Automated fingerprint file (FAED)

Verified 26 April 2024 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

The Faed: titleContent records fingerprints (fingers) and palms (palms) of missing and/or wanted persons. In particular, it facilitates the identification of the authors of crimes or offenses. Only authorized civil servants and military personnel can access this file. If information about you is recorded at the Faed, you can request its communication, rectification and erasure. We present you with the information you need to know.

The Faed: titleContent is a font file that records fingerprints (fingers) and palms (palms). It shall facilitate the following actions:

  • Search and identification of authors of crimes and offenses
  • Continue, instruction and prosecution of cases related to crimes and offenses
  • Identification of persons detained in a penal institution (e.g. prison)
  • Search for missing persons in disturbing or suspicious circumstances
  • Search and discovery of a person who is the victim of a infringement or a natural disaster
  • Search for and identify a person who is expected to die
  • Identification of persons who have died or been found seriously injured and whose identity is unknown
  • Identification of a person detained after an arrest for a identity check or residence permit

People registered with the EDF

Persons whose information may be recorded in the Faed: titleContent are:

  • Persons involved in an investigation or instruction for a crime or a offense
  • Persons involved in an investigation or investigation in which the police investigate the causes of death or disappearance
  • Persons involved in an investigation or investigation following the discovery of a person who has been seriously injured
  • Prisoners (e.g. prison)
  • Persons who are victims of, or who are presumed to be victims of, kidnapping or confinement
  • People whose disappearance is unexplained

Please note

In principle, it is impossible to oppose the registration of data on the Fed.

Obtain information about your registration for the Faed

To know if you are registered with the Faed or to obtain the collected data concerning you, you must write to the National Forensic Police Service.

Your application must be accompanied by an identity document (identity card, passport).

The request is free.

Who shall I contact

In case of refusal or failure to reply within 2 months, you can send a request to the Cnil: titleContent. This request can be made online:

Police, gendarmerie and intelligence files: send a request to the Council

The main data recorded at the Faed are fingerprints and palm prints (fingers and palms of the hand).

This data may be accompanied by several particulars, including:

  • Sex of the person
  • Surname, forenames, date and place of birth, nationality and parentage if the person is identified
  • In some cases, registration, make and type of vehicle from which fingerprints were taken
  • Date of the facts, nature of the case and reference to the framework in which the collection took place
  • Service which has collected and registered the data with the EDF
  • Date, place and place where the collection took place
  • Date data was saved to the file

Only the officials and authorized and assigned military personnel in the following services have access at the Faed:

  • Forensic services of the National Police
  • Central Criminal Intelligence Service of the National Gendarmerie
  • National Gendarmerie Research Units
  • Customs and tax services authorized
  • Department in charge of national criminal record

The Faed can also be consulted by the following:

  • Agent of an international cooperation body concerning the judicial police
  • Officer of a police or judicial service of a State foreigner

Data retention periods

Retention periods depend on the reason for which the registration took place.

The data is saved on the Fed:

  • For 15 years, for persons involved in an investigation or instruction for a crime or a offense
  • For 15 years, for persons detained for an offense. This period may be extended to 40 years for perpetrators of crimes.
  • For 10 years, for minors accused or detained for a crime. This period may be extended to 25 years in the case of a crime.
  • For 25 years, for persons who are the subject of an investigation into the causes of death or disappearance
  • For 25 years, for missing persons, unidentified bodies and persons found seriously injured

Automatic data erasure before time out

The data recorded in the Faed can be erased from this file before the end of the normal retention period. Indeed, in the event of identification of the requested person, the data concerning him or her is automatically deleted from the Faed.

The department in charge of the EDF shall erase the information as soon as it receives a notice informing it that the person sought has been identified.

If you find that the data recorded in the is inaccurate, you can request a correction to the head of the national forensic service.

Your application must be accompanied by an identity document (identity card, passport).

Who shall I contact

In case of refusal or failure to reply within 2 months, you can send a request to the Cnil: titleContent.

Police, gendarmerie and intelligence files: send a request to the Council

You can request the erasure of your data at the Faed: titleContent before the end of the shelf life.

You must send a request to public prosecutor of the jurisdiction that conducted proceedings against you. This request may also be addressed to the public prosecutor of your domicile.

It must be transmitted to the graft, by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt.

Who shall I contact

The public prosecutor will inform you of his decision by registered letter, within 2 months of your request.

If you do not receive a reply within this period or if you refuse, you may file an appeal by post RAR: titleContent addressed to graft of the chamber of investigation. It has to be argued.

You must make this appeal within 10 days from:

  • At the end of the 2-month period
  • Or the receipt of the decision of the public prosecutor.
Who shall I contact

The decision shall be taken within 3 months from the date of receipt of your request.

You are notified of the decision by mail RAR: titleContent.

In case of refusal, you can appeal by a appeal in cassation only if the decision does not comply with certain legal conditions.

Who can help me?

Find who can answer your questions in your region

  • To find out if you are registered with the Faed

    National Forensic Service

  • For more information on the Fed

    National Commission for Informatics and Freedoms (Cnil)

    By mail

    3 Place de Fontenoy

    TSA 80715

    75334 Paris cedex 07

    The CNIL does not receive the public or provide any information on the spot.

    By telephone

    +33 1 53 73 22 22

    Telephone reception open Monday to Friday from 9:30 am to 5 pm.

    Legal information open on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 10am to 12pm.

    By email

    Access to contact form