An établissement public à caractère industriel et commercial (, EPIC; ) is, in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, a category of public undertaking. It includes state-controlled entities of an industrial or commercial nature, including some research institutes and infrastructure operators. Some former French colonies, such as

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

and

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

also use this term for such agencies. EPICs were first recognized as a specific form of public agencies by the Court of Arbitration's (French: ''Tribunal des conflits'')

case law Case law, also used interchangeably with common law, is a law that is based on precedents, that is the judicial decisions from previous cases, rather than law based on constitutions, statutes, or regulations. Case law uses the detailed facts of ...

in 1921. In accordance with Article 34 of the

French Constitution The current Constitution of France was adopted on 4 October 1958. It is typically called the Constitution of the Fifth Republic , and it replaced the Constitution of the Fourth Republic of 1946 with the exception of the preamble per a 1971 ...

, they can only be created by a law. Not every company whose capital is held by the state or a state-owned entity is an EPIC. An EPIC is under special laws which do not apply to enterprises under private company law, even if the capital of those companies is held by the state.

List of EPICs

Current

Agence nationale pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs The Agence nationale pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs (; ANDRA), or National agency for the management of radioactive waste is a 'public institution of an industrial and commercial nature' charged with the management of radioactive wast ...

(Andra) * Airport Basel-Mulhouse *

Commissariat à l'énergie atomique The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission, or CEA ( French: Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives), is a French public government-funded research organisation in the areas of energy, defense and sec ...

(CEA), the energy research agency *

CNES CNES () is the French national space agency. Headquartered in central Paris, the agency is overseen by the ministries of the Armed Forces, Economy and Finance and Higher Education, Research and Innovation. It operates from the Toulouse Spac ...

, the French government

space agency Space is a three-dimensional In geometry, a three-dimensional space (3D space, 3-space or, rarely, tri-dimensional space) is a mathematical space in which three values (''coordinates'') are required to determine the position (geometry), ...

* BRGM, the French geological survey *

Centre Scientifique et Technique du Batiment The ''Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment'' (Scientific and Technical Center for Building) CSTB, is the French national organisation providing research and innovation, consultancy, testing, training and certification services in the cons ...

(CSTB), the scientific and technical centre for building *

Ifremer The or Ifremer is an oceanographic institution in Brest, France. A state-run and funded scientific organization, it is France’s national integrated marine science research institute. Scope of works Ifremer focuses its research activities in ...

, "Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer", an oceanographic institute *

Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire The French ''Institut de radioprotection et de sûreté nucléaire'' (IRSN) ("Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety Institute") located in Fontenay-aux-Roses is a public official establishment with an industrial and commercial aspect (EPIC) created by ...

, (IRSN) the French institute for radioprotection and nuclear safety *

Laboratoire national de métrologie et d'essais The French Laboratoire national de métrologie et d'essais (National Laboratory of Metrology and Testing) is a reference laboratory responsible for carrying out measurement and testing products of all kinds for their certification for placing the ...

, a standards laboratory *

Monnaie de Paris The (, ''Paris Mint (coin), Mint'') is a government-owned institution responsible for producing France, France's coins. Founded in AD 864 by King Charles the Bald with the Edict of Pistres, it is the oldest continuously running minting instituti ...

, the French mint authority * ONF, the national forestry service *

ONERA The Office National d'Études et de Recherches Aérospatiales ( English: National office for aerospace studies and research) or ONERA, dubbed ''The French Aerospace Lab'' in English, is the French national aerospace research center. Originally f ...

, the aerospace laboratory * CIRAD, Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement, Agricultural Development Centre *

Opéra national de Paris The Paris Opera ( ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the , and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the , but continued to be kn ...

Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens The RATP Group () is a French state-owned enterprise (EPIC) that operates public transport systems primarily in Paris, France. Headquartered in Paris, it originally operated under the name (). Its logo represents the Seine's meandering path th ...

(RATP), the operator of the

Paris Métro The Paris Métro (, , or , ), short for Métropolitain (), is a rapid transit system serving the Paris metropolitan area in France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architectur ...

and other public transport in Paris *

Réseau ferré de France Réseau ferré de France (, , abbr. RFF) was a French company which owned and maintained the French national railway network from 1997 to 2014. The company was formed with the rail assets of SNCF in 1997. Afterwards, the trains were operated by ...

(RFF), the national railway infrastructure company * Réseau Ferré National (RFN). *

Voies navigables de France (, VNF, ) is the French navigation authority responsible for the management of the majority of France's inland waterways network and the associated facilities—towpaths, Dock (maritime), commercial and Marina, leisure ports, lock-keeper's houses ...

(VNF), the inland waterways authority * ENSCI-Les Ateliers, an industrial design school

Former EPICs

Former public service operations which have been turned into companies governed by private law include: * Aéroports de Paris (ADP) *

EDF EDF may refer to: Organisations * Eclaireurs de France, a French Scouting association * Électricité de France, a French energy company ** EDF Energy, their British subsidiary ** EDF Luminus, their Belgian subsidiary * Environmental Defense Fund, ...

, the national electricity company * GDF, the national gas company *

Seita SEITA (''Société d'exploitation industrielle des tabacs et des allumettes''), was the former French state-owned tobacco monopoly. Cigarette brands included Gauloises and Gitanes, both created in 1910. It merged in 1999 with its Spanish equiva ...

, the former tobacco monopoly *

Société nationale des chemins de fer français The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (, , SNCF ) is France's national State-owned enterprise, state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the Rail transport in France, country's national rail traffic along with th ...

, the national railway network (name remains the same with no "S.A." suffix added)

Legal basis in external documents from ''Legifrance''

''Dispositions générales applicables aux établissements du secteur public''''Régime comptable des établissements publics à caractère industriel et commercial''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Etablissements Publics A Caractere Industriel Et Commercial Science and technology in France Government agencies of France Government-owned companies of France