The French overseas collectivities (French: collectivités d'outre-mer or COM), like the French regions, themselves, are first-order administrative divisions of France. The collectivities include some former French overseas territories and other French overseas entities with a particular status, all of which were given the name collectivités d'outre-mer by constitutional reform on 28 March 2003.
As of 22 February 2007, there were six French overseas collectivities:
- Mayotte, an island in the Indian Ocean, which was detached from Comoros in 1976. Its current status closely resembles that of a department. The entity has an elected general council and the additional designation of departmental collectivity.
- Saint Barthélemy, an island in the Lesser Antilles.
- Saint Martin, the northern part of the island of Saint Martin in the Lesser Antilles.
- Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a group of islands in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. The entity has a territorial council.
- Wallis and Futuna, three small islands in the Pacific Ocean and the only inhabited part of France that is not divided into communes.
- French Polynesia : In 2003 it became an overseas collectivity. Its statutory law of 27 February 2004 gives it the particular designation of Overseas country inside the Republic (French: pays d'outre-mer au sein de la République, or POM), but without legal modification of its status. The French Polynesia has a great degree of autonomy, two symbolic manifestations of which are the title of the President of French Polynesia (Le président de la Polynésie française) and the territory's additional designation as a pays d'outre-mer. Legislature: Assembly of French Polynesia.
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