InFrance, asubprefecture (French:sous-préfecture) is thecommune which is the administrative centre of adepartmental arrondissement that does not contain theprefecture for itsdepartment. The term also applies to the building that houses the administrative headquarters for an arrondissement.[1]
Thecivil servant in charge of a subprefecture is thesubprefect, assisted by ageneral secretary. Between May 1982 and February 1988, subprefects were known instead by the title Deputy Commissioner of the Republic (commissaire adjoint de la République). Where the administration of an arrondissement is carried out from a prefecture, the general secretary to the prefect carries out duties equivalent to those of the subprefect.
Themunicipal arrondissements ofParis,Lyon andMarseille are divisions of thecommune rather than the prefecture. They are not arrondissements in the same sense.
