Social security number in France
The social security number in France (French mostly, also in official correspondence, named with the generic name Numéro de sécurité sociale , but officially Numéro d'inscription au répertoire des personnes physiques , i.e. registration number in the directory of natural persons , abbreviated NIR or NIRPP) a personal identifier in the form of a 15-digit code. Every person born in France or subject to social security contributions is assigned such a number by the state.
Contrary to what its common name suggests, the number is neither assigned nor administered by the social security agencies, nor is its use restricted to social security matters.
history
The personal identification number, known today as NIR and known as the social security number, was in 1941 at the instigation of the army officer René Carmille of the Vichy regime for the purpose of a secret, i.e. H. Unnoticed by Germany, weir registration was introduced. After France's military defeat by Germany in 1940, the Compiègne armistice limited the size of the French army to 100,000 men; In addition, the military registration facilities of the French army had been closed and their archives destroyed. Carmille, who had been promoting the use of machine data processing using punched card technology in the state administration since the early 1930s , managed to establish a demographic service, which had its headquarters in the unoccupied Lyon and, as the predecessor of today's French statistics agency INSEE , a general one in July 1941 Record of the working population in the unoccupied zone, based on data from the registry offices and using punch card systems from the manufacturer Bull . For this count, what is now called NIR, initially a 13-digit personal code, was developed and used for the first time.
After the war, the number was taken over by the newly established social security system to identify the insured.
In 1973 the administration of the RNIPP personal register and thus the NIR was switched to electronic data processing . In the course of this change, a two-digit check number was added, making the NIR 15-digit. The conversion project, designated with the acronym SAFARI, was ultimately intended to extend the use of the NIR for personal identification to all French authorities and administrative bodies. This goal quickly became the target of massive public criticism because of the obvious possibilities of misusing such extensive networked personal data. The name SAFARI turned out to be an unfortunate choice in this context, because the newspaper Le Monde turned it into the puny headline “Safari ou la chasse aux Français” ( Safari or the hunt for the French ), which summarized the general criticism in a catchy catchphrase. Ultimately, contrary to the original objectives, the use of the NIR was limited to a few authorities and strictly regulated. The SAFARI project was also the main trigger for the French data protection law ( Loi informatique et libertés ) passed in 1978 and the creation of the CNIL data protection authority , which has since monitored the use of the NIR.
Administration and award
The NIR and the national register for the identification of natural persons ( Répertoire national d'identification des personnes physiques , RNIPP), from which the numbers are generated, are administered by the state statistical office INSEE . The INSEE constitutes the database of civil status information that is communicated to it by the registry offices. Anyone born in France is automatically assigned a NIR.
People born abroad receive a NIR if they themselves or their employer apply for a number to be assigned to an authority using the NIR, for example health or pension insurance due to a new social security obligation, by submitting proof of identity and a civil status document.
use
The use of the NIR is only permitted to a strictly defined group of authorities. Any use must be authorized by the Conseil d'État , which must first seek the opinion of the CNIL data protection authority .
The NIR is used, among other things, by the statutory health insurance, the private supplementary health insurance ( Mutuelles ), the employment offices, the pension insurance and the family fund CAF, which pays benefits such as child and housing benefits. The number is printed on the Carte Vitale electronic health insurance card together with the name of the card holder.
Employers and providers of reimbursable medical services such as doctors, pharmacists and hospitals use the NIR to process formalities with the social security funds, but are not allowed to use it for other administrative purposes (e.g. internally as a personnel number in the company or to organize health care).
The CNIL recognizes the need to use the NIR and the RNIPP in all areas of social security, but has repeatedly spoken out against any extension or generalization of their use to other authorities. In 1992, for example, the Ministry of Education and the national education authority, Éducation nationale, subordinate to it, replaced the NIR they had previously used with their own internal personal identification number after a complaint by the CNIL.
The tax offices, on the other hand, have been authorized to use the NIR and the RNIPP since 1999, although they already used other, internal identification numbers.
structure
The NIR is a 15-digit, in principle alphanumeric, but in most cases purely numeric number. The first 13 characters contain information about the person. The last two digits are a check number that is sometimes left out.
The structure in detail is as follows:
G JJ MM IIIII NNN PP
- G: gender (1: male; 2: female);
- YY: The last two digits of the year of birth (e.g. "13" for 1913 or 2013);
- MM: month of birth (e.g. "08" for August);
- IIIII: INSEE code of the place of birth or, if birth abroad, the country of birth;
- NNN: consecutive number;
- PP: Check sum: Complement to 97 of the remainder of a division of the number resulting from the preceding digits by 97.
Example: A woman born in Bordeaux in May 1957 could have the following social security number:
2 57 05 33063 999 03 | | | | | | | | | | | Prüfziffer = 97 - (2 570 533 063 999 modulo 97) | | | | | | | | | Lfd. Nummer (hier angenommen: 999) | | | | | | | Code INSEE des Geburtsortes: Bordeaux | | | | | Geburtsmonat: Mai | | | Letzte zwei Ziffern des Geburtsjahres: 57 | Geschlecht: weiblich
Individual evidence
- ^ Numéro d'inscription au répertoire / NIR. Definition. INSEE , accessed on February 15, 2015 (French, short definition from INSEE with a note that the "usual name" is Numéro de sécurité sociale ).
- ↑ a b c Les règles d'immatriculation des assurés. Caisse nationale de l'assurance maladie (CNAM), accessed February 15, 2015 (French, social security number website on the French statutory health insurance portal).
- ↑ a b L'histoire de l'Insee ... ou la conquête du chiffre. (PDF, 483 KByte) INSEE , 1996, archived from the original on April 7, 2015 ; accessed on November 23, 2019 (French).
- ↑ a b c d e f L'attribution du numéro de Sécurité sociale. Direction de la Sécurité sociale, accessed on February 15, 2015 (French).