In France, associated communes (French: communes associées, pronounced [kɔmyn asɔsje]) were created by the Commune Merger Act of 16 July 1971 (also called the Marcellin Act).
It permits the formerly independent communes to maintain certain institutions, such as On 1 January 2006 there were 730 communes associées in France.
Most of those were created within four years after the Marcellin Act was passed.