Frequently Asked Questions Qualiopi

To prepare effectively for an audit, you can:

- Identify your supporting documentation in advance, determine where it is stored, and who is responsible for it.

- Build on the findings of previous audits, based on any audit or inspection reports you may have.

- Conduct an internal audit before the auditor arrives, using the same procedures.

- Develop an action plan.

For organizations that have never undergone an initial audit, Normec CertUp (formerly CertUp-Maïeutika) offers a pre-audit. By following these steps, you proactively prepare for the audit, strengthening the quality of your processes and evidence while fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

The renewal audit must be scheduled well in advance to allow the audit to be completed before the certificate’s expiration date and within a timeframe that allows for the resolution of any major nonconformities before the certificate expires (as a reminder, the processing time for major nonconformities is three months, after which the certification body has one month to verify them and make its decision). Ideally, between 9 and 4 months before the certificate’s expiration date.

To answer this, ask yourself three questions: 

- Does your organization carry out any activities at this location, whether partially or entirely—such as engineering, administrative, sales, or training—with or without public access…?

- Are there permanent or fixed-term employees of the organization stationed at this address?

- If so, do the employment contracts list this address as the place of work, even for part-time positions and regardless of the number of hours worked?

- If the answer is “yes” to all three questions, then this location is considered a site under Qualiopi.

If you are a training organization and you assign tasks to a trainer, then yes, that trainer is your subcontractor.
In the context of Qualiopi certification, the outsourced trainer plays a crucial role. As a training specialist, their mission is to deliver instruction in accordance with the requirements of the National Quality Framework (RNQ). This requires not only expertise in their field of instruction but also a thorough understanding of the Qualiopi criteria and the ability to effectively integrate them into their teaching methodology.
It is therefore your responsibility as the contracting party to ensure this.

No. Article L. 6316-1 of the Labor Code stipulates that the providers referred to in Article L. 6351-1—that is, organizations registered with the DREETS—must be certified when receiving public funding or shared funding. Qualiopi certification is therefore linked to the registration number of the business declaration. The Qualiopi certificate issued to a multi-site organization includes the organization’s business declaration registration number, its SIREN number, and the addresses of its sites. Consequently, a network of entities, each with its own registration number, does not fit this scenario and cannot be classified as a multi-site organization for the purposes of Qualiopi certification.

You may operate from multiple sites to carry out your activities. In this case, to be classified as a multi-site organization, permanent staff must be present at each site, and you must establish an organizational structure that allows you to meet the requirements set forth inArticle 6 of the amended decree of June 6, 2019, regarding the audit procedures associated with the national standard referred to in Article D. 6316-1-1 of the Labor Code. 
It is your responsibility to demonstrate to the certifying body that you meet these various criteria.

If a single-site organization expands and becomes a multi-site organization, a new initial audit will be required. 
This is because the organization must be audited to verify that it meets the criteria for a multi-site organization, particularly regarding the role of the central function. The audit must follow the procedures for auditing a multi-site organization (audit of the central function and sampling of sites). Following this new initial audit, a new certificate will be issued, with a new validity date and a list of the sites.

The concept of “permanent staff” implies the continuous presence of staff at a site. This presence may take the form of fixed-term (CDD) or permanent (CDI) contracts, full-time or part-time, without limitation. It may apply to all or part of the organization’s activities.

Yes, if the staff members are covered by an employment contract under which they work at that site, whether on a part-time or flexible schedule. In that case, they are considered permanent staff of the organization applying for certification at that site.

Yes, surveillance audits of multi-site organizations follow the same rules as those for single-site organizations. The surveillance audit must be conducted on-site if the initial audit was conducted remotely, in accordance with the decrees of July 24, 2020, December 7, 2020, and December 30, 2021.

The duration of the audit is calculated based on the revenue generated from activities as a provider of services that contribute to skills development. 
If you are a newly established organization that has not yet submitted an educational and financial report (BPF) to the administration, you must provide a document indicating the amount of revenue received by funding source category related to your activities as a provider of skills development services, so that your revenue can be determined. 
You will prepare this document based on your accounting records, which may be subject to an on-site verification on the day of the audit (comparison between the amount of revenue reported to the certifying body and the revenue recorded in your accounting records).

In accordance with Article 9 of the amended decree of June 6, 2019, regarding audit procedures, the audit to extend certification to a new category of shares may take place at any time during the cycle. You may therefore conduct the extension audit in parallel with the surveillance audit. However, the timeframes specified in the decree for each audit must be adhered to. 

