France

Non-therapeutic male circumcision is lawful in France with parental consent, but it is legally TOLERATED rather than affirmatively authorised: there is no specific statute (except the Alsace-Moselle mohel-certification regime). This sits in striking asymmetry with female genital mutilation, which France prosecutes aggressively under the Penal Code — the sharpest male/female legal contrast in the dataset.

France's framework rests on general bodily-integrity principles — Civil Code Art. 16-3 ("the integrity of the human body may only be infringed in case of medical necessity") and Public Health Code Art. R4127-41 — against which ritual circumcision is tolerated. The Conseil d'État's 2004 annual laïcité report ("Un siècle de laïcité") called ritual circumcision "admise" (permissible) while "dépourvue de tout fondement légal" (devoid of any legal foundation); a 2025 medico-legal analysis holds medically-performed ritual circumcision does not fall under Penal Code Art. 222-1 (tortures et actes de barbarie) or Civil Code Art. 16-1 (inviolability of the body), and no penal complaint has ever been filed. By contrast, FEMALE genital mutilation — a distinct practice that must NOT be conflated with male circumcision — is prosecuted under the general aggravated-violence articles of the Penal Code: Art. 222-9 (10 years and €150,000 for violence causing mutilation/permanent disability), escalating under Art. 222-10 to 20 years when the victim is a minor under 15 cut by an ascendant; France has had some of Europe's most active FGM prosecutions. Reimbursement tracks the same logic: Assurance Maladie covers circumcision only when medically indicated (CCAM code JHFA009, posthectomie); ritual/aesthetic circumcision is never reimbursed and is paid privately. Status UNREGULATED reflects the absence of a specific governing statute; the substantive posture is secular-state tolerance of a religious-minority practice.