[en] Some aspects of conformal invariance in more than two dimensions are analysed. In this case conformal (Weyl) transformations of the metric are not realized in general by coordinate transformations. The operator product expansion of the stress tensor is investigated by means of examples in the free bosonic and fermionic theories. The effective action for the general form of the trace anomaly is built in four dimensions and the Wess-Zumino consistency conditions are discussed. This gives the anomalous transformation law of the stress tensor and the relation to the Casimir effect in the geometry R x S³. The explicit computation of the bosonic partition function provides a check