Town Hall

Context

In France, 7 million people are affected by hearing loss, including 500,000 with profound or severe deafness; around 100,000 people speak French Sign Language (Fondation pour l'Audition / DREES; French Ministry of Culture). Over the past five years, 23% of users have given up on at least one right when dealing with public services, with people with disabilities disproportionately affected (Défenseur des droits, October 2025). As of 1 January 2025, France has 34,875 municipalities (INSEE). Only 1.45% of town halls in mainland France are recorded as accessible to deaf or hard-of-hearing people, i.e. 508 town halls out of nearly 35,000 (Acceslibre, the official accessibility platform).

Legal framework

The law of 11 February 2005 recognises French Sign Language as a language in its own right. The 2016 French Digital Republic Act imposes a telephone accessibility requirement, extended to companies with over €250 million in revenue. The ordinance of 6 September 2023 provides for fines of up to €75,000 for an individual and 1% of revenue for a legal entity in case of non-compliance. From 1 October 2026, the accessibility requirement will cover 100% of public reception hours, up from 50% today.

Use case

A deaf or signing resident visits the town hall for an administrative matter (civil records, ID card, planning permission). The reception officer and the resident each speak their own language; translation happens in real time on their own devices, with no physical interpreter.

Architecture

V1 (prototype)

A catalogue of words and phrases specific to common administrative procedures (reception, civil records, planning), developed with industry professionals and people fluent in sign language.

V2 (target)

Progressive extension of the catalogue to other municipal services, interoperable with the generic catalogue of the consumer app.

Patents involved

• Multilingual translation
• Multilingual translation refinement

Indicators

• Administrative catalogue words and phrases covered — 86 words and 60 phrases in V1, extended to 200 phrases for commercial deployment
• Pilot service desks equipped — to be defined with the funder

Estimated budget

€150,000 for the complete development of the town hall sector catalogue. Funding for a sector-specific prototype can be carried by a single institution or pooled among several institutions within the same network.

Funder profile sought

A town hall, local authority or institutional funder wishing to fund the development of the town hall sector catalogue in exchange for visibility and priority access to the prototype.