Mandatory reporting of AIDS cases has been in place in France since 1986. It requires clinicians to report any patient presenting with an initial AIDS-defining condition based on a European definition. Mandatory reporting of HIV infection cases, meanwhile, has been in place since 2003 and requires laboratory technicians to anonymously report "any HIV serology test confirmed as positive for the first time in their laboratory, even if the second sample required to validate the seropositivity could not be obtained and even if a serology test had previously been performed for the same person in another laboratory.” The clinician who ordered the serology test and/or is treating the patient completes the medical section of the report and submits the entire document to the medical inspector at the Regional Health Agency (ARS).