At the national level, article 6 of law n ° 51-711 of June 7, 1951, as amended, on the obligation, coordination and confidentiality in matters of statistics determines what statistical confidentiality is, its limits and conditions of application. These rules apply to surveys conducted by the Official Statistical Service (SSP) whether they are mandatory or not. The exemptions provided for by this article are regulated by law. As it stands, only exceptions relating to the status of public archives of surveys and censuses which authorize the communication of individual information appearing in the questionnaires and relating to personal and family life and, in general, facts and behavior of a private nature, after a period of 75 years for persons and 25 years for legal persons. Under the terms of the law, this communication may in no case be used for the purposes of fiscal control or economic repression.

The obligations relating to statistical confidentiality also apply to administrative data of which INSEE or the ministerial statistical services may have communication under the terms of article 7 bis of the cited law, as well as to private data communicated under its article 3. bis. In general, with regard to access to public data, confidentiality obligations relating both to the protection of private life or business secrets, and to the protection of personal data are guaranteed by law ( article 1 of the law for a digital republic).

At European level, the confidentiality of information
statistics is affirmed by Article 338 of the Treaty
of the Union. "The statistics are compiled while respecting (...) the confidentiality of statistical information". Statistical confidentiality is also the subject of chapter V of amended regulation 223/2009 and of implementing regulation 557/2013 with regard to access to confidential data for statistical purposes.