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 ...

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 t ...

and

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

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 ...

in 1921. In accordance with Article 34 of the French Constitution, 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 *

CNES The (CNES; French: ''Centre national d'études spatiales'') is the French government space agency (administratively, a "public administration with industrial and commercial purpose"). Its headquarters are located in central Paris and it is und ...

, the French government

space agency This is a list of government agencies engaged in activities related to outer space and space exploration. As of 2022, 77 different government space agencies are in existence, 16 of which have launch capabilities. Six government space agencie ...

* BRGM, the French geological survey * Centre Scientifique et Technique du Batiment (CSTB), the scientific and technical centre for building *

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 co ...

, "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 b ...

, (IRSN) the French institute for radioprotection and nuclear safety * Laboratoire national de métrologie et d'essais, a standards laboratory * Monnaie de Paris, the French mint authority * ONF, the national forestry service * ONERA, the aerospace laboratory * CIRAD,Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement, Agricultural Development Centre * Opéra national de Paris * RATP *

Réseau ferré de France Réseau ferré de France (RFF, french: French Rail Network) 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 train ...

(RFF), the national railway infrastructure company * Voies navigables de France (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, 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