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.