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

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, 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 ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

and

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso (, ; , ff, 𞤄𞤵𞤪𞤳𞤭𞤲𞤢 𞤊𞤢𞤧𞤮, italic=no) is a landlocked country in West Africa with an area of , bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the ...

, 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 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 a l ...

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 Constitu ...

, 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

* 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 securit ...

(CEA), the energy research agency * 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 buildinghttps://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/eli/decret/2011/6/14/DEVL1034033D/jo/texte *

Ifremer IFREMER (Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer; ) is an oceanographic institution in Brest, France. Scope of works Ifremer focuses its research activities in the following areas: * Monitoring, use and enhancement of coa ...

, "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 them ...

, a standards laboratory *

Monnaie de Paris The Monnaie de Paris (Paris Mint) is a government-owned institution responsible for producing France's coins. Founded in AD 864 with the Edict of Pistres, it is the world's oldest continuously running minting institution. In 1973, the mint reloc ...

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

ONERA The Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA) is the French national aerospace research centre. It is a public establishment with industrial and commercial operations, and carries out application-oriented research to supp ...

, 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 k ...

* RATP *

Réseau ferré de France Réseau ferré de France (RFF, french: French Rail Network) was a French company which owned and maintained the France, French national railway network from 1997 to 2014. The company was formed with the rail assets of SNCF in 1997. Afterwards, t ...

(RFF), the national railway infrastructure company *

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

(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 * Education for Development Foundation, a Thai charity * Électricité de France, a French energy company ** EDF Energy, their British subsidiary ** EDF Luminus, ...

, 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 equivale ...

, the former tobacco monopoly *

Société nationale des chemins de fer français The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffic ...

, 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