A number of these provisions, or similar ones, came into force in November 2015 when President François Hollande put in place a state of emergency after terrorist attacks in and near Paris killed 130 people, including 90 at the Bataclan concert hall. The state of emergency has been renewed periodically for two to six months.

Underlying the measure is a dilemma for politicians. Lifting the state of emergency has become politically fraught, but leaving it in place indefinitely would raise questions about France’s commitment to democracy. Whether codifying the emergency measures will prove palatable to critics is unclear.

Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the United Nations special rapporteur on the protection of human rights while countering terrorism, said in a Sept. 22 letter to the French government that the legislation offered only “vague definitions of terrorism and threats to national security” and exacerbated “concerns that the powers may be used in an arbitrary manner.”

The government, which must respond to the letter within two months, has argued that the legislation includes safeguards.

Critics have also questioned whether the provisions will improve the security services’ ability to detect potential attacks beforehand. Of the 3,600 house searches carried out in the first seven months after the state of emergency went into effect, only six resulted in terrorism-related criminal proceedings, according to information in a parliamentary report and a report by Human Rights Watch.

Far more potent as an antiterrorism measure was a law approved in 2015 that greatly expanded the surveillance and eavesdropping powers of the intelligence services, according to lawyers who study terrorism.

France is not alone in ramping up its counterterrorism laws after extremist attacks. Britain, Germany and the United States have all tightened their laws and expanded state powers relative to individual rights. However, France’s laws are among the broadest and, unlike in the United States, where the extension of some counterterrorism measures has been checked by Congress, the expansion has been unabated.