Light or Heavy Road Transport: Which French CPC Do You Need?

Many founders discover late that “the French road transport CPC” does not exist in the singular. Depending on the vehicles the company will operate, two distinct regimes apply — light transport and heavy transport — with different certificates, different routes to obtain them, different financial standing amounts and different operating licences. Choosing the wrong regime costs months. Here is how to decide.

The threshold: 3.5 tonnes, or nine seats

The boundary is set by vehicle type, not by turnover or distance travelled.

In road haulage, the light regime covers companies using exclusively vehicles whose maximum authorised weight does not exceed 3.5 tonnes. Above that, the heavy regime applies.

In passenger road transport, the dividing line is nine seats including the driver. Vehicles with no more than nine seats fall under the light regime; coaches and minibuses above that fall under the heavy regime.

The decisive word is “exclusively”. There is no mixed regime: a company operating a single vehicle above the threshold falls under the heavy regime for its whole activity. A van operator who buys a 7.5-tonne rigid does not “top up” a light CPC — the matching heavy certificate is required, which means going back through one of that regime’s routes.

What changes on the certificate side

The two regimes do not follow the same paths.

In heavy transport, three routes coexist: the annual national exam, diploma equivalence for holders of a qualification on the list set by ministerial order, and validation of management experience in a transport company. Those three routes are set out in our article on obtaining the French road haulage CPC.

In light transport, the reference route is different: 105 hours of mandatory training at an approved centre, closed by a written exam combining multiple-choice and written-answer questions. The certificate issued by the DREAL has its own wording — for example attestation de capacité professionnelle en transport routier léger de marchandises.

The practical consequence on timing: the heavy regime means waiting for the annual session — the 2026 papers are set for Wednesday 14 October 2026, with registration from 5 May to 26 June 2026 — whereas the light regime depends on the course dates centres open. For a project in a hurry, that is not a detail.

One caveat on the light regime’s legal framework: the order of 2 August 2024 on the arrangements for obtaining light road transport competence certificates was partly annulled by the Conseil d’État in October 2025, on the grounds that its entry into force had not been deferred. Before enrolling, have the centre — and if needed the DREAL — confirm which arrangements apply.

What changes on financial standing

Professional competence is only one of the four requirements for access to the profession. Financial standing is another, and it depends directly on the regime.

For road haulage, the required amounts are:

Vehicle category	First vehicle	Each subsequent vehicle
Maximum authorised weight ≤ 3.5 t	€1,800	€900
Maximum authorised weight > 3.5 t	€9,000	€5,000

Where a company operates vehicles in both categories, the requirement is the sum of the two amounts.

The condition is met when equity covers the full amount. It can also be met by combining equity and guarantees — bank guarantees or insurance — provided those guarantees do not exceed half the total amount required. A guarantee therefore never fully replaces own funds.

The gap between the regimes is considerable: five light vehicles require €5,400, five lorries €29,000. That figure, more than the certificate itself, often determines how fast a young haulier can grow.

What changes on operating licences

Once the company is registered, it receives an operating licence and numbered certified copies — one per vehicle, to be produced at any roadside check.

In road haulage, two licences coexist:

• the Community licence, for transport with vehicles above 3.5 tonnes and — since 21 May 2022, under the EU Mobility Package — for international transport with vehicles above 2.5 tonnes and up to 3.5 tonnes;
• the national transport licence (licence de transport intérieur), for domestic transport with vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes.

In other words, a light haulier who starts delivering across borders does not stay under the same licence: the international dimension triggers its own obligations. The procedures are described in our article on registering with the French transport register.

Finally, the number of certified copies issued depends both on the number of vehicles and on the financial standing evidenced. That is where the two requirements meet in practice: without sufficient own funds, no extra copy — and therefore no extra vehicle.

The light regime is not a relaxed regime

A myth circulates: van delivery would somehow escape regulation. It does not. A light transport company must meet the same four requirements — establishment, good repute, financial standing, professional competence —, register, and hold an operating licence. Only the levels differ, not their existence.

That strictness has a history. The opening of the European road freight market produced effects that research has documented: in her 2008 study “Unintended effects of deregulation in the European Union: The case of road freight transport”, Nadia Hilal analyses the unintended consequences of liberalisation for drivers’ working conditions, in the absence of sufficient harmonisation of social and tax rules (see the study). Regulating entry to the profession — and progressively extending it to light commercial vehicles — is the regulatory answer to that finding.

In the same vein, the literature review by Tor-Olav Nævestad, Torkel Bjørnskau, Inger Beate Hovi and Ross Owen Phillips, “Safety outcomes of internationalization of domestic road haulage”, published in 2014 in Transport Reviews, examines how the internationalisation of domestic haulage affects road risk (see the study). Entry requirements are not paperwork: they are how a State knows who is operating on its network.

How to decide, concretely

Three questions are enough.

1. Which vehicles will you operate within three years? Reason on your trajectory, not on your first month. If a lorry appears in your medium-term plan, aim straight for the heavy regime: going back through the annual exam later costs a year.
2. Will you operate internationally? The 2.5-tonne threshold triggers obligations specific to international transport, whatever your certificate regime.
3. What own funds do you have? Compare them with the financial standing table above, and factor in the rule capping guarantees at half the required amount.

Any hesitation between the two regimes should be settled in writing, before the company is incorporated: the objects clause must reflect the activity actually carried out.

Take action

Write down the vehicles in your three-year plan, then calculate the corresponding financial standing before choosing your certificate route. Our full profile of the French road transport certificate of professional competence sets out both regimes, the competent authorities and the steps to take with the DREAL.