21.

Article 78-2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure states: ‘Senior law-enforcement officers and, upon their orders and under their responsibility, the law-enforcement officers and assistant law-enforcement officers referred to in Articles 20 and 21-1 may ask any person to prove his identity by any means, where one or more plausible reasons exist for suspecting that: – the person has committed or attempted to commit an offence; – or the person is preparing to commit a crime or other offence; – or the person is likely to provide information useful for the investigation in the event of a crime or other offence; – or the person has breached the obligations or provisions to which he is subject in the context of judicial supervision, house arrest with electronic surveillance, a sentence or a measure followed by the judge responsible for the execution of sentences; – or the person is the subject of inquiries ordered by a judicial authority. On the public prosecutor’s written recommendations for the purposes of the investigation and prosecution of offences specified by him, the identity of any person may also be checked, in accordance with the same rules, in the places and for a period of time determined by the public prosecutor. The fact that the identity check uncovers offences other than those referred to in the public prosecutor’s recommendations shall not constitute a ground for invalidating related proceedings. The identity of any person, regardless of his conduct, may also be checked pursuant to the rules set out in the first paragraph to prevent a breach of public order, in particular, an offence against the safety of persons or property. In an area between the land border of France with the States party to the convention signed in Schengen on 19 June 1990 and a line drawn 20 kilometres inside that border, and in the publicly accessible areas of ports, airports and railway or bus stations open to international traffic, designated by order, for the prevention and search of offences relating to cross-border crime, the identity of any person may also be checked, in accordance with the rules provided for in the first paragraph, in order to ascertain whether the obligations laid down by law to hold, carry and produce papers and documents are fulfilled. Where that identity check takes place on board an international train, it may be carried out on the section of the journey between the border and the first stop situated beyond the 20 kilometre line. However, on international trains on lines with particular service characteristics the identity check may also be carried out between that stop and a stop situated within the next 50 kilometres. Those lines and those stops are designated by ministerial order. Where there is a section of motorway starting in the area referred to in the first sentence of this paragraph and the first motorway tollbooth is situated beyond the 20-kilometre line, the identity check may also take place up to that first tollbooth, on parking areas and on the site of that tollbooth and the adjoining parking areas. The tollbooths concerned by this provision shall be designated by order. The fact that the identity check uncovers an offence other than the non-observance of the aforementioned obligations shall not constitute a ground for invalidating related proceedings. For the purposes of this paragraph, checks related to the obligations laid down by law to hold, carry and produce papers and documents may only be carried out in any given location for a period not exceeding six consecutive hours and may not consist in the systematic checks on persons present in or moving within the areas or places referred to in this paragraph. …’