| The European Maritime Spatial Planning Platform

Basic facts on Marine Waters

France has 8 411 km of coastline including 5 100 km in mainland France.
Overseas territories included, France's EEZ covers 10 754 858 km² (2nd largest EEZ in the world)
France defined 4 maritime regions, or “façades maritimes” for the MSP Directive implementation.
In 2006, France submitted, jointly with Ireland, Spain and the United Kingdom, information on the limits of the continental shelf in the area of the Celtic Sea and the Bay of Biscay. In 2010, an extension of the continental shelf was granted. Negotiations to share this area between these coastal States are still in progress.

Relevant links

View best practices relevant for France

Go to West Mediterranean Sea basin page

Go to Atlantic Ocean page

Contact email:

atlantic [at] maritime-spatial-planning.ec.europa.eu

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Maritime Spatial Plan(s)

Status: Adopted

France adopted 4 Maritime Spatial Plans, the Documents Stratégiques de Façade (DSF) in April/May 2022 for the following sea basins:

View DSF for East Channel-North Sea

View DSF for North Atlantic-West Channel

View DSF for South Atlantic

View the DSF for the Mediterranean

They are the legal mechanism chosen by France to address the requirements of both MSFD and MSP Directive and specify the conditions to implement the National Strategy for the Sea and the Coast (SNML) in accordance with local specificities. The DSF all contain two parts:

Initial assessment and strategic objectives and MSP - vocational map and fact sheets (finalised in September/October 2019)
Monitoring mechanism and action plan (finalised in April/May 2022)

MSP legislation

The EU MSP Directive was transposed into national legislation through article 123 of law n°2016-1087 for the “reconquest of biodiversity, nature and landscapes” adopted on 8 August 2016. This article modifies the French Environmental code through the introduction of the concept of maritime spatial planning. The approaches for implementing article 123 are further elaborated through the political decree n°2017-724 adopted on 3rd May 2017.

National MSP authority

France's competent authority for MSP is the Ministry for the Sea (Ministère de la Mer)

Contact:

Secrétaire général de la mer

sgmerpm.gouv.fr

20 avenue de Ségur

75007 Paris

http://www.sgmer.gouv.fr

Secrétariat d’Etat en charge de la Mer

Direction des affaires maritimes - Direction générale des affaires maritimes, de la pêche et de l'aquaculture (DGAMPA)

https://www.mer.gouv.fr

Tour Séquoia – 92 055 La Défense Cedex

For more information:

France full country profile

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