Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

FRANCE: GENERAL METADATA Data documentation General notes The fiscal year in France coincides with the calendar year. Following OECD convention, amounts prior to 1999 are expressed as ‘euro-fixed series’, meaning that this inventory applies the fixed EMU conversion rate (EUR1= FRF 6.559) to data initially expressed in the French Franc (FRF). Producer Support Estimate France used to support the production of hard coal through Charbonnages de France (CdF), a state-owned mining enterprise. Support was at the time deemed necessary owing to the low competitiveness of the French coal industry. By 1990, production had already ceased in the North of the country. An agreement between trade unions and CdF, the Pacte Charbonnier, was therefore concluded in October1994 to organise the progressive dismantling of the remaining production sites. The agreement provided for the end of all production by 2005. This was to be achieved through a series of measures meant to address the social costs associated with mine closures. One such measure, the congé charbonnier de fin de carrière, allowed coal miners to stop working at the age of 45 while remaining entitled to payments worth 80% of their previous wages. The last remaining mine was closed in 2004, ahead of schedule. CdF was liquidated in 2007 and its debt transferred to the French state, along with the responsibility for all inherited social and environmental liabilities. France does not produce coal any more.