The role, operating methods and composition of the committee are determined by Law no. 51-71 of 7 June 1951 on legal obligation, coordination and confidentiality in the field of statistics (Articles 6a, 7a and 7b).
The committee gives its opinion on requests for the communication of data covered by statistical confidentiality (data collected in statistical surveys or transmitted to the official statistical system for the purpose of compiling statistics) or by tax confidentiality.
The confidentiality committee meets to examine requests for access to data for new projects in their regular sessions while additional requests for existing projects are examined via electronic consultation. Four sessions and eight electronic consultations are organised per year.
The committee is chaired by a Conseiller d’État (member of the Council of State). In addition to its Chair and representatives of the National Assembly and Senate, the committee includes one member of the CESE (Economic, Social and Environmental Council), 4 government representatives, 2 representatives of CNIL (French Data Protection Authority), 2 researcher representatives, 2 trade union representatives, 4 representatives of business, 1 representative of INED (National Institute for Demographic Studies), 1 locally elected official.