The Official French National Quality Framework (RNQ): Where to Download It and Which Version Applies (32, Then 33 Indicators)

Many training providers prepare for certification using a PDF picked up from a consultant, a certification body or a forum, without ever opening the text that will actually be applied on audit day. Yet the Référentiel National Qualité (RNQ, France’s national quality framework) is not a commercial publication: it is a decree annex, codified in the Labour Code and published on Legifrance. And in late 2026 there is an extra difficulty: two versions coexist, one with 32 indicators, one with 33. Here is how to reach the reference text, and how to spot an outdated document in thirty seconds.

The authoritative text is not a PDF

The RNQ was set by decree no. 2019-565 of 6 June 2019 (NOR MTRD1903975D), published in the Journal officiel no. 0132 of 8 June 2019. That decree does not publish a booklet: it inserts into the regulatory part of the Labour Code an article D. 6316-1-1 and an annex to Chapter VI of Title I of Book III of Part Six, titled Référentiel national de certification qualité des organismes mentionnés à l’article L. 6351-1.

The annex has two parts:

• I. Indicators for assessing the criteria defined in article R. 6316-1 of the Labour Code — the indicators themselves, attached to the seven quality criteria, which are set out in article R. 6316-1;
• II. Audit procedures provided for in article L. 6316-3 of the Labour Code — certification cycle, non-conformity cases, transitional provisions.

One consequence is routinely missed: the criteria and the indicators are not in the same text. Looking for the list of seven criteria inside the annex wastes time; they sit in article R. 6316-1. A related point of vocabulary, since English-language searches often use the wrong word: there is no such thing as a Qualiopi approval or accreditation for a provider. It is a certification issued by an accredited certification body, not an administrative licence — a distinction that matters when you check whether a provider is genuinely certified.

The addresses that matter

Document	Nature	Where to find it	Weight
Decree no. 2019-565 of 6 June 2019 and its annex	Regulatory text	Legifrance — JORFTEXT000038565259	Binding: this is the framework
Annex codified in the Labour Code	Consolidated, up-to-date version	Legifrance — Annexe article	Binding, with the period in force displayed
Decree no. 2026-728 of 1 August 2026	Amending text	Legifrance — JORFTEXT000054608509	Binding from 1 November 2026
RNQ reading guide	Interpretive document	travail-emploi.gouv.fr	States the expected level, creates no new requirement
Consultant, certifier and publisher material	Annotated restatement	Everywhere	None: useful, never binding

The consolidated version on Legifrance is the most practical day to day: it displays the period in force at the top of the article. That is the decisive marker, as the next section shows.

32 or 33 indicators: the question is not which one is right

It is: when is your audit.

• The consolidated version currently in force displays, on Legifrance, the statement En vigueur du 1er janvier 2021 au 1er novembre 2026 (in force from 1 January 2021 to 1 November 2026). It contains 32 indicators.
• Decree no. 2026-728 of 1 August 2026 (NOR TRSD2619632D), published in the Journal officiel no. 0180 of 4 August 2026, replaces part I of that annex. It takes the framework to 33 indicators, leaves the seven criteria untouched, and enters into force on 1 November 2026.

An initial, surveillance or renewal audit conducted before that date is assessed against the 32-indicator version; from 1 November 2026, against the 33-indicator one. We covered the switchover and its timetable in our article on the 2026 Qualiopi decree, which also details what changes indicator by indicator.

The practical takeaway: until 31 October 2026, a 32-indicator PDF is not outdated — it is outdated only for a later audit. The reverse holds too: a 33-indicator document circulating today describes a text that is not yet applicable. The right question is never which PDF is the most recent, but which version will be applied to your audit.

Spotting an outdated or edited document in thirty seconds

Four checks, in this order:

1. The period in force. On Legifrance it appears at the top of the consolidated article. A PDF carrying no date of application tells you nothing about what it describes.
2. The number of indicators. 32 or 33: the fastest marker there is. A document quoting any other number is either a personal reformulation or an error.
3. The reading guide version. The guide in force is version 9, published in January 2024. Material still built on V7 or V8 reflects audit expectations that have since moved.
4. The wording itself. The decree text is short, dry and example-free. As soon as a document adds lists of documents to produce, templates or obligations absent from the decree, it is no longer the framework: it is an interpretation. Useful, sometimes excellent — but not to be confused with the source. A table listing the indicators is a working tool, not a legal reference.

Decree, reading guide, commercial material: three tiers

The decree states what is required. The reading guide, published by the Ministry of Labour (DGEFP, the national delegation for employment and vocational training), states how the requirement is assessed in an audit: expected level, evidence examples, requirements specific to certain audiences, and how non-conformities are graded. It is free to download from the ministry’s site — any offer claiming to sell you the official guide belongs to the practices to avoid.

The two documents do not carry the same legal weight. The reading guide can neither create a requirement absent from the decree nor remove one. It is, however, binding on certification bodies in the conduct of audits, which makes it your best support during the visit — see our guide to using it.

Why does an auditor go back to the decree? Because it is the only basis that can be relied on if a finding is contested. A non-conformity has to attach to an indicator of the regulatory text; a disagreement is settled on the decree, then on the guide, never on third-party material. That is also why tracking these publications pays off well beyond formal compliance: documenting your reading of the decree and its guide feeds straight into your regulatory watch obligations.

One framework, four categories of action

The RNQ applies to the four categories of action defined in article L. 6313-1 of the Labour Code: training actions, skills assessments (bilans de compétences), actions validating prior experience (validation des acquis de l’expérience, VAE) and apprenticeship training actions. The framework is single, but not every indicator applies to everyone: the annex states, indicator by indicator, which categories are concerned, and some target only apprenticeship or only new entrants.

Hence a simple method rule: before reading the text, define your certification scope by category of action. Reading all 32 — soon 33 — indicators without that filter means preparing for someone else’s audit.

What research says about the cost of reaching the text

Going back to the source looks expensive in time. Research suggests that cost is precisely how legal complexity should be measured. Daniel Martin Katz and Michael J. Bommarito II, in “Measuring the complexity of the law: the United States Code”, published in 2014 in Artificial Intelligence and Law, propose defining legal complexity as the total cost borne by the end user in extracting the information they need, arising from the text’s structure, its language and its internal cross-references (see the study). The RNQ is a textbook illustration: criteria in one article, indicators in an annex, audit procedures in a second part, and an amending decree that rewrites only a portion of the whole.

That difficulty of access also explains the value of the certificate itself. Ann Terlaak and Andrew A. King, in “The effect of certification with the ISO 9000 Quality Management Standard: A signaling approach”, published in 2006 in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, show from an eleven-year panel of US manufacturing facilities that the effect of certification is stronger where buyers find it harder to obtain information about their suppliers (see the study). Put differently: a framework is only worth the reliability of its reference. Working from an approximate copy weakens the very signal you are trying to send.

Take action

Open the consolidated annex on Legifrance now, note its period in force, then ask your certification body for the exact date of your next audit: those two pieces of information are enough to know whether you should be working on 32 or on 33 indicators. To turn that text into an evidence file, our indicator-by-indicator self-assessment method and our indicator hub take over; and for an overview of the scheme, see our guide to Qualiopi certification.