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French relax data encryption

By Felicity Ussher

Published: 15 January 1999 13:31 GMT

The French government yesterday hinted at plans to ease its encryption laws, which are currently considered the strongest in Europe.

France is one of the few countries in the world that does not permit companies to use or export 56bit encryption without a licence. Any person found encrypting documents illegally risks up to six months in prison and a FF500,000 (E76,225) fine.

Minister for Finance and Economics, Dominique Strauss-Khan, gave no other information in his statement, but French newspapers are expecting more details of the proposed changes to emerge in the next few days.

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