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France

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Permits

The hunting permit and its annual validation: two separate procedures

OFB issues the hunting permit; Service-Public.fr centralises the annual validation, a separate procedure.

The Office français de la biodiversité (OFB) is the national entry point for the hunting permit examination and the issuance of the resulting permanent title. Once obtained, however, this permit alone is not enough to hunt each season: the Service-Public.fr portal centralises the procedures related to hunting practice, including validation, an annual formality distinct from the initial examination. The permit title, once acquired, is held permanently, but its use must be revalidated every year to be enforceable in the field. The precise validation arrangements — validation department, fees, associated liability insurance — then fall to the departmental hunters' federations (FDC) and the prefectures, which manage local validation and the departmental game management schemes. A candidate or an already-licensed hunter must therefore turn to the OFB for the examination, then to Service-Public.fr and their departmental federation for the annual validation and related procedures.

Seasons

No national calendar: opening and closing dates set by prefectoral order

The Code de l'environnement and OFB set the general framework; dates are set at departmental level each year.

Title II 'Chasse' of the Environmental Code, available on Légifrance, and the national framework led by the Office français de la biodiversité (OFB) set the general principles of hunting in France, without themselves setting a single national calendar for opening and closing. These dates are set every year at departmental level, by prefectoral order, in coordination with the departmental hunters' federation (FDC) and according to the departmental game management scheme (SDGC) specific to each department. Periods can therefore differ from one department to another, and within the same department according to the species, sex or age of the game concerned. A hunter preparing an outing in a given department must therefore check the prefectoral order in force for that department and season, rather than relying on a generic calendar or that of another department, as these orders are republished every year.

Species

ChassAdapt and the INPN: two national references for huntable species

OFB runs ChassAdapt; the INPN publishes reference species lists and their conservation status.

Management of huntable species in France relies on two separate national references. The Office français de la biodiversité (OFB) runs ChassAdapt, a scheme presented as a tool for adapting the management of huntable species, in particular to adjust harvests to population trends. In parallel, the Inventaire national du patrimoine naturel (INPN), a reference platform run by the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, publishes reference species lists together with their regulatory and conservation status, a useful basis for distinguishing huntable species from protected ones. These two national sources do not, however, replace the departmental orders and culling plans, which set quotas, precise species-specific periods and any local restrictions. A hunter must therefore cross-reference the national framework — OFB and INPN for the species list and status — with the annual decisions of their departmental federation and prefecture before each outing.

Weapons and ammunition

Buying and possessing a hunting weapon: a procedure separate from the permit

Service-Public.fr documents a separate administrative procedure, including registration with the SIA weapons information system.

In France, buying and possessing a hunting weapon falls under an administrative procedure distinct from obtaining the hunting permit itself. The Service-Public.fr portal documents this specific procedure, which includes registration with the Système d'information sur les armes (SIA), the national register for tracking firearms held by private individuals. A hunter holding a valid permit and annual validation must therefore still complete this weapon-specific formality before being able to legally acquire and possess it. The weapon categories concerned, the supporting documents required and the processing times are part of the details of this procedure published by Service-Public.fr and have not yet been inventoried in detail for this content. Any specific question about a given weapon must be checked directly on the official Service-Public.fr page before any purchase, as this regulation is strictly governed and, in its legal basis, distinct from the regulation governing the practice of hunting itself.

Safety

A ten-yearly refresher and a framework specified at departmental level

OFB describes a ten-yearly safety refresher; details are found in the departmental game management scheme (SDGC).

Hunting safety in France relies on a national arrangement described by the Office français de la biodiversité (OFB): beyond the initial hunting permit examination, every hunter must complete a ten-yearly refresher of their safety knowledge, a periodic obligation distinct from the annual permit validation. This national safety framework is then specified at local level: the concrete rules applicable in the field — shooting distances, sensitive days and areas, organisation of drive hunts, signalling — are found in the departmental game management schemes (Schéma départemental de gestion cynégétique, SDGC), drawn up by the departmental hunters' federations of each department. A hunter must therefore know both the national obligation of periodic refresher training, recalled by the OFB, and the SDGC in force in the department where they hunt, the latter being the reference document for any operational safety question in the field.

Regulations

A national framework set by the Code de l'environnement, implemented at departmental level

OFB and Légifrance form the national framework; details are set by departmental hunters' federations and prefectures.

In France, hunting is governed nationally by Title II 'Chasse' of the Environmental Code (Code de l'environnement), which covers articles L420-1 to L429-40 on the official Légifrance platform. The Office français de la biodiversité (OFB) is the national reference body for implementing this framework: permit issuance, safety, management of huntable species and wildlife management fall within its remit. This national base is not, however, applied uniformly across the country: at regional level, thirteen regional federations and one interdepartmental structure for the Île-de-France region relay information; at departmental level, 94 departmental hunters' federations (FDC) and the prefectures publish the opening and closing orders, the departmental game management scheme (SDGC), and the arrangements for local permit validation. A hunter active in France must therefore combine two levels: the national text on Légifrance and the OFB for the general framework, then the departmental federation and the prefecture of the department where they hunt for the rules actually applicable, which vary from one department to another.