Communes of France - Definition and Overview

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.

• [1] (http://www.droit.org/code/index-CGCTERRL.html) Partie législative.
• [2] (http://www.droit.org/code/index-CGCTERRM.html) Partie réglementaire.

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

• The 4 départements d'outre-mer (Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Réunion) are divided into 114 communes.
• Collectivités d'outre-mer:
  • Mayotte, strictly speaking a "departmental collectivity", is divided into 17 communes
  • Saint-Pierre and Miquelon is divided into 2 communes
  • Wallis and Futuna is the only permanently inhabited territory of the French Republic with no communes
• New Caledonia, a collectivité sui generis is divided into 33 communes
• French Polynesia, a pays d'outre-mer is divided into 48 communes

• The French Southern and Antarctic Lands, a territoire d'outre-mer with no permanent population has no commune.

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 :

• 2 digits (département) and 3 digits (commune) for the 96 départements of France 'métropolitaine'
• 3 digits (département or collectivity) and 2 digits (commune) for the Overseas departments, Overseas Territorial Collectivities and Overseas Countries and Territories. See also : .

See also

• Lists of communes of France
• Commune (subdivision)
• List of fifteen largest French metropolitan areas by population