Overview
- The National Assembly approved the contested article on July 2, 2026 to allow, in exceptional and subsidiary cases, comparison of police biological traces with private consumer genetic databases.
- The text requires that users authorize criminal use of their data and adds an amendment excluding databases created primarily for medical, therapeutic or scientific research from police queries.
- Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin called the change a major aid for victims and said it could help resolve old and complex investigations handled by units such as the Nanterre cold‑case team.
- Opposition from left‑wing deputies and privacy advocates focused on the risk to personal data and civil liberties, prompting debate over the measure’s scope and safeguards.
- If the whole justice bill passes a solemn vote set for July 7, definitive adoption could follow by mid‑July, which would broaden offences triggering genetic sampling and Fnaeg registration and raise cross‑border data and consent issues.