Overview
- The Cese, which issued its opinion Tuesday, urged ending penalties for DNA kits used only to trace family roots under strict rules like informed consent, EU-only data handling, trained support, and a ban on ethnicity claims with medical testing kept tightly controlled.
- French law still forbids private genetic tests outside a doctor’s order or a court case and sets a €3,750 fine.
- Many residents ignore the ban, with about 100,000 to 150,000 orders each year from foreign sites in the United States, Belgium, or Denmark.
- People born under X, adoptees, and those conceived with a donor turn to these tests to fill gaps in their family history.
- The opinion does not change the law and now feeds bioethics discussions, as the CNIL warns that online DNA services can give shaky results and hide how they use sensitive data.