Overseas departments and regions of France that are located outside metropolitan France
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Theoverseas departments and regions of France (French:départements et régions d'outre-mer,pronounced[depaʁtəmɑ̃eʁeʒjɔ̃d‿utʁəmɛʁ];DROM) are the fivedepartments andregions of theFrench Republic which are located outside European France (also known as "metropolitan France"). These overseas entities have exactly the same status as European France's departments and regions. TheFrench Constitution provides that, in general, French laws and regulations (France's civil code, penal code, administrative law, social laws, and tax laws etc.) apply to French overseas departments and regions the same way as inmetropolitan France, but can be adapted as needed to suit the region's particular needs. Hence, the local administrations of French overseas departments and regions cannot themselves pass new laws. On occasion, referendums are undertaken to re-assess the sentiment in local status.
Since March 2011, the five overseas departments and regions of France are:
Since 1982, following theFrench government's policy ofdecentralization, overseas departments have elected regional councils with powers similar to those of theregions of metropolitan France.[citation needed] As a result of a constitutional revision that occurred in 2003, these regions are now to be called "overseas regions"; indeed, the new wording of the Constitution gives no precedence to the terms "overseas department" or "overseas region", though the latter is still virtually unused by the French media.[citation needed]
Theoverseas collectivity ofSaint Pierre and Miquelon was an overseas department from 1976 to 1985. All five of France's overseas departments have between 200,000 and 1,000,000 people each, whereas Saint Pierre and Miquelon has only about 6,000, and the smaller collectivity unit therefore seemed more appropriate[according to whom?] for the islands.[citation needed]
The overseas collectivity ofMayotte held areferendum on 29 March 2009. Of the votes, 95% were in favor of becoming an overseas department. Mayotte became an overseas department on 31 March 2011.[2]
Each overseas department is the sole department in its ownoverseas region (French:région d'outre-mer) with powers identical to theregions of metropolitan France. Because of the one-to-one correspondence, informal usage does not distinguish the two, and the French media use the termdépartement d'outre-mer (DOM) almost exclusively.
Guadeloupe and Réunion each have separate departmental and regional councils, while in Mayotte, Guiana and Martinique, the two layers of government areconsolidated so one body wields both sets of powers. The overseas departments acquired these additional powers in 1982, when France'sdecentralisation policy dictated that they be given electedregional councils and other regional powers; however, the term "overseas region" was only introduced with theFrench constitutional amendment of 28 March 2003.
