Phone Harassment
Verified 03 December 2020 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
Repeated malicious phone calls or text messages amount to harassment. This is an offense punishable by law. If you experience telephone harassment, you can report it to the police or gendarmerie. You can also file a complaint against the author. Evidence of harassment must be collected.
Repeated and malicious phone calls are considered harassment. These are phone calls made for the sole purpose of harming you, or disturbing your tranquility.
2 insulting or threatening calls within a short period of time are considered to be repeated calls and may therefore constitute telephone harassment.
The facts are also punished, even if there was no telephone communication, in the following 2 cases:
- The perpetrator leaves malicious messages on your voice mail or on the victim's voice mail
- The author rings your phone without talking to you for the sole purpose of causing you sound disturbances
Repeated sending of malicious SMS or e-mail messages is tantamount to telephone harassment.
Warning
the abusive telephone solicitation by traders does not amount to telephone harassment.
If your situation requires urgent law enforcement intervention, you can alert the police or gendarmerie by phone.
In case of emergency, and only in this situation, it is possible to alert the police or gendarmerie by telephone call, or by SMS, if you are unable to speak.
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By telephone
In case of emergency, when a quick intervention is necessary, you can call the emergency police. Dial 17.
You can also contact the 112.
Who shall I contact
Emergency Police - 17 (by phone)
By telephone
Dial 17 in the event of an emergency involving a road accident, a breach of public order or a criminal offense. A team of police or gendarmes will be on hand.
You can also dial the 112. You will then be directed to the right service according to your case. The 112 can be used in all European Union countries.
If the situation is not an emergency, call your local police or gendarmerie.
Who shall I contact
European emergency number - 112
112
Emergency number to be used for a call from a European country or from a mobile phone
24/7
Free call
You can't call
114 is the emergency call relay service if you are unable to speak on the phone (deaf, hard of hearing ...) or if it could put you in danger.
Who shall I contact
Deaf and hard of hearing emergency number - 114
By SMS at 114
Free 24/7 access
Via the emergency mobile application 114 or the website www.urgence114.fr
Free 24/7 access
Contact possible via:
- Video telephony: I communicate in sign language
- Chat: I communicate in writing
- Voice / Return text: I speak and 114 responds to me in writing (or vice versa)
You can collect evidence of your harassment yourself without waiting for the police or gendarmerie investigation.
Any form of proof shall be permitted:
- Recorded calls even without the author's knowledge
- Recordings of messages left on your voicemail
- SMS screenshots...
It is also worth noting the exact dates and times of the calls. You will be able to provide all this information to the police when you file a complaint.
You can call on a commissioner of justice (former bailiff and judicial auctioneer).
Who shall I contact
You can file a complaint against the alleged perpetrator of the telephone harassment, to be punished by the justice system.
You must do so within 6 years from the last malicious call, otherwise the complaint will not be processed.
If you file a complaint within this period, the court will then take into account all the appeals concerned, even if they are more than 6 years old.
FYI
if the harassment is motivated by discrimination based on one of the criteria prohibited by the law, such as skin color, sex, age or sexual orientation, you can refer the case to the French Ombudsman.
On the spot
You must go to a police station or a gendarme brigade of your choice.
You may not be refused the receipt of the complaint.
The complaint is then forwarded to the public prosecutor by the police or gendarmerie.
By mail
You can file a complaint with the public prosecutor.
We need to send a free-form letter the court of law of the place of the offense or of the domicile of the offender.
Who shall I contact
The letter should specify the following:
- Your marital status and full contact information (address and telephone number)
- Detailed account of the facts, date and place of the offense
- Name of the alleged perpetrator if known (otherwise, the complaint will be filed against X)
- Names and addresses of any witnesses to the offense
- Description and provisional or definitive estimate of the damage
- Evidence: medical certificates, work stoppages, miscellaneous invoices, findings ...
- Willingness to take civil action
File a complaint with the public prosecutor
Who shall I contact
You can send your complaint by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, by simple letter or by letter followed.
You can also file your complaint directly at the courthouse.
In any case, a receipt is given to you as soon as the Public Prosecutor's Office has registered your complaint.
The person who is guilty of telephone harassment is at risk
- 1 year in prison
- and €15,000 of fine.
The perpetrator may also be sentenced to an obligation of care in the context of a stay of probation.
When the person responsible for telephone harassment is the spouse, partner or Civil partnership partner, they are at risk
- 3 years in prison
- and €45,000 of fine.
The perpetrator may also be sentenced to an obligation of care in the context of a stay of probation.
Who can help me?
Find who can answer your questions in your region
For information
Telephone administrative information - Allo Public Service
The informants who answer you are from the Department of Justice.
Cost: free service
Service available at the following times:
- Monday: 8.30am to 5.30pm
- Tuesday: 8:30 to 12:15
- Wednesday: 8:30 to 12:15
- Thursday: 8.30am to 5.30pm
- Friday: 1 p.m. to 4:15 p.m
- Lundi : de 08h30 à 17h30
- Mardi : de 08h30 à 12h15
- Mercredi : de 08h30 à 12h15
- Jeudi : de 08h30 à 17h30
- Vendredi : de 13h00 à 16h15
For advice
Violence Women Info - 3919
Listen, inform and refer women victims of violence, and witnesses to such violence.
Addresses physical, verbal, or psychological abuse, at home or at work, and abuse of any kind (including sexual harassment, assault, and rape).
Does not deal with emergencies (it is not a police or gendarmerie service).
For other types of violence, 3919 provides a first-level response and directs or transfers to a useful number.
By telephone
39,19 (free call from a landline or mobile phone in metropolitan and DOM)
Open 24/7
Anonymous call
Call not on phone bills
To get assistance
LawyerFor advice
House of Justice and the Law
Penalties
Ministry of the Interior