France’s Constitutional Council ruled on two of President Emmanuel Macron’s signature reforms on Friday 14 August, approving the law creating a right to assisted dying while striking down the ban on social media for under-15s. The decisions, numbered 2026-910 DC and 2026-911 DC, were published on the Council’s website and reported by Euronews, the parliamentary channel LCP and franceinfo.
Assisted Dying: Validated With Reservations
According to franceinfo, the Council validated the whole of the assisted dying law and rejected all challenges except for three interpretive reservations. Two concern the conscience clause. A private establishment may refuse to carry out the procedure where it is “manifestly contrary” to its statutory missions or project, provided it is not the only facility able to meet local needs. The clause also extends to pharmacists who decline to prepare the lethal substance. The third reservation says that, for patients under guardianship, the doctor deciding on the request must take the guardian’s observations into account.
Under the law as described by franceinfo, a patient must be an adult, a French national or long-term resident, suffer unbearably from a serious and incurable condition in an advanced or terminal phase, and be able to express an informed choice. A minimum two-day wait applies, and the patient normally administers the substance personally. The Élysée said the ruling “completes an exemplary democratic debate”.
Social Media Ban: Censured
The Council had been asked by Socialist and La France Insoumise deputies, LCP reports, to examine Article 1 of the law protecting minors on social media. It found that the ban on under-15s amounted to an infringement of freedom of expression and communication that was not appropriate, necessary or proportionate. It noted that the ban could cover online services whose risks to minors’ health and safety are not established, and said the law did not set out sufficient safeguards for privacy in the age-verification system it required.
The law had been due to take effect on 1 September. According to LCP, the Council, which was asked to examine only Article 1, did not rule on a separate ban on mobile phones in high schools, which is due to start on the same date. Macron’s office said he would not give up on the plan and asked Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to prepare a “legally robust” new draft quickly, taking account of the ruling and the European regulatory framework. Former prime minister Gabriel Attal, who backed the measure, said he respected the decision.
Why It Matters
The two rulings, issued on the same day, point in different directions: the assisted dying law was validated, with interpretive reservations, while the under-15 social media ban was censured. For assisted dying, the remaining question is how the law is implemented, particularly its conscience provisions. For social media, the Council’s reasoning on freedom of expression and privacy is the framework within which, according to the Élysée, the government is to prepare a new text.
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