Administrative file of a public official: what are the management rules?

Verified 23 January 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Your individual file contains all the documents concerning your administrative situation and career development. It can be managed electronically.

Your individual file brings together all documents concerning your administrative situation.

It shall include, in particular, the following documents:

  • Your marital status
  • Your family situation
  • Your military situation
  • Your degrees
  • Your recruitment
  • Your career: appointment or contract order, advancement order, internal promotion order, change of statutory position (secondment, parental leave, availability, etc.)
  • Your professional assessments
  • The training you have taken
  • Your absences: leave orders (maternity, paternity, illness, etc.).

These documents are recorded, numbered and filed seamlessly.

Your file should not include no documents mentioning your political, trade union, religious or philosophical opinions or activities.

On the application of medical secretHowever, no information about your health should be included. Only the administrative consequences of your state of health may appear in your file (sick leave order, medical board opinion, etc.).

The mention of disciplinary sanctions amnesties or erased is also prohibited. On the other hand, the documents referring to the facts giving rise to the penalty are not withdrawn.

The individual file is unique : all documents concerning you must be collected there.

FYI  

In the territorial civil service, management centers shall draw up an individual file per official for the performance of their duties in respect of the communities affiliated to them. This file contains a copy of the exhibits, contained in the file maintained by the employer community and relating to the grievor's career. You and your employer community can consult it.

Paper or electronic file

Your file can be managed in paper format.

It may also be created and managed, in whole or in part, on electronic medium from digitized paper documents or produced directly in electronic form.

In the case of coexistence of electronic and paper media, any document placed in the file can only be kept on one of the 2 media, so that the file remains unique.

Switching to the electronic file

The conditions for the creation and transition to the management of electronic files are defined by order or decision of the employer administration, after consulting the Social Committee.

This order or decision shall define, in particular, the following information:

  • List of documents and categories of personnel concerned
  • Timetable for the implementation of this electronic management, including the date from which any new documents entered in the individual file can only be entered in electronic format
  • Delay in destroying an electronic record
  • The time within which the original paper document is destroyed.

Transferring the folder

In case of secondment or making available, your folder remains managed by your home administration.

Your host administration shall forward to your home administration the documents drawn up during the period of secondment or making available.

In case of transfer or hiring by another administration, the file is transferred to your new employer administration.

If your new employer jurisdiction does not manage its agents' records electronically, your home jurisdiction will create a hard copy of your electronic record and forward it to your new employer jurisdiction.

Your electronic file is destroyed within the time limit set by the order or decision relating to the transition to the electronic file.

Retention period of the file

A shelf life for routine management shall be set by arrested for each document type.

At the end of the retention period under current management, each document is either subject to intermediate archiving or destruction, under conditions set by the same decree.

Intermediate archiving shall end at the end of the administrative useful life of the document, fixed at your 80th birthday.

At the end of the administrative useful life, the documents are either permanently archived in a public archive service or destroyed.

Request for consultation of the individual file

You can at any time request in writing to consult your file. You do not have to justify your request.

Your administrative file can only be consulted by yourself. But you can bring a person of your choice to the consultation.

The administration must respond to your request in the one month delay. Beyond that, the absence of a response amounts to a refusal.

In case of refusal or failure to reply within one month, you can enter the commission for access to administrative documents (Canada).

Who shall I contact

  • To obtain information or request access to an administrative document in the event of an explicit refusal by the administration or if it has not responded for more than one month to a request for disclosure.

    By phone

    +33 (0)1 42 75 79 99

    By post

    ASD 50730

    75334 PARIS CEDEX 07

    By email

    cada@cada.fr

    By online form

    Referral form

The Cada gives an opinion on your request, which is communicated to you and your administration.

Your administration informs Canada of its response to your request.

If it confirms its refusal, explicitly or by keeping silent, you can refer the matter to the administrative court.

The consultation can take place during working hours, but if you request a copy, you can take the copy of your file to consult it at home.

Request to remove or add a document to the individual file

In case of dematerialization of your file, you are informed of the conditions under which you can assert your rights regarding the processing of personal data.

You can request the rectification of information, the withdrawal or the addition of a document to your administration, either during the consultation or later.

For example, you can request that your file be removed from a letter stating a union mandate.

On the other hand, an interview report with your supervisor concerning your administrative situation must be included in your individual file. Your administration must inform you that this document is included in your file. You can't ask for it to be removed or destroyed.

If an electronic medium coexists with a paper medium, your request for access and rectification is valid for the entire file, regardless of the medium.

Request for a copy of the individual file

You can request a copy of all or part of the elements of your individual file.

If your file is in electronic format, the copy is provided to you by one of the following means:

  • Sending to your business email address or handing over a digital medium
  • Handing over a paper copy of the original.