Data collection and processing

PEReN’s activities are mainly carried out in three ways, as set out in its founding decree and the law of 25 October 2021 :

Partnerships : PEReN may enter into agreements with government departments and independent authorities involved in the regulation of digital platforms and carry out projects on behalf of and within the remit of these partners ;
Experimentation : PEReN may build and test, for exploratory purposes only, prototypes of regulatory tools based on the automatic collection of data publicly available to users of digital services, regardless of the terms and conditions of use of these services;
Public research : PEReN may conduct, on its own initiative or in partnership, public research within the meaning of Article L. 112-1 of the Research Code. In this context, PEReN may also carry out automatic collection of data publicly available to users of digital services.

As part of these activities, PEReN may, but not systematically, collect, store and process personal data.

All data processing carried out by PEReN complies with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and the French Data Protection Act.

The agreements established with government departments and independent partner authorities guarantee compliance with this regulatory framework and specify the authorisations granted to PEReN, generally as a processor responsible for the processing of personal data. In the context of its experimentation and public research activities, PEReN acts as a data controller.

Experimentation and automatic data processing

Experiments may rely on the automatic collection and use of content publicly available to users of digital services to build 'proofs of concept' (prototypes of digital tools). An experiment may thus consist of designing a digital tool to verify whether a platform's public interface algorithm is fair or functions as described. The tests carried out in this context may involve the collection of personal data (e.g. the names of users who have left comments on a page).

As part of an experimental project, the data collected:

are not kept for more than nine months after collection;
are not used for any purpose other than that specified in the current experimental project and the development of the corresponding tool or test;
are subject to secure access restricted to PEReN agents individually designated to work on the project.

Each collection is carried out under the conditions and within the limits set out in Decree No. 2022-603 of 21 April 2022 (Articles 2 to 6) and complies with the rules specified in the Decision of 3 September 2025 establishing automated processing of personal data by the digital regulation expertise centre.

In particular, each experiment shall include:

minimisation of data collected: only data that is strictly necessary is collected;
use of secure protocols for the retrieval and processing of collected data;
recording of all operations carried out in connection with the processing of collected data: consultation, modification, communication, erasure. This record is kept for three years.
automatic destruction of all data collected at the end of the work and no later than nine months after its collection.

Since the law of 21 May 2024, PEReN also has the option, as part of its public research activities, if a particular project requires it, to collect publicly accessible data, in accordance with the terms and conditions set out in the aforementioned decree and PEReN decision. In this context, data is not kept for more than five years after collection.

Exercise your rights to protect your privacy and personal data

Experimentation

PEReN is not currently conducting any experimental projects based on the automatic collection of publicly available data as provided for in paragraph 5 of Article 36 of the Law of 25 October 2021.

Public research

PEReN is not currently conducting any public research projects based on the automatic collection of publicly available data as provided for in paragraph 6 of Article 36 of the Law of 25 October 2021.

Models and datasets

PEReN may also use the following pre-trained models or training datasets:

Exercising your rights

In accordance with the applicable regulatory framework for the protection of privacy and personal data, as users of the aforementioned digital services, you have the right to access, rectify, restrict, object to and delete data concerning you that may be collected as part of PEReN’s experimentation and research projects. Please note that all data will in any case be deleted no later than 9 months after collection, unless otherwise specified in the context of a public research project, which allows PEReN to retain it for up to five years after collection.

You may exercise your rights by sending a message to the PEReN team: refdcp [at] peren.gouv.fr

Reference texts

Decree No. 2020-1102 of 31 August 2020 establishing a national service called the 'Digital Regulation Expertise Centre' (PEReN);
Article 36 of Law No. 2021-1382 of 25 October 2021 on the regulation and protection of access to cultural works in the digital age;
Decree No. 2022-603 of 21 April 2022 establishing the list of independent administrative and public authorities that may call on the support of the digital regulation expertise centre and relating to the data collection methods implemented by this service in the context of its experimental activities;
Decision of 3 September 2025 establishing the digital regulation expertise centre (PEReN) of automated processing of personal data implemented as part of its experimentation and public research activities provided for in Article 36 of Law No. 2021-1382 of 25 October 2021 on the regulation and protection of access to cultural works in the digital age.