The commune is an administrative division of France. The rights and obligations of communes are governed by the Code général des collectivités territoriales (CGCT) which replaced the Code des communes (except for personnel matters) with the passage of the law of 21 February 1996 for legislation and decree number 2000-318 of 7 April 2000 for regulations.
Administration
A commune is governed by a municipal council and a mayor (maire). The seat of the council is the hôtel de ville or mairie (French terms for City Hall).
Number and location
As of January 1, 2004, there is a total of 36,782 communes in France:
- Metropolitan (i.e. European) France is divided into 36,568 communes
Classification
INSEE codes: INSEE gives numerical indexing codes to various entities in France, notably the communes (they do not coincide with postcodes). The 'complete' code has 8 digits and 3 spaces within, but there is a popular 'simplified' code with 5 digits and no space within :
See also
de:Kommune (Frankreich)
fr:Communes de France
