Service-public.fr, the official gateway to the French civil service

What is service-public.fr ?

www.service-public.fr is the official website for the French civil service, set up in October 2000 and redesigned in November 2009. With over 4 million visitors a month, it is an important interface between the civil service and private citizens, businesses and professionals.

Its mission is to simplify administrative procedures for citizens, professionals and associations, to give them easy access to legal texts and inform them of their obligations.

Focused on the needs of the users rather than the civil service, service-public.fr is a single gateway to the information and practical online services provided by the public web.

Along with Legifrance.gouv.fr and vie-publique.fr, it gives citizens easier access to legal texts and extends their knowledge of public policies.

The new version of service-public.fr launched in November 2009 facilitates access to information and services, proposes interactive functionalities and presents the various channels for obtaining information or carrying out procedures : Internet, telephone via Allo Service public 3939 and the administration’s call and contact centres, message service or local public reception points.

Service-public.fr is produced in partnership with national and local government agencies which have a forum in the new version : the Community of Partners.

Users assess service-public.fr annually through an online survey. In the new version they can make suggestions or comment on the working of service-public.fr at any time (in Comments and Suggestions).

Three main functions to meet users’ expectations :

1. Access to all administrative information, presented clearly and simply in three sections : Your rights and procedures (200 folders, 2,500 data sheets and answers to frequently asked questions and several thousand links to useful resources : forms, online procedures, reference texts, public websites, etc.), What to do if… for all changes in status or situation and News.

2. Practical services to help with administrative procedures : online services, calculation modules, downloadable forms, standard letters, call and contact centres, and a message service ;

3. A civil service directory (11,000 national services, 70,000 local civil services and 14,000 managers). Access to all town halls, the main portals of the States in the European Union, European institutions and international organisations.

Service-public.fr was produced by La Documentation française in association with the CIRA (Inter-ministerial centres for administrative information) which joined La Documentation française in May 2006 to form a multichannel information hub (Internet, telephone, message service). National and local government bodies help enrich and update the portal.

La Documentation française became la Direction de l’information légale et administrative in January 2010.

A single front office for administrative information and access to online procedures

Service-public.fr provides a single front office for administrative information and online procedures designed to answer questions such as :

• How much does a passport cost ?
• Am I entitled to a benefit ?
• How do I find out how many points I have on my driver’s licence ?
• What is the address of my local town hall ?
• Does it have a website ?

The official civil service website facilitates and simplifies access to administrative information by selecting the various resources available on the public network and organising them to meet citizens’ needs.

For each topic, service-public.fr collects all the relevant information and makes it instantly available. Citizens who ask : What do I do when there is a change in my life (I’m getting married, I’m expecting a baby, I’m buying a house or flat…) ? will find information sheets with a clear explanation of their rights and the procedures to be carried out, reference texts, definitions of administrative terms, extra information on other web sites, online procedures or forms, addresses, telephone numbers and business hours of the local civil service able to supply information or carry out the relevant administrative procedure.

High standards appreciated by the users

Since 2005, service-public.fr has been committed to a quality procedure for the production and management of the content of the portal. The information it provides must be clear, efficient and precise enough to inform or direct the user ; complete in the relevant field, up-to-date and accessible to all regardless of the channel used (service-public.fr, local civil service website relaying the content of the portal under a co-branding arrangement, telephone via a single number 3939, message service…). The commitment to the quality of service-public.fr applies to all the partners of the official portal.

These high standards have borne fruit, as is shown by the steady growth in audience figures (average annual rise of 20%) and a high level of user satisfaction (96% in 2008).