Data-center law in France

Code de l'urbanisme, art. L421-1 a L421-9 (Livre IV, Titre II, Chapitre Ier, Champ d'application)

Applies to both

Construction of a building such as a data centre falls within the Code de l'urbanisme's Book IV, which governs the regime applicable to construction, developments and demolitions.

Chapter I of Title II, Articles L421-1 to L421-9, sets the field of application of the building permit and prior-declaration requirements common to the code's various authorizations, decided in the first instance by the mayor of the commune under the code's competence rules unless a national-interest or strategic-infrastructure procedure displaces ordinary local decision-making.

Only the chapter's placement in the code is confirmed here; the operative text of Articles L421-1 to L421-9 is not described here beyond the table of contents shown above.

Source: Full text of law

Code de l'environnement, art. L122-1 a L122-15 (Livre Ier, Titre II, Chapitre II, Evaluation environnementale)

Applies to both

Chapter II of Title II of Book I of the Code de l'environnement, Articles L122-1 to L122-15, is the evaluation environnementale regime: Section 1, Articles L122-1 to L122-3-4, sets the impact-study duty for construction, works, and development projects, and Section 2, Articles L122-4 to L122-11, covers assessment of certain plans and programmes with a significant effect on the environment.

Because the Code de l'urbanisme's classes d'urbanisme have no dedicated data-centre category, a data-centre project's environmental assessment duty in France runs through this general screening chapter, triggered where the project is likely to have significant effects, rather than through a data-centre-specific class. Only the chapter's structure is confirmed here; the screening thresholds of Articles L122-1 and following are not described here beyond the table of contents shown above.

Source: Full text of law

Code de l'energie, regles generales pour le raccordement aux reseaux publics d'electricite (art. D342-5 et suivants)

Applies to both

The Code de l'energie's Book III sets the general rules for connecting a consumer, including a large energy user such as a data centre, to the public electricity network, administered by the transmission system operator (RTE) or the relevant distribution system operator (most often Enedis) under technical and tariff rules approved by the Commission de regulation de l'energie (CRE).

The confirmed table-of-contents structure locates detailed connection rules, including regional renewable-connection scheme provisions and delay-indemnity rules, within this Book, mostly at the regulatory (decret) rather than legislative (loi) level.

Only the code's structure is confirmed here; the connection procedure and any capacity-allocation or grid-reinforcement cost rules specific to a large consumer are not described here beyond the table of contents shown above, and no France-specific large-user connection policy comparable to Ireland's CRU decision is identified for this jurisdiction.

Source: Full text of law

Code de l'environnement, art. L511-1 A a L517-2 (Livre V, Titre Ier)

Applies to both

Title I of Book V of the Code de l'environnement, Articles L511-1 A to L517-2, is the installations classees pour la protection de l'environnement (ICPE) regime: an installation presenting a danger or nuisance for the surrounding environment, health, or safety, which by classification decree can include a facility's combustion or standby-generation plant, is subject to a graduated authorization, registration, or declaration duty depending on its classification, under Chapter II's Articles L512-1 to L512-22.

A data centre's standby diesel generator fleet is the part of its plant most likely to trigger this regime, by analogy to the equivalent combustion-installation licensing threshold applied to data centres in Ireland. Only the chapter's structure is confirmed here; the thresholds and procedural detail of Articles L511-1 A and following are not described here beyond the table of contents shown above.

Source: Full text of law