Reply #10: Here's a rundown [View All]

So, I went and looked at various french articles and Vews (I speak relatively good french) and here's sort of a summary of what's going on.

- The law was way more restrictive and authoritarian in its first form, opposition parties toned it down (but still voted against in the end and even some right wing deputies voted against in the more traditionalist and catholic party).

- Opposition will take the government to Constitutional court on those dispositions on the law that specifically authorize DNA testing.

- This law authorizes collecting genetic samples of various ethnic groups for statistical purposes.

- It includes a very controversial measure that allows (although it does not mandate) the authorities to require from any 16 year or older a test on his ability to speak french prior to coming to France (as one of the articles says quoting a Grenn party member: ""Si on avait demandé aux parents ou aux grands-parents du président de la République, à ceux d'Edouard Balladur, de Fadela Amara ou Rachida Dati de parler français, croyez-vous qu'ils pourraient vivre dans ce pays et être membres du gouvernement ?" < If anyone had required the parents or grand-parents of our President, or of Balladur, Amara or Dati, to speak French, do you think that they might be able to live in our country today, or be members of the government?>

- DNA testing must in general (exceptions exist) be demanded by the immigrant, whenever he applies for a longer than 3-month visa, and when there might be problems with the papers issued by the country of origin, to prove that he is in fact a relative of someone in France.

- government will pay for the tests, and send results to appropriate consular or diplomatic authorities. Only maternal filiation is allowed, and only for citizens of countries whose papertrail is considered "doubtful".

- there will be a 18 months period for trying out this law, with all results of testing to be destroyed at that point, if no further legislation is issued.

Truth is, even many leftwingers (in the general population) seem to be strongly in favor of this law. We must remember that France is a strongly secular state, and that the left wing republicans were at the forefront of this movement. Islamic immigrants have broken many of the divisions between left and right, with most of the population, left included, decrying the use of veil in schools, etc... If you go to forums in french, you will see that a lot of people are in favor of DNA testing, even if they oppose other bits of this law.

France is going more and more the way of the UK, with the law allowing more and more opportunities for collecting DA into a data bank, mandatory for everyone convicted to ten or more years, suspect of a serious crime, etc... Generally speaking, DNA samples are "simplified", ie they are reduced to just those elements that allow ID, not elements that would allow profiling in terms of race, disease, etc. In addition, only cops under certain circumstances, with the authorization of a judge can access the data base. But the data base is retained for between 25 and 40 years, a long time for those that fear this law.

Hope this helps a bit.