In France, it was long possible for individuals accused of insider trading to be prosecuted before the French securities exchange commission, the AMF and, in parallel or successively, to be subject to criminal prosecution. In a March 18, 2015 decision, the French Conseil Constitutionnel held that the articles of the French Monetary and Financial Code that authorized such parallel and successive prosecutions violate Article 8 of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789, which codifies the constitutional principle that the law must only establish sanctions that are strictly necessary.