French regulations are based on the following laws:
- the Law of July 15, 1975 on waste,
- the Law of July 10, 1976 on nature protection,
- the Law of July 16, 1976 on classified facilities for environmental protection,
- the Law of January 3, 1992 on water (updated in 2006),
- the “Laure” law of December 30, 1996 on air and the rational use of energy,
- the law of July 1, 1998 on strengthening health monitoring and safety controls for products intended for human consumption,
- the law of August 9, 2004 on public health policy,
- the programming law of August 3, 2009 on the implementation of the Grenelle Environment Forum,
- the “Grenelle 2” law of July 12, 2010 on national commitment to the environment,
- the “NOTRe” law of August 7, 2015 on new territorial and regional organization,
- the law of August 18, 2015 on energy transition and green growth,
- the law of August 9, 2016 on the restoration of biodiversity, nature, and landscapes,
- the law known as “egalim” of October 30, 2018 on balanced commercial relations in the agricultural and food sector and healthy, sustainable, and accessible food for all,
- the law of November 8, 2019 on energy and climate,
- the law known as “AGEC” of February 10, 2020 on the fight against waste and the circular economy,
- the law of August 22, 2021 on the fight against climate change and strengthening resilience to its effects (the “climate and resilience” law).
The Environment Code also transposes into French law the requirements of European law, in particular:
- the 1996 Directive on ambient air quality (to be recast in 2024),
- the 2000 Water Framework Directive (revised in 2014),
- the 2008 Marine Strategy Framework Directive,
- the 2010 Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) (revised in 2024),
- and the 2008 Waste Directive (revised in 2018).
Health and environmental concerns are also taken into account in regulations on chemicals and chemical products. Initiated in 1967 with the European Directive on the classification, labeling, and packaging of dangerous substances, legislation in this area underwent a major change with the implementation of the European REACH Regulation on the evaluation of chemical substances.
French law meets the requirements of the 2007 REACH Regulation and the 2008 CLP Regulation on the classification,
- the labeling of chemical products,
- the 2012 regulation on biocidal products,
- the 2019 regulation on persistent organic pollutants (POPs),
- the 2009 directive on the sustainable use of pesticides,
- and the 2009 regulations on plant protection products and cosmetic products.
Access to environmental information, which is the subject of specific provisions in the Environment Code, was granted to citizens by the Aarhus Convention of June 25, 1998, on access to information, public participation in decision-making, and access to justice in environmental matters. At European level, this right is governed by the 2003 Directive on public access to environmental information (the "PSI Directive Directive, revised in 2013 and then in 2019 to include the issue of open data) and by the 2007 “INSPIRE” Directive, which deals with access to geographic information. In France, Article 7 of the 2004 Environmental Charter enshrines the right of all persons to access information relating to the environment held by public authorities.
In France, access to environmental information falls within the broader framework of access to public information and administrative documents. This access is regulated by the Code of Relations between the Public and the Administration (CRPA), which came into force in 2015. The 2016 Digital Republic Act, known as the “Lemaire Law,” introduced the issue of access to digital resources.
