Law for a Digital Republic
The loi pour une République numérique was adopted by the French Parliament on September 28, 2016. Article 30, which deals with open access, has been in force since October 9, 2016.
Article 30 on open access
Article 30 of the Law for a Digital Republic gives authors the right to freely disseminate their research works.
"Art. L. 533-4. - I. - When a scientific work resulting from a research activity financed at least half by grants from the State, local authorities or public bodies, by grants from national funding agencies or by European Union funds, is published in a periodical appearing at least once a year, its author shall have the right to make it available free of charge to the public, even after having granted exclusive rights to a publisher, the right to make the final version of his or her manuscript, accepted for publication, available free of charge in an open format by digital means, subject to the agreement of any co-authors, as soon as the publisher makes it available free of charge by digital means or, failing that, at the end of a period starting from the date of the first publication. This period shall not exceed six months for a publication in the field of science, technology and medicine and twelve months for a publication in the field of the humanities and social sciences.
"The version made available in application of the first paragraph may not be used in the context of a commercial publishing activity.
"II. - As long as the data resulting from a research activity funded at least half by grants from the State, local authorities, public bodies, grants from national funding agencies or European Union funds are not protected by a specific right or regulation and have been made public by the researcher, institution or research organization, their re-use is free.
"III. - The publisher of a scholarly work referred to in I. may not restrict the re-use of research data made public in the context of its publication.
"IV. - The provisions of this article are of public policy and any clause contrary to them shall be considered unwritten."