France

At a glanceRequirements at a glance

Registration Required

Yes

Yes — Any company transporting goods for hire and reward must register in the Registre électronique national des entreprises de transport par route, held regionally by DREAL, DRIEAT, or DEAL.

Professional Competence Attestation Required

Yes

Yes — An attestation de capacité professionnelle is required for the person managing transport operations (gestionnaire de transport), earned by exam, equivalent diploma, or verified senior industry experience.

Four Qualifying Conditions

Required for registration — Honorabilité (good repute), capacité financière (financial standing), capacité professionnelle (the attestation above), and établissement stable en France (a fixed establishment in France).

Financial Standing Threshold

Yes

Yes — Confirm the current threshold directly with DREAL/DRIEAT/DEAL for the fleet in question, since this scales with fleet size and composition.

Licence Type

Domestic vs. EU-wide — Registration leads to a licence de transport intérieur (domestic only) or a licence communautaire (EU Community Licence, covering France, the EU/EEA, and Switzerland). A full-service mover operating internationally will generally need the Community Licence.

Required Move Documents

Yes

Yes — A devis (written quote), a lettre de voiture (waybill, which establishes the mover’s liability for the goods from loading), a bulletin de livraison (delivery note), and a déclaration de valeur (value declaration, with individual declarations required for items valued over roughly €5,000).

Consumer Mediation Contact Required

Yes

Yes — Under general French consumer law, contracts must name a consumer mediator (médiateur de la consommation) the client can contact if a dispute isn’t resolved directly — a requirement that applies broadly to French consumer contracts, not moving-specific, but one movers need to comply with.

Liability Framework — An Open Legal Question

Unsettled — Unlike Germany’s specific statutory liability cap for moving contracts, French case law has not fully settled whether a moving contract is legally a “contrat de transport” (carriage contract) or a “contrat d’entreprise” (general services contract) — a distinction that affects which limitation period and liability rules apply. Movers should rely on properly drafted contract terms (e.g., the Chambre Syndicale du Déménagement’s model contract) rather than assume a single settled statutory answer.

Industry Association

Chambre Syndicale du Déménagement (Chambre syndicale des entreprises de déménagement et garde-meubles de France) — publishes a long-standing model contract and terms; consumer guidance consistently recommends checking membership. Other bodies (Fédération française des déménageurs; OTRE, for road transport generally) also exist.

OverviewOverview & Scope

France does not license movers region-by-region. Registration requires four underlying conditions — good repute, financial standing, professional competence, and a fixed French establishment — administered regionally by DREAL, DRIEAT, or DEAL depending on where the company is based. Cross-border transport requires a Community Licence rather than the domestic-only version. On the contract side, France requires specific documents (quote, waybill, delivery note, value declaration) and a named consumer mediator, but does not have a single, settled statutory liability framework purpose-built for moving contracts the way Germany does — the legal characterization of a moving contract is itself an open question in French case law, making properly drafted contract terms (such as the Chambre Syndicale’s model) especially important.

RegistrationRegistration & Compliance Essentials

Movers must:

1. Obtain the professional competence attestation through exam, equivalent diploma, or verified senior experience, for the person managing transport operations (gestionnaire de transport).
2. Demonstrate honorabilité, capacité financière, and établissement stable en France as part of the registration application, confirming the current financial standing threshold directly for the fleet in question.
3. Register in the Registre électronique national des entreprises de transport through the DREAL, DRIEAT, or DEAL office covering the company’s location.
4. Obtain the appropriate licence — licence de transport intérieur for domestic-only operation, or licence communautaire for cross-border work into the EU/EEA or Switzerland.
5. Provide the required move documents for every job: a written quote, a lettre de voiture establishing liability from loading, a delivery note, and a value declaration (with individual declarations for items over roughly €5,000).
6. Name a consumer mediator in the contract, consistent with general French consumer-contract requirements.
7. Adopt clear, properly drafted contract terms on liability and limitation periods, given the unsettled legal characterization of moving contracts generally — the Chambre Syndicale’s model contract is a widely used reference point.
8. Retain registration, licence, financial, and contract documentation as required for renewal and regulatory review.

ChecklistCompliance checklist

• Registered in the Registre électronique national des entreprises de transportRequired
• Professional competence attestation held by the transport managerRequired
• Honorabilité, capacité financière, and établissement stable en France demonstratedRequired
• Financial standing threshold confirmed and met for the fleet in questionRequired
• Licence de transport intérieur or licence communautaire held as applicableRequired
• Written quote (devis) providedRequired
• Lettre de voiture issued for each moveRequired
• Bulletin de livraison issuedRequired
• Déclaration de valeur completed, with individual declarations over ~€5,000Required
• Consumer mediator named in contractRequired
• Clear liability/limitation terms in contract, consistent with recognized industry modelsRecommended
• Registration, licence, financial, and contract records retainedRequired