The French National Assembly on Thursday unanimously voted to repeal texts codifying slavery.

MP Max Mathiasin sponsored the bill to repeal Code Noir, which was first tabled on September 16, 2025. Code Noir is “a set of texts promulgated between 1685 and 1724 that regulated and codified slavery in the French colonies.” The code was never repealed, despite the abolition of slavery in 1848.

During the parliamentary session, Mathiasin stated that the bill follows the path of the Taubira Law, the first law to recognize the slave trade as a crime against humanity, in making “a powerful act of remembrance, justice, and recognition, by formally repealing the Code Noir and all the texts that stem from it.”

In addition to repealing the Code Noir, the bill also outlines that a report be submitted to parliament “on the contemporary consequences of the application of colonial law on the structuring and economic, social, cultural and environmental development in the Overseas Territories” and “lasting consequences of [colonial] legacy on the descendants of people enslaved”. Overseas Territories Minister Naïma Moutchiou affirmed that “this would not be just another document,” as it would also “examine the place given to the history of slavery, the slave trade, and their abolition in school curricula.”

MP Émeline K/Bidi raised concerns around whether the text would have a real impact if it does not address reparations. Mr. Mathiasin stated that the “bill is a further step, not an end in itself,” and that “the subject of reparations alone requires work that goes beyond its scope.” MP Philippe Naillet expressed that one day “the word ‘reparation’ must no longer frighten the Republic.”

The bill was unanimously approved with 254 votes in favor of adoption.