It's a law from 97. Probably at the time, the only reason you had to make a test was for paternity/fraternity, and I'm not shocked that any country think privacy and not giving your DNA to unknown labs under unknown entities is a good idea. Probably even worse, is giving your children's DNA toaan unknown party. In France, the parents do NOT have total power over their children.

I think the law is old and should be updated, to authorize personal tests at will (why not), but restrict testing a child privately (for obvious reasons).