This article does not concern all business trips to France, but only those trips where a PWN is required
When an employee is posted to France, a medical certificate must be kept available in case of inspection.
This article explains the timing rules, clears up the common confusion around the deadlines, and shows how to use the bilingual template available on the WorkFlex platform.
Why a medical certificate is required
A Posted Workers Notification (“PWN”) is required for postings to France, and WorkFlex submits it on your behalf.
Consequently, certain documents must be kept available, including a medical certificate issued by a doctor in the country of employment. This certificate confirms that the employee has completed the required occupational health check, as required under French posting rules.
In the event of an inspection, French authorities might require to be provided with this document. Please note that all documents related to the posting must be presented to the authorities no later than 15 days after the request. If the employer cannot produce them, sanctions, including fines, may apply.
When the medical exam must take place
In France, the employee must be fit for work the moment they step onto a workplace. In practice, for posted employees, this means:
If the employee already has a work-related medical certificate from the country of employment, no additional medical visit is needed for the posting to France. However, a translation in French might be necessary. In other words, if an health certificate issued by the company doctor (in German that would be the “Vorsorgebescheinigung des Betriebsarztes”) is already available, no additional general health certificate is required.
The WorkFlex health certificate template is mainly intended for cases where employees do not yet have a comparable occupational health document in the country of employment.
If the employee does not have one, a medical visit must be arranged before the posting, so the certificate is available in case of inspection.
The medical exam itself must be carried out before departure.
A retroactive medical exam after the trip has started is not legally compliant. If an inspector visits the workplace on the first day and the worker has no prior certificate, the company is liable.
What the 15-day deadline mean
The most common misunderstanding is that the medical check can take place after the trip has started. French law allows a deadline of up to 15 days to produce the required documents in case of labour inspection. To clarify:
The 15-day window is the time the employer has to present documents to the French authorities after an inspection request.
Any administrative period for signing or filing the certificate refers to the document submission to the authorities, not to the date of the medical exam.
Neither window allows the medical exam itself to be performed after the trip has begun.
Booking the appointment in advance
French law does not define a maximum lead time for the medical appointment. There is no "too early" rule: if you already know the trip is happening, the appointment can be booked weeks or even months in advance. What matters is that the employee holds a valid medical certificate before starts working in France.
Using the WorkFlex bilingual template
To make this simpler, WorkFlex provides a bilingual medical certificate template with instructions in German and English. The doctor can fill in the marked fields directly on the template.
Download the template from the WorkFlex platform.
Schedule a medical appointment for the employee in the country of employment before the start of the posting.
Have the doctor complete and sign the template (the fields marked with empty spaces "_________________").
Upload the signed certificate to the employee's Document Center in WorkFlex, so it is available in case of inspection.
This template includes all information that, according to French authorities, should appear on the medical certificate. In addition, as the template is bilingual, no separate translation is required.
Validity
In French law, there is no clear “validity period” and no specific rule on how often the certificate must be renewed. In practice, many companies work with a validity period of around 2 years for standard employees, unless shorter intervals apply under local rules or due to the nature of the role.
For retention purposes, we recommend keeping the document for at least the duration of the posting and, as a practical approach, for up to two years after the end of the posting.
Other countries with the same rule
The same logic applies to Poland: the medical exam must be performed before departure, and a retroactive exam does not satisfy the requirement.