The development of renewable marine energies has its origin in the United Nations' Framework Convention on Climate Change, adopted on 9 May 1992, and in the additional protocol, adopted in 1997 in Kyoto. Although, for many years, the French legal system did not consider the specificities of ocean renewable energies, the French government now seems to have become aware of the importance of establishing an adapted legal framework. The boom of marine renewable energies is the result of proactive policies from a French nation that seeks to meet its international and European commitments. The French policy makes use of legal instruments that ensure programming and planning. The economic activities in the field of marine renewable energies make up a market to which access is regulated. This requires administrative procedures which are as varied as they are complex. © ISTE Ltd 2015. All rights reserved.