Recording your private words without your agreement is a criminal offense in France, punishable by up to a year in prison and a €45,000 fine. But nothing happens without you: prosecution can only follow your complaint, and you have six years to file it.
This article follows the order in which the questions arise: is it really an offense, how to file a complaint, how to get the file removed, and what changes at work, in a professional practice, or when the recording is used against you in court.
Is it really an offense?
Article 226-1 of the French Criminal Code punishes capturing, recording or transmitting, without the speaker’s consent, words spoken in a private or confidential setting. So, three conditions:
- Private or confidential words. A speech at a public meeting does not count. A one-to-one conversation usually does, but a strictly professional exchange may not: the judge decides case by case.
- No consent. Consent is presumed when the recording took place "in plain sight and with the knowledge" of those involved, and they did not object although they could. A phone left in full view on the table, with the recording announced, is not a secret recording.
- A recording you did not know about. A message you leave on voicemail does not count: you know it is being recorded.
| Situation | Maximum penalty | Article |
|---|---|---|
| Recording your private words without your consent | 1 year, €45,000 | Art. 226-1 |
| The recorder is your spouse, cohabiting partner or civil partner | 2 years, €60,000 | Art. 226-1, law of July 30, 2020 |
| Keeping, passing on, publishing or using that recording | 1 year, €45,000 | Art. 226-2 |
Sharing is an offense in its own right. Someone who recorded nothing but circulates the file can be prosecuted under article 226-2.
Filing a complaint: where, how, and by when
Article 226-6 of the Criminal Code is explicit: for these offenses, "public action may only be brought upon the victim’s complaint". Without a complaint from you, the prosecutor cannot act, even if aware of the facts.
- At a police station (commissariat) or gendarmerie. Any of them: they must register your complaint even if the facts happened elsewhere.
- Or by letter to the public prosecutor (procureur de la République) at the court where the facts took place or where the offender lives, ideally by registered post with acknowledgement of receipt. Service-public.gouv.fr provides a template letter.
- Not online. France’s online complaint service only covers property offenses by an unknown perpetrator and some internet scams. Secret recording is not one of them.
You have six years from the facts to act: the limitation period for this class of offense (article 8, Code of Criminal Procedure). If the prosecutor drops the case or does not respond within three months, you can file a complaint as a civil party (plainte avec constitution de partie civile) with the investigating judge (article 85 of the same code).
Before filing, gather what proves the recording: the file if it was sent to you, the message that circulated it, the date, any witnesses. Do not respond by secretly recording in turn: you would commit the same offense.
Getting the recording deleted or taken down
A complaint aims to punish the person responsible. It does not make the file disappear. For that, there are three routes, depending on who holds it.
- Before a civil judge, urgently. Article 9 of the Civil Code protects private life and lets a judge order, in summary proceedings (référé), any measure to stop the intrusion: removal of a post, a ban on distribution.
- From a company or organization. If an employer, provider or association holds the recording, the GDPR applies. Request erasure (article 17): they have one month to answer, extendable to three. Without a satisfactory reply, complain to the CNIL, France’s data protection authority, online at cnil.fr.
- From the platform if the file is published, by reporting the content and asking for it to be delisted.
One nuance: the GDPR does not apply to what an individual does "in the course of a purely personal or household activity" (article 2). Against a neighbor or relative who keeps the file to themselves, the CNIL has no jurisdiction; your remedies are the Criminal Code and article 9 of the Civil Code.
At work: when the employer is recording
The French Labour Code is clear: no information concerning an employee personally may be collected by a device the employee was not told about beforehand (article L1222-4). In companies with at least 50 employees, the works council (CSE) must also be consulted before any means of monitoring staff activity is introduced (article L2312-38).
For phone calls, the CNIL bans permanent, systematic recording, unless a law specific to certain professions requires it, requires informing staff and callers, and limits retention to six months. An employer who records staff without telling them commits an offense, according to the CNIL itself.
If a colleague or manager recorded you during a one-to-one exchange, the general rule applies: article 226-1, and your complaint.
In your practice: when a client or patient records you
Doctors, lawyers, advisers: professions that see the public are recorded more and more often, sometimes openly, sometimes not. MACSF, the French insurer of health professionals, published recommendations in May 2026 that apply well beyond healthcare:
- An open recording rarely causes a problem. A hidden one does.
- You can calmly ask the person to stop.
- You cannot, however, stop providing follow-up from one day to the next: ending the relationship has to be organised.
- A notice in the waiting room stating your position on recordings avoids many misunderstandings.
- If the recording is published, contact its author, request delisting, and consider summary proceedings or a complaint.
The simplest course is to get ahead of it: offer to record yourself, in the open, and give the client or patient the summary of the conversation. They no longer have a reason to do it secretly.
If the recording is used against you in court
This is the most baffling situation: the recording is unlawful, yet the judge may accept it. Since the plenary assembly of the Cour de cassation ruled on December 22, 2023 (no. 20-20.648), a civil or employment judge no longer excludes it automatically. The judge admits it if it is indispensable to prove the facts and the intrusion on your privacy is strictly proportionate.
Your defense therefore turns on those two words: show that the other side had other evidence, or that the recording captures far more than the fact in dispute. And the two proceedings are independent: the file being accepted by the employment tribunal does not stop you filing a criminal complaint. The detail, court by court: Is a secret recording admissible evidence in France?
Key points
- Recording your private words without your agreement is an offense: 1 year and €45,000, 2 years and €60,000 between partners (art. 226-1).
- Nothing happens without your complaint (art. 226-6). You have six years.
- File at a police station, a gendarmerie or by letter to the prosecutor, not online.
- To get the file removed: summary proceedings (art. 9 Civil Code), GDPR erasure and the CNIL if an organization holds it.
- An unlawful recording can be admitted against you in court, and you can still file a complaint.
Sources: Criminal Code, arts. 226-1, 226-2 and 226-6; law no. 2020-936 of July 30, 2020; Code of Criminal Procedure, arts. 8 and 85 (in force on 9 November 2026); Civil Code, art. 9; Regulation (EU) 2016/679, arts. 2 and 17; Labour Code, arts. L1222-4 and L2312-38; Cour de cassation, plenary assembly, December 22, 2023, no. 20-20.648; Service-public.gouv.fr, "Porter plainte"; CNIL, "L’écoute et l’enregistrement des appels sur le lieu de travail"; MACSF, "Enregistrement à votre insu dans votre exercice professionnel : comment réagir ?", May 4, 2026.