France drops article banning encryption backdoors in Résilience law

The deletion was backed by the RN, the central bloc groups, the Droite républicaine, LIOT and part of the Socialists. La France insoumise and the Greens voted against.

A promise with no legal force

The article was a response to an earlier fight. In early 2025 the Senate adopted an article 8 ter in the anti-drug-trafficking law that would have forced encrypted messengers to give investigators access to the exchanges of targeted people. Messaging providers objected strongly, several deputies voiced reservations, and the Assembly removed it. Senators, led by Olivier Cadic, then wrote the opposite ban into the Résilience bill.

The Interior Ministry and intelligence services opposed it from the start. The government finally followed a report by former deputy Florent Boudié, commissioned by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu in January 2026 and delivered in September, which recommends giving up backdoors but also deleting article 16 bis.

In return, Digital Minister Anne Le Hénanff pledged not to reintroduce a comparable measure "by the end of the parliamentary session", while Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez spoke of a commitment lasting until "the end of the current term". Neither promise has legal force.

NIS 2 still waiting

The bill is not finished. Deputies continue examining it this week, and a joint committee with the Senate is likely to follow, then implementing decrees, without which NIS 2 obligations will not apply in France.

The delay weighs on organisations concerned. The directive, adopted by the EU in 2022, requires essential sectors such as energy, health and public administration to strengthen cybersecurity and report serious incidents. In France it should cover about 15,000 entities. The transposition deadline was 17 October 2024, and the European Commission has taken the matter to the EU Court of Justice.