All International Wiretaps By French Intelligence Agencies Since 2008 Are Illegal

Pierre Ciric, a New York attorney, has filed legal challenges with two French Government agencies against international wiretaps by French intelligence agencies over submarine cables since 2008.

The two commissions are the « National Commission for the Control of Security Intercepts » (« Commission Nationale de Contrôle des Interceptions de Sécurité » or « CNCIS ») and the « National Commission for Information Systems and Liberties (« Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés » or « CNIL »).

These wiretaps were recently declared unlawful by the French Supreme Court when it reviewed a surveillance bill passed by the French parliament last summer. These massive wiretaps, initiated without any judicial or administrative oversight, may have run afoul of the confidentiality and privilege rules protecting communications between attorneys and their clients.

These filings seek a declaration by CNCIS and CNIL that these massive intercepts are in violation of several French laws, seek an order for the Prime Minister to immediately stop these intercepts, and to immediately destroy all the data which may have been accumulated since 2008.

In a July 2015 decision, the French Supreme Court had rejected all the provisions governing the surveillance of international communications, because the legislature had not properly defined constitutional conditions governing the extraction maintenance and destruction of the collected data. (CC, July 26, 2015, No. 2015-713 DC).

"This Supreme Court decision allows attorneys to seek to defend the confidentiality of communications between lawyers located outside of France and their French clients, since it bans the international monitoring system put in place by French intelligence agencies since 2008. This decision reminds the French Government that it cannot, on a whim, unilaterally decide to initiate abusive and systematic wiretaps which are in conflict with the attorney’s obligation to preserve the confidentiality of his communications with clients," said Ciric.

Pierre Ciric is a lawyer admitted to the New York Bar. He is also the Vice President of the French American Bar Association, a non-profit bar association based in New York gathering a large number of Franco-American lawyers and jurists across all United States. Pierre is also a member of the Professional Ethics Committee of the New York County Lawyers Association and a Vice President of the New York Law School Alumni Association.