Paris 2024: the Olympic law provides for body scanners and the opening of shops on Sundays

In anticipation of the Paris Games, security is obviously at the forefront of the concerns of the public authorities.

Faced with the security challenge represented by the event, in particular the unprecedented open-air opening ceremony on the Seine, the text of the law presented on Thursday makes possible the use of an artificial intelligence system, which makes it possible to detect movements suspicious crowds in or around stadiums, on public roads and in transport.

Long claimed by the interministerial delegate to the Olympics, Michel Cadot, still at the end of May after the incidents of the C1 final at the Stade de France, it will be an “experiment” for “recreational, sporting or cultural events exposed to "risks of terrorism" or "serious harm to the safety of persons".

These experiments will be authorized by decree after advice from the CNIL (Commission Informatique et Libertés) and may begin from the entry into force of the law until June 30, 2025. "They do not use any biometric data, do not implement any facial recognition technique and cannot carry out any reconciliation, interconnection or automated linking with other processing of personal data ”, ensures the explanatory memorandum of this text of 19 articles.

The executive has been saying for months that he does not want to use facial recognition in the context of the Olympics.

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Another novelty: body scanners, until now used only in airports, will be authorized at the entrance to the enclosures of more than 300 people, with the consent of the person.

This avoids a security search, while the organizers of the Olympic Games and the State are faced with a shortage of private security agents.

The text also provides for screening measures, that is to say administrative investigation, for the members of the delegations who will reside in the Olympic village, but also the volunteers and service providers, including those who will intervene in the fan zones.

It gives authority to the prefect of police of Paris, Laurent Nunez, in all the departments of Ile-de-France from July 1 to September 15, 2024.

It also reinforces the sanctions in the event of violence in the stadiums, in particular in the event of recidivism or violence in meetings.

Similarly, judicial stadium bans become mandatory in the case of certain offences.

It provides that in the municipalities where competition sites are located, or bordering, the prefect may authorize the opening of shops for goods or services on Sundays from June 1, 2024 to September 30, 2024.

Passage to parliament in January

The date of passage in Parliament of this text is not yet planned but several political sources have mentioned the month of January.

It is also a period during which Parliament will have to debate a report from the Court of Auditors on the Olympics, as prescribed by the previous Olympic law passed in 2018.

In order to comply with international anti-doping rules, the text provides for the sole duration of the Olympic Games and in limited cases (research for the administration of homologous blood, substitution of samples taken, genetic mutation in a gene involved in performance, or manipulation genetics) and as a last resort "the performance of analyzes consisting of the examination of genetic characteristics or the comparison of the genetic fingerprints of athletes".

It also legalizes the installation of a clinic for athletes, managed by the APHP, within the Olympic village itself and the intervention of foreign doctors such as those belonging to international federations.

Parking permits issued by the prefect of police will also be possible for taxis accessible to people in wheelchairs.

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The text also contains a provision which regulates the advertising of Olympic sponsors in the municipalities which will receive or will be crossed by the torch relay, and adapts provisions of the 2018 law on the subject.

The organizers of the Paris Olympics have not yet completed the round table of their sponsors, one of their three sources of funding (with ticketing revenue and the contribution of the IOC) and expect 1.2 billion euros.