French Public Health Code
In forceThe Minister for Health or, by delegation, the Director General of the Centre National de Gestion may, following the opinion of a committee, made up in particular of health professionals, individually authorise, where applicable, in the speciality corresponding to the application for authorisation, to practise pharmacy persons who hold a diploma, certificate or other evidence of formal qualifications allowing them to practise the profession of pharmacist in the country in which the diploma, certificate or evidence of formal qualifications was obtained, where applicable in the speciality corresponding to the application for authorisation.
These persons must have passed anonymous tests to verify their knowledge, organised where appropriate for each speciality, and prove that they have a sufficient command of the French language. Regulations lay down the conditions for the organisation of these tests and the verification of the level of proficiency in the French language. The maximum number of candidates who may sit these tests is set by order of the Minister for Health, taking into account changes in the number of students determined in application of article L. 633-3 of the Education Code.
Pharmacists who hold a diploma of specialised studies obtained as part of a foreign internship are deemed to have passed the aforementioned knowledge verification tests.
The maximum number mentioned in the second paragraph of this article does not apply to refugees, stateless persons, beneficiaries of territorial asylum and beneficiaries of subsidiary protection and to French nationals who have returned to France at the request of the French authorities.
The persons mentioned in the fourth paragraph who hold a diploma, certificate or other evidence of formal qualifications allowing them to practise in the country in which they obtained this diploma, certificate or evidence of formal qualifications will be issued with a certificate allowing them to practise on a temporary basis, subject to the submission of an application to the Director General of the Regional Health Agency in their place of residence, who may, after examining the application, decide to assign the applicant to a health establishment on a temporary basis. In return, the candidate undertakes to take the knowledge verification tests mentioned in the second paragraph. A Conseil d'Etat decree sets the conditions for the implementation of this paragraph.
Successful candidates to the profession of pharmacist must also provide evidence of a two-year skills consolidation programme, in their speciality if applicable, completed after passing the knowledge verification tests. To this end, they are assigned to a post by decision of the Minister for Health or, by delegation, of the Director General of the National Management Centre. The choice of post is made by each successful candidate from a list drawn up by the Minister for Health, and is subject to their ranking in the knowledge verification tests. A decree of the Conseil d'Etat shall lay down the procedures for implementing this paragraph.
No person may be a candidate more than four times for the knowledge verification tests and the authorisation to practise as provided for in this article.
