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In France, a préfecture is the capital city of a département. By extension, it is also the name of one of the governing bodies of the département, and of the building housing this government body.

1 Role

There are 100 préfectures in France. The civil servant in charge is the préfet. The préfecture is an administration that belongs to the Interior ministry, and is therefore in charge of the delivery of the identity card, driving licenses, passports, residence and work permits for foreigners, car registration, registration of the associations (creation, status modification, dissolution), and of the management of the police and of the firefighters.

The préfet can make arrêtés, which are legal texts written for the application of the law, e.g. to close a building that does not conform to the safety rules, or to modify vehicular traffic regulations (speed limit, authorisation for construction).

The other governing body of a département is the Conseil Général , which is in charge of the building and maintenance of schools and roads, the financial assistance to dependent people (disabled and elderly), promotion of the economical local development...

2 Paris

There is an exception with Paris (which is itself a département) and the three surrounding départements (called the petite couronne , small crown): those four départements are governed by a single préfecture for law enforcement and security purposes, which is the préfecture de police (PP). The préfet de police has the power of law enforcement for Paris, which is a power of the mayor for the other French cities and towns.

Until 1977, Paris had indeed no mayor and was mostly ruled by the préfet de police (a situation inherited from the Paris Commune, 1871).

3 Divisions of the départements

The départements are divided into arrondissements, themselves divided into cantons. The capital city of an arrondissement is the sous-préfecture. The civil servant in charge is the sous-préfet. The capital city of a canton is a chef-lieu de canton. The cantons have little role except as electoral subdivision.

4 See also

PrefectureThe term prefecture has been used to denote a self-governing body or area since the time of Constantine I, who divided the Roman Empire into 4 districts (each divided into dioceses). Much like a state or city, these were largely self-governed; however eac
Administrative divisions of FranceMetropolitan (i. European) France As of January 1, 2004, metropolitan France is divided into: 22 regions (although strictly speaking Corsica is in fact a territorial collectivity, not a region, but is referred to as a region in common speech) the regions
French National PoliceThe National Police Police Nationale is the main law enforcement agency of France with primary jurisdiction in cities and large towns, the other being the Gendarmerie with primary jurisdiction in smaller towns and rural and border areas. It is run under t

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Topics: Prefecture Police Paris Departement Departements Charge Prefet...

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