At the national level, Article 6 of Law No. 51-711 of 7 June 1951, as amended, on the obligation, coordination and secrecy of statistics determines what statistical secrecy is, its limits and the conditions for its application. These rules apply to surveys conducted by the official statistical service (SSP) whether or not they are mandatory. The derogations provided for in this article are governed by the law. As it stands, the only exemptions that remain applicable are those relating to the status of public archives for surveys and censuses, which authorise the disclosure of individual information contained in the questionnaires and relating to personal and family life and, in general, to facts and behaviour of a private nature, after a period of 75 years for individuals and 25 years for legal entities. According to the law, this communication cannot be used for tax control or economic repression.

Statistical secrecy obligations also apply to administrative data that may be disclosed by INSEE or ministerial statistical services under the terms of Article 7 bis of the above-mentioned law, as well as to private data disclosed under the terms of Article 3 bis. Generally speaking, as regards access to public data, confidentiality obligations relating to the protection of privacy or business secrecy and the protection of personal data are guaranteed by law (Article 1 of the Law for a Digital Republic).

At the European level, the confidentiality of statistical information is affirmed by Article 338 of the Union Treaty. << The compilation of statistics shall respect (...) the confidentiality of statistical information >>. Statistical confidentiality is also the subject of Chapter V of Regulation No 223/2009 as amended and of Implementing Regulation No 557/2013 as regards access to confidential data for statistical purposes.

A Statistical Confidentiality Committee ensures that these statutory guarantees are maintained. Its powers are set out in Article 6 bis of Act No. 51-711 of 7 June 1951, as amended, on the obligation, coordination and secrecy of statistics and Chapter II of Decree No. 2009-318 of 20 March 2009 on the National Council for Statistical Information and the Statistical Confidentiality Committee. It is called upon to give its opinion on any question relating to statistical secrecy, and gives its opinion on requests for communication of individual data collected by means of a statistical survey or transmitted to the official statistical service, for the purpose of drawing up statistics. It may also be asked by researchers to give an opinion on access to various administrative data not relating to public statistics.

Chaired by a State Councillor, it includes representatives of the National Assembly and the Senate. The composition and operating procedures of the committee are set by decree in the Council of State. The beneficiaries of data communications resulting from ministerial decisions taken after the opinion of the Statistical Confidentiality Committee undertake not to communicate these data to anyone. Any breach of the provisions of this paragraph shall be punishable by the penalties provided for in Article 226-13 of the Criminal Code.

The answers to the annual census survey questionnaire are protected by statistical secrecy and are intended for INSEE. Their use and access are strictly controlled and limited to the preparation of statistics or research work. In particular, surnames and first names are not kept beyond 31 December of the year following the survey.

The General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 (GDPR) and Law No. 78-17 of 6 January 1978 on information technology, files and freedoms apply to this survey.

Respondents may exercise a right of access, rectification or limitation of processing for the data concerning them during the period of conservation of identification data.