Working as an Electrician in France...

[Wookeyrasta]

Hi, I hope someone is able to help, I am a qualified Electrician moving to France next year to work, and I am having real difficulty finding out exactly what is needed in order to operate within the French regulations. Any information would be greatly appreciated!

[Hoddy]

Wookeyrasta

I've moved your query to the appropriate forum.

As a start, I suggest that you read through other threads on this forum to give you some ideas. This should help you ask some more specific questions.

You don't say if you speak French. Are you planning to be self employed or are you going to try to find a job ?

Best of luck and welcome to the forum.

Hoddy

[montagrier]

I couldnt see where Hoddy had moved your post to... so heres my thoughts..

I believe that knowing electrics in france is not enough to be an electricien... I believe there is a lengthy course you must go through and pass before they will let you work in that trade. Your french doesnt have to be brilliant but the better it is the quicker you'll pick things up. One other small problem is that by the time you get to the end of the course the french will probably have introduced a whole new lot of rules and regs for the trade.

Having said all that ..I never use the word "can't"... so you can if you really want to. Just do the course.

Good luck

monti

[Wookeyrasta]

Thanks for the advice Hoddy, Sorry if the original thread was a bit vague;

I am actually planning to work for English builders/developers and English speaking clients to start off with as a self employed Electrician (I have a number of contacts already) and I need to improve my French in order to effectively deal with French clientelle. However the issue that concerns me most is making sure I am operating within the French Electrical regulatory  system so that I am able to sign off my own work- I understand that I need a siret no. and there will be occasions where I need the consuel to be involved, but I am unable to get solid answers as to exactly the qualifications/skills I need, and whether my exiting qual.s are transferrable and the route to follow to get them recognised in France. From the other posts I have read, I think I may have to attend a weeks business course in order to gain my siret no. so I can operate as a business legally, but am unsure how to apply for this.

[Nick Trollope]

[quote user="montagrier"]I couldnt see where Hoddy had moved your post to... so heres my thoughts..

I believe that knowing electrics in france is not enough to be an electricien... I believe there is a lengthy course you must go through and pass before they will let you work in that trade. Your french doesnt have to be brilliant but the better it is the quicker you'll pick things up.

[/quote]

Sorry, but this is not the case. There are adult education courses in France (including electrics) but they are intended for unemployed (French!) people. I think that Monti is confusing it with the "Stage de Gestion", which is a compulsorary business management course.

In your case, experience will be more important than qualifications (your qualifications will probably not be recognised here). If you can prove at least 3 years experience, then you will have no trouble registering. Get letters from previous employers or if your were self-employed, show your accounts.

As far as knowledge is concerned, your best bet is to register, then find someone to "shadow" or get a job via an agency (you will need some French). You could read the "Normes" (NF C 15 100) but they are long, in French & expensive (600€).

Or you could do what I did, pick peoples brains on the Forum!

Good luck, feel free to email me if u need any more info.

 

[montagrier]

No Nick.... I did say lengthy... meaning a lot more than a week... I was refering to the long course you are talking about...but my wording was inadequate.... ( as is my spelling ) sorry.

Yes the one week stage will not allow him to do electrics... and he could get into trouble if he did so without the proper french qualifications I believe...

Monti

[Nick Trollope]

[quote user="montagrier"]No Nick.... I did say lengthy... meaning a lot more than a week... I was refering to the long course you are talking about...but my wording was inadequate.... ( as is my spelling ) sorry.

Yes the one week stage will not allow him to do electrics... and he could get into trouble if he did so without the proper french qualifications I believe...

Monti
[/quote]

Sorry again Monti, but I am registered as an electrician (amongst other things). I only needed to do the stage (in English in my case, 3 days) and prove my qualifications & abilities using references. No long courses, no prospect of working illegally.

I'd even go so far as to say that UK qualifications are of no relevance, also. I have a degree (in electrical engineering etc), but no "part 16" qualifications whatsoever. I have had years of experience (in the UK), and that is what enabled me to register.

The OP should be able to register on the same basis (and he won't compete with me, so I would encourage him to do so!)

 

[Chancer]

Nick

I passed the part 1 exam of the 16th edition as I had to have the qualification to certify mains connections that I did as part of my business.

I am reasonably au fait with the French normes now and will be more certain on Tuesday when I get the consuel inspection on the first of the flats that I am building. I could I believe like you prove my qualifications and experience using references but it would have to be from ex-customers not employers and I do still have the part 1 certificate for what little use it is now (in England).

My questions to you are do you think I could register? (this would reduce the costs of future consuels and also hopefully get me the 46% discount with the fournisseurs).

How would I go about it?

And finally once registered or qualified would that then make me automatically classed as self employed and liable for the cotisations or is it possible to be registered/qualified and unemployed/not trading?

I would like to have the ability to do work legitimately for others in the future but for now the motivation is to know that I am qualified for the works that I am doing on my property and to be able to buy LeGrand stuff at something resembling a sensible price.

This week I have learned the true cost of using cheap "sous marques" and can see why professionals will only use LeGrand or Merlin Gerin.

Many thanks

[Nick Trollope]

With your qualifications & experience, you should be able to register. BUT, if you register, you will pay cotistations - unfortunately!

What are you registered as at the moment? If you are developing, are you registered as a Marchand de Biens? If so, this should enable you to get discounts at the wholesalers.

 

[montagrier]

Sorry again Nick I just thought that everyone had to do a french electriciens course... I stand corrected...

[Chancer]

Nick

No I am not registered as anything currently, I kind of don't exist anywhere at the moment, lost in a sort of limbo since leaving England as I travelled extensively before coming here.

To be fair this is a situation that I must regularise as I think I should at least exist in one country!

Please tell me more about Marchand De Biens, ca veut dire rien to me!

Editted:

It may mean nothing to me but I am sure that it would have saved me lots of money in the last 18 months.

[Nick Trollope]

Marchand de Biens - seller of property. Essentially, you are allowed to develop 1 property per year (as a private individual) without being registered as anything. Any more than that and you must register (and an MdeB is not always the right solution). You really need to see a good accountant, bearing in mind that you culd end up paying 27% CGT on the properties you are selling (an if you are doing it all yourself, and are not registered, you can deduct very little).

 

[Chancer]

Thanks Nick but probably not suitable as I will be a landlord, but would like to do some type of work in addition once all the properties are completed.

I will make a point of seeing a comptant expert soon.