France
Practice Relating to Rule 82. Recording of the Placement of Landmines
According to France’s LOAC Teaching Note (2000), employing landmines (except anti-personnel mines) is allowed on the condition that their exact location is recorded. It further provides: “At the end of hostilities the mine fields have to be indicated and as far as possible neutralized.”
France’s LOAC Manual (2001) states that employing landmines (except anti-personnel mines) is allowed on the condition that their exact location is recorded. It further states: “At the end of hostilities the mine fields have to be indicated and as far as possible neutralized.”
Upon acceptance of the 1996 Amended Protocol II to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, France stated:
France takes it that article 4 and the Technical Annex to amended Protocol II do not require the removal or replacement of mines that have already been laid …
The provisions of amended Protocol II such as those concerning the marking, monitoring and protection of zones which contain anti-personnel mines and are under the control of a party, are applicable to all zones containing mines, irrespective of the date on which those mines were laid.