A sign for the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life, during the press conference held by its president to present the 2019 activity report, in Paris, July 9, 2020. CHRISTOPHE MORIN/IP3 PRESS/MAXPPP
More than a year after the adoption, in the summer of 2024, of the law aimed at "preventing foreign interference," the decree enabling the creation of a public registry of all individuals or entities conducting "influence activities" in France on behalf of a foreign state was published on July 31. This registry is set to take effect from October 1 and will be maintained starting January 2026, under the supervision of the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life (HATVP).
This "public digital directory," whose implementing decree underwent extensive consultations, particularly with the Council of State, is a new tool in the arsenal that the government has been expanding since 2021 to counter destabilization operations, which it claims are increasingly targeting France. The project has been championed for many years by the current head of the General Directorate for External Security, Nicolas Lerner.
From October, all individuals or legal entities conducting "influence activities, indirectly, on behalf of, at the request of, or under the direction or control of a foreign principal" – that is, any country outside the European Union (EU) – will be required to register with the HATVP and will appear in this freely accessible online registry. This is France's way of using transparency as a tool to curb certain practices.
