White-label training: legal framework, Qualiopi and key contract clauses

You sell a course under your own brand, but the content — or even the delivery — is produced by another organisation or an independent trainer: that is white labelling (marque blanche). The model is common in French professional training, from e-learning catalogues resold under an in-house logo to sessions run by a partner the client never sees. Common, but not trivial: legally, it is subcontracting, with everything that implies for Qualiopi, CPF rules and the contract. Here is how to build a white-label offer that stands up to an audit as well as an inspection.

What is white-label training?

In training, white labelling is the arrangement where an organisation sells under its own brand content or delivery produced by another: programme design, teaching materials, session facilitation, or all three. The end client — a company or an individual — buys from the seller, under the seller’s brand, and does not necessarily see the actual producer.

Two configurations dominate the market:

• Content resale: an organisation adds to its catalogue modules (often e-learning) designed by a third-party publisher, rebranded in its colours;
• Delegated delivery: the organisation sells and signs the contract, then entrusts the session to a trainer or partner organisation who steps in “on behalf of” the selling brand.

Legally, it is subcontracting

There is no specific legal regime for “white labelling” in French training law: the arrangement is subcontracting, nothing more, nothing less. The client contracts with the prime contractor — the organisation that sells — which remains solely responsible for the service towards the buyer, the funder and its certification body, even if it did not produce a single line of the content. The actual producer has no contractual link with the end client: it invoices the prime contractor, and only the prime contractor.

All subcontracting obligations therefore apply: a written contract signed before the service, the subcontractor’s own NDA (activity declaration number), verification of its competencies. Our guide to subcontracting obligations in professional training covers this common foundation.

White labelling, portage, co-contracting: don’t mix them up

Three neighbouring arrangements, three different logics:

Criterion	White labelling (subcontracting)	Qualiopi portage	Co-contracting
Who finds the client	The seller (prime contractor)	The trainer being “carried”	The co-contractors together
Who contracts with the client	The seller, alone	The carrying structure	Each co-contractor, directly or via a consortium
Who is responsible for the service	The seller, alone	The carrying structure	Each co-contractor for its own share
Under which brand	The seller’s	The carrier’s (or neutral)	Each under its own
Qualiopi indicator involved	Indicator 27	Indicator 27	Outside subcontracting (direct client relationship)

In white labelling, the commercial flow starts with the seller, who buys production; in Qualiopi portage, the trainer brings the clients and, in effect, rents a third party’s certified structure. As for co-contracting through a consortium, each organisation contracts for its own share with the client: there is no single “brand” covering the others’ work.

Who needs Qualiopi, depending on the funding

The rules are those of subcontracting, applied to the white-label arrangement:

• Course paid for with public or pooled funds (OPCO, France Travail, CPF…): the seller must hold Qualiopi, without exception, since it is the one signing the contract and collecting the funding.
• CPF-funded course: since 1 April 2024, under decree no. 2023-1350 of 28 December 2023, the producing subcontractor must also hold its own Qualiopi certification and its own activity declaration — unless it operates under the micro-social regime with annual revenue below €77,700 excluding VAT. On top of that come the 80% cap (the seller cannot subcontract more than 80% of its annual CPF revenue), the ban on cascading subcontracting, and the obligation to declare every subcontractor on EDOF. Our article on CPF subcontracting and the Qualiopi requirement goes through these rules point by point.
• Course paid directly by the client, with no such funding: no certification is legally required, from either the seller or the producer.

The practical translation for a CPF-heavy white-label catalogue: a model relying massively on content and delivery bought from uncertified third parties is no longer viable, except with micro-entrepreneurs below the threshold — and within the seller’s 80/20 ratio.

What the Qualiopi auditor checks: indicator 27

In an audit, white labelling is examined through indicator 27: the selection and monitoring of subcontractors. The auditor’s logic is simple — you sell under your brand, so you must control the quality of what your brand covers. Concretely, the auditor expects:

• the subcontracting contract signed before the service, with a clear split of quality responsibilities;
• proof that the producer was vetted: the trainer’s CV and references, or an evaluation of the content publisher (samples tested, pedagogical compliance, update policy);
• transmission of your quality requirements: a pedagogical brief, a “delivering on behalf of the brand” charter, document templates carrying the seller’s letterhead;
• effective monitoring: trainee evaluations of subcontracted sessions, periodic review of resold content, documented corrective actions.

A white-label catalogue with no producer-monitoring file is a non-conformity waiting to happen: the auditor will see a brand that does not control what it sells.

The key clauses of a white-label contract

Beyond the standard terms of a subcontracting contract — reviewed in our article on the clauses of a training subcontracting contract — three clauses deserve particular attention in a white-label deal:

• Intellectual property of the materials: who authored the content, what licence is granted to the seller (duration, exclusivity, rebranding rights, modification rights), and what happens to the materials when the contract ends. This is the clause that prevents you from discovering, when the partner leaves, that the entire catalogue belongs to them.
• Non-solicitation of clients: the producer, who sees the trainees and sometimes the clients, undertakes not to approach them directly during the contract and for a reasonable period afterwards. Without this clause, white labelling becomes a free prospecting channel for the subcontractor.
• Whether the actual producer is named: the contract must state explicitly what the end client is told — a trainer presented under the seller’s brand, co-branding, or full anonymity of the producer — and who signs which documents. Attendance sheets and completion certificates stay on the prime contractor’s letterhead, as the only party bound to the client.

On the producer’s side, the provider’s own obligations (NDA, insurance, proof of competencies) are covered in our guide for the subcontracting trainer.

Why white labelling works: trust carries the sale

If the model thrives, it is because it rests on a mechanism well documented by marketing research: a study by Erdem and Swait published in 2004 in the Journal of Consumer Research, “Brand Credibility, Brand Consideration, and Choice”, shows that brand credibility is a central signal in consumer choice, reducing the buyer’s uncertainty about the product’s actual quality (see the study on Google Scholar). Applied to training: the client buys the trust they place in the selling brand — its track record, its reviews, its certification — whoever the producer behind the scenes may be. That is exactly why the regulations and the quality framework require this brand to genuinely control what it covers: the trust signal must match a quality that is actually monitored.

Limits, risks and transparency

The flip side of the model deserves a clear-eyed look:

• Dependency: a catalogue built on a single producer’s content leaves you exposed to their price increases, their update delays — and their departure to a competitor.
• Brand risk: a session botched by the subcontractor means your brand takes the negative review and the complaint, not theirs.
• CPF constraints: the 80% cap, the subcontractor’s certification (barring the micro-social exemption below €77,700 excluding VAT), the ban on cascading, the EDOF declaration — non-compliance exposes you to delisting by the Caisse des Dépôts.
• Transparency towards the end client: nothing prohibits white labelling, but a client who stumbles on the fact that “their” organisation neither designed nor delivered the course may feel deceived. Good practice: introduce the trainer honestly when the session takes place, own the partnership if asked, and never let a document contradict the contractual arrangement.

Take action

A solid white-label offer rests on two pillars: a complete subcontracting contract and a producer-monitoring file that holds up in an audit. The Complete Kit Certif at €297 provides the subcontracting contract template, the subcontractor selection and monitoring framework and all the evidence expected for indicator 27; the ebook Create Your Training Organisation in 30 Days at €67 helps you structure your organisation before expanding the catalogue, and the Kit + Ebook Pack at €347 combines both to build a brand that truly controls what it sells.