Status & Composition
Created in 1978 by the Data Protection Act, the CNIL is an independent administrative authority, composed of a College of 18 members and a team of contractual State employees.
12 of the 18 members are elected or appointed by the assemblies or courts to which they belong.
Ministers, public authorities, company directors, public or private, cannot oppose its action.
The Chairman of the CNIL is free to recruit his staff.
A multidisciplinary college of 18 members
- 4 parliamentarians (2 MPs, 2 Senators).
- 2 members of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council.
- 6 representatives of high courts (2 State Councillors, 2 Councillors of the Court of Cassation, 2 Councillors of the Court of Auditors).
- 5 qualified persons appointed by the President of the National Assembly (1 person), the President of the Senate (1 person), in the Council of Ministers (3 persons). The term of office of the commissioners is five years or, in the case of members of parliament, for a period equal to their elective term of office.
- The President of the CADA (Commission for Access to Administrative Documents).
Discover the College
(in French)
Plenary session
The members of the CNIL meet in plenary sessions once a week on an agenda drawn up by its Chairman.
It analyses, in a general way, the consequences of technological developments on privacy.
A large part of these meetings is devoted to examining draft texts (laws, decrees, etc.) submitted to the CNIL for an opinion by the Government or Parliament.
Restricted committee
The CNIL's restricted panel is composed of five members and a Chairman who is not the Chairman of the CNIL. It can impose various sanctions on data controllers who do not comply with the law. With the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), the amount of financial penalties can be up to 20 million euros or in the case of a company up to 4% of the annual worldwide turnover. These financial penalties may be made public.
The services
CNIL employees are contractual employees of the State. The CNIL's services are organized around five directorates.
The CNIL's organization chart
agents
39 years old on average
7 years and 2 months average seniority
69% women, 31% men
82 % of the agents occupy a category A post
62% of the staff working at CNIL arrived between 2017 and 2022
26.3 million budget
