A territorial collectivity is a chartered subdivision of France, with recognized governing authority. It is the generic name for any subdivision with an elective form of local government and local regulatory authority. The nature of a French territorial collectivity is set forth in Article 72 of the French Constitution of 1958, which provides for local autonomy within limits prescribed by law.
Departments: France has 95 departments as territorial collectivities, but the word is also used for the 101 territorial divisions of the State administration, which in most cases cover the same area as territorial collectivities.
Collectivities with special status: this status is awarded by specific laws to 6 collectivities which replace departments and regions.
Overseas collectivities : France has five COMs.
Provinces: There are 3 provinces, all in New Caledonia.
Communes: There are 36,782 communes. They are found throughout the republic.
Other facts
New Caledonia is the only French local government that is not a collectivité territoriale. It has its own articles in the French constitution. Since it cannot be categorized, it is sometimes unofficially called a collectivité sui generis. It is also unofficially called a pays , because its local legislative assembly can rule using its own lois du pays.
The régions are divided into départements: ROMs are divided into DOMs; New Caledonia is divided into provinces; départements, COMs, DOMs, and provinces all are divided into communes.
The commune of Poya is the only French subdivision assigned to two upper-level units.
Paris and some overseas entities belong to two categories.
* Paris is both a département and a commune. It has one mayor and one assembly.
* French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, and Réunion are both ROM and DOM. Guadeloupe and Réunion each have two presidents and two assemblies, while French Guiana, Martinique and Mayotte each have a single assembly.
Each COM has its own statutory law that gives it a particular designation:
Saint Barthélemy, Saint Martin, and Saint Pierre and Miquelon's assemblies are called conseil territorial. Each of these is presided over by a président du conseil territorial.
Wallis and Futuna's assembly is called an assemblée territoriale. It is presided over by the prefect.
New Caledonia's assembly is called a congrès. It is presided over by the président du gouvernement.
Mayotte and Saint Pierre and Miquelon used to be collectivités territoriales belonging to no category, sometimes unofficially called collectivité territoriale à statut particulier, or collectivité territoriale d'outre-mer.
Mayotte held a vote in 2009 to change its status, and it became a ROM in 2011.
