How to Obtain France's Civil-Protection Authorisation to Teach First Aid (PSC) in 2026

The PSC — « premiers secours citoyen » (citizen first aid), the direct successor of the PSC1 — is France’s general-public first-aid course. Unlike most professional training, you cannot simply enter this market: teaching first aid is a prerogative regulated by the Interior Ministry, and you need a civil-protection authorisation (« habilitation ») to run courses and issue certificates. Here is how it is obtained in 2026, under the reform that changed everything.

Why teaching first aid is locked down

The State does not lock this field down out of love for paperwork: the quality of the training chain directly conditions lives. The scientific evidence is unambiguous. The study by Hasselqvist-Ax and colleagues, published in 2015 in the New England Journal of Medicine on more than 30,000 cardiac arrests (see the study), shows that resuscitation started by a bystander before the emergency services arrive is associated with a doubling of 30-day survival. And the meta-analysis by Sasson and co-authors published in 2010 in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes (see the study) identifies intervention by a trained bystander among the main predictors of survival.

Training citizens properly so they intervene properly: that is the whole point of the national framework — and the reason the authorisation exists.

What changed in 2024: from approval to authorisation

Until 2024, the system rested on decree no. 91-834 of 30 August 1991: an « agrément » (approval) for associations, an « habilitation » for public bodies. Decree no. 2024-242 of 20 March 2024, in force since 1 April 2024, repealed that regime and rewrote the rules in articles R. 726-1 et seq. of the internal security code:

• a single authorisation procedure, valid for at most three years;
• teaching units grouped into four tracks: citizen (GQS, PSC), operational (PSE1, PSE2), aquatic, and pedagogical (instructor training);
• a two-year transition period to convert old approvals — now expired: an approval predating the reform no longer covers anything.

The naming also evolved: the PSC1 became the PSC, and the citizen track also includes the GQS (« gestes qui sauvent », a shorter life-saving awareness session).

Who can apply

The internal security code reserves the authorisation for precise categories, each with its competent authority:

You are…	The authorisation is issued by…
An association, union or federation of associations	The minister for civil protection (DGSCGC)
A public service operating in several départements	The minister for civil protection
A public service operating in a single département	The préfet (prefect) of the département
A health establishment (through its CESU)	The minister for civil protection

The split between the national and departmental levels has its own subtleties — we walk through them in our article on national versus departmental authorisation.

If you are a private training provider, the PSC door is closed to you directly. Two realistic options: partner with an authorised structure, or target workplace first aid through the SST authorisation — our comparison SST or PSC1: which course should you offer helps you decide based on your audience.

The application file: what the authority really examines

The order (arrêté) of 17 June 2024 sets the content of the application. Beyond the form and the structure’s identity, four blocks concentrate the examiner’s attention:

1. The teaching team. An identified pedagogical lead and at least two trainers holding the required competency certificates, up to date with their continuing training. This is checkpoint number one: no qualified, active trainers, no authorisation.
2. Internal frameworks. For each teaching unit requested, an internal training framework and an internal certification framework, consistent with the national ones: objectives, durations, methods, assessment, record-keeping. They are registered with the DGSCGC, the civil-protection directorate.
3. Equipment. Evidence of teaching resources: adult, child and infant manikins, training defibrillators, simulation equipment for scenario work.
4. Governance (associations). Statutes, publication in the Journal officiel, financial reports, general-assembly minutes, internal controls: the State is entrusting a sensitive mission and looks at the solidity of the structure.

One piece of field advice: only request the teaching units you can genuinely serve. The authorisation is granted unit by unit; a narrow, solid scope beats a broad application that gets refused.

After you obtain it: the obligations that keep running

The authorisation binds you over time:

• activity declarations to the prefect of every département where you train;
• an annual activity report to be filed before 1 April;
• continuing training for trainers: only up-to-date trainers may teach;
• notification of changes in the teaching team to the issuing authority;
• renewal to prepare about six months before the three-year expiry.

These obligations are not decorative: neglecting them undermines renewal, or even the current authorisation. And if your courses are financed by public or pooled funds, the Qualiopi certification stacks on top of this base — the traceability civil protection demands feeds directly into your evidence for the 32 indicators.

Take action

The authorisation is built in order: eligibility, teaching team, internal frameworks, equipment, application — then a compliance routine. Our first-aid approval page condenses the scheme onto one page and gives you access to our complete guide for working through each step without missteps.