CléA numérique Authorisation: How Your Training Organisation Can Assess and Train

The basic-digital-skills market is one of the most solvent in French vocational training: the need is massive, well documented, and funding exists. But to work on the CléA numérique certificate, a training organisation cannot simply build a syllabus: it must be authorised by Certif’Pro. Here is how that authorisation works, and how to prepare for it seriously.

Why is authorisation required?

CléA numérique is a national joint certification, registered in France compétences’ Répertoire spécifique (register of complementary certifications, RS5616) and awarded by Certif’Pro, the association created by France’s social partners. Its credibility rests on consistent assessment nationwide: same framework, same requirements, same submission to a joint jury.

That is what the authorisation guarantees: Certif’Pro — directly or through the networks it has mandated — authorises organisations to run the assessments and prepare candidates, under an authorisation regulation and national specifications. Without it, an organisation can still teach basic digital skills, but it can neither assess candidates for the certificate nor submit files to the jury.

The stakes are not theoretical. A study by Hämäläinen, De Wever, Malin and Cincinnato published in 2015 in Computers & Education, drawing on European data from the OECD’s PIAAC survey, shows that more than two-thirds of adults from vocational education and training backgrounds have weak or insufficient problem-solving skills in technology-rich environments (see the study). Assessing this audience properly — without setting people up to fail, and without devaluing the certificate — requires trained assessors and solid professional scenarios. That is exactly what the specifications lock in.

Who authorises, and how: Certif’Pro’s campaigns

Authorisation is not granted on a rolling basis: Certif’Pro opens authorisation campaigns, for CléA and for CléA numérique alike. Each campaign sets its calendar, its scope (assessment, training, geographical areas) and the documents required. Candidate organisations submit a file; successful applicants receive a supervised authorisation.

In practice, the file must demonstrate three things:

• The ability to assess: assessors with the required competencies, an assessment method consistent with the framework (professional scenarios covering the four competencies and their sub-competencies), and rigorous traceability of results.
• The ability to train, if the organisation also seeks that role: genuinely individualised pathways built from the map produced by the initial assessment — not a one-size-fits-all programme delivered to everyone.
• Compliance with the national framework: commitment to the authorisation regulation, the specifications, reporting to Certif’Pro and submission of files to the joint jury.

Since the calendar is set campaign by campaign, the classic mistake is waiting for a campaign to open before building the file. Do the opposite: prepare the evidence (assessors’ CVs and references, assessment scenarios, procedures, business model) before the announcement, and submit early.

Assessor, trainer: two roles to keep distinct

The scheme separates assessment (initial and final) from training. An organisation can be authorised to assess and/or to train on basic digital skills — and this distinction structures the candidate’s pathway: initial assessment, targeted training on the missing competencies only, final assessment, then the joint jury. We walk through that pathway from the candidate’s side in our article CléA numérique: what it is and how to get it.

This architecture has a direct commercial consequence: if you are only authorised for training, you need a clear partnership with an authorised assessment organisation — and vice versa. Agreements must state in black and white who assesses, who trains, and who submits the file to the jury. Selling a “CléA numérique certification pathway” without a complete authorisation chain exposes you to client disputes and undermines your credibility with funders.

How it fits with Qualiopi: two processes, not one

A recurring confusion among training organisations: Certif’Pro authorisation does not replace Qualiopi, and Qualiopi does not replace the authorisation.

• The authorisation allows you to operate within the CléA numérique scheme (assess, train, submit to the jury).
• Qualiopi certifies the quality of your processes as an organisation and conditions access to public or pooled funding — CPF, OPCO, France Travail — which covers most CléA numérique pathways, since the certification is CPF-eligible. If your organisation is not yet certified, our guide Is Qualiopi mandatory? covers when it is required.

In practice, an organisation that wants to build a business on basic digital skills runs both projects in parallel: the authorisation file on the scheme side, and compliance with the 32 indicators of the national quality framework on the process side. Good news: the requirements overlap substantially — individualised pathways (the CléA numérique initial assessment is a textbook case of needs analysis), qualified staff, traceable assessments. A well-built authorisation file feeds your Qualiopi evidence directly, and vice versa.

The pitfalls that sink applications

• “Paper” assessors: naming assessors without demonstrating their command of the framework and of workplace-scenario assessment.
• A single programme dressed up as individualised pathways: the scheme is built on targeted post-assessment training; a fixed catalogue of X identical hours for everyone contradicts its very principle.
• Assessment detached from work: theoretical multiple-choice tests where the framework requires professional scenarios covering the four competencies — work environment, information, collaboration, security.
• Ignoring who the audience is: some candidates are digitally illiterate or insecure with written language; the file must show how intake and assessment handle this without stigmatising anyone. Our article on digital illiteracy at work documents the scale of the issue.
• Overlooking the scheme’s own deadlines: the RS5616 registration runs until 24 November 2026; renewing it with France compétences is Certif’Pro’s responsibility, but a serious organisation tracks those milestones and the authorisation campaigns the way it tracks its own audits.

Take action

CléA numérique authorisation is a reasonable investment given the market it opens — provided you prepare the file before campaigns open and run Qualiopi in parallel. To frame your project, start with the full picture of the scheme: the CléA numérique certificate — framework, procedures and frequent questions are all covered there.