Paris, 12th August 2026

Professional Chauffeur Licensing in France: Experience-Based Route Ends

Since 12 August 2026, professional experience alone can no longer be used to obtain the French professional driver card required for pre-booked chauffeur-driven passenger transport services. Decree No. 2026-764 of 5 August 2026 makes the official examination the standard domestic route into the profession. This reform had been requested for several years by the professional organisations representing the French sector, including CSNERT.

Understanding the French terminology

French law uses the term voiture de transport avec chauffeur, abbreviated as VTC, for a specific category of pre-booked passenger transport service provided with a professional driver.

There is no exact legal equivalent in English.

Broadly comparable services may be described as:

• private hire vehicles (PHVs) and private hire services in the United Kingdom;

• for-hire vehicles (FHVs), black car services, livery services or limousine services in the United States;

• chauffeured transportation, professional chauffeur services or limousine services in the international market.

These activities share several characteristics, particularly advance booking and the provision of a vehicle with a professional driver. However, their legal, licensing and operating frameworks are not identical.

This article therefore uses the terms professional chauffeur, professional driver, pre-booked chauffeured passenger transport and chauffeured transport operator. The acronym VTC is used only when referring specifically to the legal category established under French law.

Key points

• France abolished the experience-based route to its professional driver card for pre-booked chauffeured transport services on 12 August 2026.

• New applicants using the French domestic route must now pass the official examination.

• The decree does not make attendance at a preparatory training course compulsory.

• Applications submitted before 12 August 2026 remain subject to the previous rules.

• Professional driver cards previously obtained through the experience-based route remain valid.

• Professional qualification recognition mechanisms required under European law remain in place.

An experience-based route that had been widely misused

Until 11 August 2026, applicants could demonstrate the professional competence required to obtain the French professional driver card for pre-booked chauffeured passenger transport through two main routes.

The first was to pass the examination organised by France’s network of Chambers of Trades and Crafts.

The second allowed applicants to obtain the professional driver card by providing evidence of at least one year of professional experience as a passenger transport driver during the ten years preceding their application.

This experience was generally demonstrated through payslips and a certificate issued by the employer.

Commonly referred to in France as access through équivalence, this route allowed applicants to enter the profession without taking the theoretical and practical examinations required of other candidates.

Over time, the professional organisations representing the French chauffeured transport sector found that the system had been diverted from its original purpose by a significant number of applicants.

It had also become the target of attempted fraud involving questionable or falsified employment records and professional-experience documents.

For several years, all the professional organisations representing the French sector had therefore called for this route to be abolished.

What the decree changes

Decree No. 2026-764 of 5 August 2026 repeals Articles R. 3122-11 and R. 3123-2 of the French Transport Code.

These provisions previously allowed applicants to enter the professions of driver of a voiture de transport avec chauffeur and driver of a motorised two- or three-wheeled passenger transport vehicle through recognition of their professional experience.

Since 12 August 2026, new applicants using the French domestic route must pass the official examination.

The examination consists of:

• theoretical tests assessing the applicant’s knowledge;

• a practical test based on the performance of a professional passenger transport service.

Passing the examination is now compulsory. However, the decree does not introduce a general obligation to attend a preparatory training course beforehand.

Applications submitted before the decree entered into force continue to be assessed under the previous rules. Professional driver cards already obtained through the experience-based route are not affected.

Recognition mechanisms applicable to certain professionals from the European Union or the European Economic Area also remain in place because they arise from European law. However, any professional experience relied upon under these mechanisms must now have been acquired in the profession concerned.

A necessary and long-awaited reform

In its official statement of 11 August 2026, the French Ministry of Transport gave three principal reasons for the reform.

First, the experience-based route did not guarantee that applicants had acquired all the skills specifically required to provide professional pre-booked chauffeured transport services. It therefore failed to ensure a consistent level of competence across the profession.

Second, the system had been used by professionals whose contractual obligations were incompatible with carrying out this activity on a supplementary basis.

Third, the Ministry acknowledged that this route had generated a particularly high number of attempted frauds involving professional-experience documents.

CSNERT therefore welcomes this reform.

Genuine experience in professional passenger transport is undoubtedly valuable. However, it does not necessarily demonstrate mastery of all the requirements specific to the French profession, including sector-specific regulations, advance-booking rules, passenger safety, pricing and invoicing, customer service and the proper delivery of a complete chauffeured transport service.

A common examination route should provide a more consistent foundation of knowledge and professional competence.

It should also reduce differences in interpretation between local administrative authorities and limit document fraud.

Nevertheless, the Ministry’s findings would have benefited from supporting data, including the number of applications submitted through the experience-based route, refusal rates, detected fraud cases and any differences in administrative practice between French departments.

Several issues still require attention

Abolishing the experience-based route will only achieve its objectives if the examination system is capable of handling the resulting increase in applicants.

The Chambers of Trades and Crafts must be able to provide sufficient examination capacity without creating excessive waiting times.

The required standard, examination content, assessment criteria and organisation of the tests must also remain consistent throughout France.

Finally, the examination must not become a mere administrative formality. It must genuinely assess both the candidate’s regulatory knowledge and their ability to provide a safe and professional passenger transport service.

Professional standards in the sector cannot depend solely on the initial application process.

They also require effective enforcement during professional activity and sustained action against fraud, illegal work and non-compliance with transport regulations.

Professional chauffeur and transport operator: two different roles

This reform should now open a broader discussion about the distinction between a professional chauffeur and a chauffeured transport operator.

A professional driver must be able to drive safely, welcome and assist passengers, understand the applicable regulations and provide a transport service that meets professional standards.

An operator must be able to establish, organise and manage a passenger transport company.

This requires knowledge of legal, employment, tax and accounting obligations. An operator must also understand cost structures, maintain a fleet, organise bookings and assignments, manage employees or subcontractors and ensure the long-term financial viability of the business.

These are different sets of skills.

A person may be an excellent professional chauffeur but a poor business manager.

Conversely, a person may be an excellent business manager but a poor professional chauffeur.

In small companies, both functions are frequently performed by the same person. That does not make them a single profession.

Rebuilding professional competence requirements for operators

CSNERT considers that the French authorities should now take the reform further by introducing a genuine professional competence requirement for chauffeured transport operators, separate from the professional driver card.

This operator qualification could be obtained only after passing an official national examination held once or twice a year.

It could become a requirement for registration in the French national register of chauffeured transport operators, known in French law as the registre des exploitants de voitures de transport avec chauffeur.

The same person could, of course, hold both the professional driver card and the operator qualification.

Such a distinction would not be revolutionary.

Until 2010, the former French Grande Remise framework distinguished between the professional chauffeur and the transport business operator.

The legal representative of the company, or the person responsible for managing its Grande Remise activity, was required to hold a certificate demonstrating professional competence as an entrepreneur de remise et de tourisme.

Comparable professional competence requirements continue to apply in France to heavy road transport operators.

In road passenger transport, the principal route to the relevant professional competence qualification includes an official national examination held once a year.

The objective would not be to reserve the market for large companies or prevent professional chauffeurs from establishing their own businesses.

It would be to ensure that anyone assuming responsibility for a passenger transport company has the knowledge required to comply with their legal obligations and operate a financially sustainable business.

The Decree of 5 August 2026 strengthens professional standards for drivers in France’s pre-booked chauffeured passenger transport sector.

The next step should be to rebuild the professional framework governing operators by restoring a genuine professional competence requirement suited to the responsibilities of running a transport company.

French-English glossary