Section 2 Assessment of the work of the Contrôleur Général des Lieux de Privation de Liberté in 2014 1. Relations with public authorities and other legal entities 1.1 The Act of 26 May 2014 amending the Act of 30th October 2007 instituting the Contrôleur général des lieux de privation de liberté In his Annual Report for the year 2012, the Contrôleur Général assessed the inadequacies of the text of the Act of 30th October 2007 by which the Contrôle Général was established. He put forward amendments in order to improve the conditions of exercise of his duties. These proposals were for the most part taken up in the Act of 26th May 2014, which originated from a proposition presented by Mrs Catherine Tasca and the Socialist Group in the Senate. This Act has broadened the institution’s means of action. Thus the text gives the Contrôle Général an opportunity to gather information from any person likely to shed light upon its investigations (and no longer solely the persons in charge of the places visited) and opens the possibility of sending formal notification with regard to these persons. The scope of any secrecy that may be raised against the Contrôleur Général is also specified. On the one hand, as far as police custody is concerned, it enables the handing over of police reports not concerned with questioning to the Contrôle Général, since they are unlikely to prejudice the secrecy of investigations or of the taking of evidence. On the other hand, the Act authorises inspectors who have the status of doctors to gain access to information covered by medical secrecy, with the agreement of the person concerned 36. Moreover, the text introduces provisions for penal measures aimed at protecting persons who may enter into relations with the Contrôle Général and facilitating the exercise of its duties. Thus no sanctions can be taken against any person (persons deprived of liberty as well as any persons acting within places of deprivation of liberty, in particular in a professional capacity) on the basis of their relations with the Contrôle Général, in order to protect them against the possibility of reprisals, with the exception of any proceedings for false accusations. Moreover, the Act created an offence of obstruction, punishable by a fine of 15,000 euros, defined by the act of obstructing the Contrôleur Général’s duties, either by standing in the way of visits and the handing over of certain elements, or by threats or reprisals made against any person having entered into relations with the institution. The Act reasserts the principle of the confidentiality of correspondence between the Contrôle Général and prisoners, whatever the method of communication; violation of this secrecy is a punishable criminal offence. 36 This agreement not being required, when physical or psychological duress is involved committed towards a minor or a person who is not in a position to protect themselves due to their age or their physical or psychological incapacity. 41