French Language and Francophonie Week: with Arcom, the French language speaks for itself!

Law of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication:

Article 3-1: "The French regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication [...] ensures the defense and illustration of national culture and linguistic heritage, consisting of the French language and regional languages."

Article 20-1: "The use of French is compulsory in all programs and advertising messages of audiovisual communication organizations and services, whatever their broadcasting method or distribution, with the exception of cinematographic and audiovisual works in their original version."

Subject to the provisions of 2° bis of article 28 of the present law, the preceding paragraph does not apply to musical works whose text is, in whole or in part, written in a foreign language.

The obligation set out in the first paragraph does not apply to programs, parts of programs or advertisements included therein which are designed to be entirely shown in a foreign language or whose purpose is the learning of a language, nor to broadcasts of religious ceremonies.

When the programs or advertisements referred to in the first paragraph of this article are accompanied by foreign-language translations, the French-language presentation must be as legible, audible or intelligible as the foreign-language presentation.

Law of September 30, 1986 on freedom of communication:

Article 43-11: "The companies [France Télévisions, Radio France, France Médias Monde and Arte-France] promote the French language and, where appropriate, regional languages, and highlight the diversity of France's cultural and linguistic heritage."

Cahiers des charges :

• France Télévisions - article 39 - French language
• Radio France - article 6
• France Médias Monde - article 17 - Developing the use and learning of the French language

In a notice adopted on January 18, 2005, Arcom sought to clarify the rules applicable to audiovisual media:

• Reminder of exceptions (audiovisual or cinematographic works in VO, programs whose purpose is the learning of a language, retransmissions of religious ceremonies, musical works in foreign languages, etc.).
• Mandatory but not exclusive use" principle

- The use of foreign languages is not banned, provided that a French translation is used".

- translation of foreign-language terms may be either oral or written".

- It is not necessary for the French translation of information written in a foreign language to be displayed on the screen under similar conditions, or for the characters used to be identical in size or color.

- However, the foreign-language wording must not, "because of its size, graphics, color, sound volume or any other reason, be better understood than the French-language wording".

• "public television and radio companies [...] may not give their programs a title consisting of foreign words. However, the law provides for three exceptions:

- the titles of programs for which these companies have acquired the diffusion rights and whose conception escapes them;

- titles consisting of a foreign term for which there is no French equivalent;

- titles registered as trademarks before August 7, 1994.

In a decision dated July 29, 1994, concerning the law on the use of the French language, the French Constitutional Council recalled that, while Article 2 of the French Constitution states that "The language of the Republic is French", it is the legislator's responsibility "to reconcile these constitutional provisions with the freedom of communication and expression proclaimed by Article 11 of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen".

The Constitutional Council went on to state, on the one hand, "that this freedom implies the right for each person to choose the terms he or she considers most appropriate for the expression of his or her thoughts", and on the other hand, "that the French language, like any living language, develops by integrating into its usual vocabulary terms from a variety of sources, be they expressions from regional languages, so-called popular vocables, or foreign words".