person affected or likely to be affected by the disease concerned and, where applicable, their legal representative or the person responsible for exercising a legal protection measure with representation relating to their person;
4° The clinical, biological and medical management data of the person concerned with regard to the disease in question;
5° Information strictly necessary for the implementation of investigation and intervention measures by the Regional Health Agency and for epidemiological surveillance, in particular information relating to the existence of a travel history, the person's vaccination status with regard to the disease in question, prophylactic measures implemented, the existence of risk factors, places and circumstances of exposure and relevant socio-demographic characteristics.
For diseases where one of the modes of transmission is sexual, the reporting doctors and the authorised staff of the regional health agencies and the National Public Health Agency mentioned in articles R. 3113-3 and R. 3113-4 are authorised to record and store, under conditions guaranteeing the confidentiality of the information, the personal data strictly necessary for the purposes mentioned in 5° of this I relating to the sexual practices of the persons concerned.
II - For each disease, an order by the Minister of Health sets out the list of data mentioned in I that must be included in reports sent to the Regional Health Agency or the National Public Health Agency. It also specifies, according to the needs of observation and follow-up, the conservation period, of a maximum of five years from the date of the alert, of the data mentioned in 1° to 3° of I.