💡 The two audits have different purposes and are governed by two separate decisions (you may therefore have your certification maintained following the surveillance audit while being denied the extension of your certification to a new category of shares).

Article 4 of the decree of June 6, 2019, specifies overall audit durations without mandating a specific allocation between the central office and the various sites. 
Consequently, the certification body has the discretion to allocate this time based on the audit’s objectives, potentially allocating more than half a day per site.

During the surveillance audit, the certification body reviews at least the following indicators: 

- the indicators that were the subject of nonconformities during the initial audit

- indicators that can only result in major nonconformities, as applicable to the audited organization (indicators 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14, 15, 16, 20, 21, 22, 26, 27, 29, 31, and 32); 

- indicators 1, 17, 19, and, for the organizations concerned, indicator 3; 

- If you were granted adjusted time requirements during the initial audit, the indicators that were not verified during the initial audit are applicable. 

If you were audited as a new entrant during the initial audit, all indicators are verified.

A new entrant is defined as an organization offering a category of activities during its first year of operation, regardless of the volume of activity. It may also be an organization that was inactive for at least one year. The reference document for this definition is the BPF (Educational and Financial Report).

If you are a new organization wishing to undergo the Qualiopi audit without having yet provided any services, you are required to conduct a “pilot project.” 
This program must be a real-world scenario involving an in-person audience, which may differ from the target audience if the latter cannot be mobilized. Its purpose is to test the processes, particularly criteria 2 and 3, as well as indicator 30. A shorter-duration activity is possible, with adjusted expectations, including a partial verification of certain indicators during the initial audit or deferred to the surveillance audit. For long-term training programs, it is imperative that the training has already begun.

The information to be presented or submitted prior to an audit includes: 

- The organization’s contact information (address, SIREN number, locations, etc.). 

- The most recent Educational and Financial Report (BPF), or accounting records in the absence of a BPF.

- The organizational chart listing names and positions, applicable to all organizations. 

If you were a new entrant at the time of the initial audit, an additional half-day of audit time is scheduled for the surveillance audit. This provision applies only to new entrants at the time of the initial audit and not to category extensions.

According to Article 4 of the June 6, 2019, decree, as amended, regarding audit procedures, the duration of the audit is calculated based on the revenue generated by your activities as a provider of programs that contribute to skills development, the number of sites involved, and the number of program categories for which you wish to be certified. 
The revenue taken into account corresponds to the total amount of revenue generated by vocational training activities, as indicated in the most recent educational and financial report (BPF) submitted. 
In order to best tailor the duration of the audit to your situation, the most recent available educational and financial report (BPF) is collected prior to the initial audit, prior to surveillance and renewal audits, and prior to audits for expansion into a new category of activities.

The renewal audit is conducted in the same manner as an initial audit.
It is structured as follows: 
- an opening meeting;
- verification of indicators;
- finalization of findings;
- a closing meeting.
 It includes verification of the corrective actions defined in the action plan to address any nonconformities detected during the previous surveillance audit, if applicable. 

Certification may be issued once you have implemented corrective actions within three months, bringing the number of minor nonconformities below five. 
For the remaining minor nonconformities, you must develop an action plan and submit it to the certifying body within the timeframe specified by the certifying body; this plan must be implemented within six months. 
Verification of the implementation of corrective actions takes place during the next audit. If the minor nonconformity has not been resolved by the next audit, it is reclassified as a major nonconformity requiring the implementation of corrective actions.

If the documents provided when the certification contract was drawn up—and which were used to determine the expected duration of the audit—have been modified, then the duration of your audit may be affected.
On the day of the audit, the auditor may identify factors that could affect the duration initially specified in the contract, including:

- A number of sites you reported that does not match the actual situation;

- Since the contract was signed, you have submitted a new educational and financial report (BPF), and the revenue indicated on this report results in a change to the reference bracket (revenue < €150,000, €150,000 ≤ revenue < €750,000, and revenue ≥ €750,000); 

- You are applying for certification for a different category of activities contributing to skills development. 

These factors may have a positive or negative impact on the duration of the audit. Consequently, the certifying body must take these findings into account to recalculate the audit duration and, if necessary, adjust the audit duration or schedule a supplementary audit to cover all necessary aspects.

Yes. The requirement to display the certificate applies to all locations whose addresses appear on your certificate. The certificate must also be posted on your website. 

If you do not have a website, a copy must be provided to anyone who requests it.

For any questions regarding the use of the Qualiopi logo, the three reference documents to consult are:

the Qualiopi graphic charter, 

the Qualiopi certification mark usage guidelines, 

and the Qualiopi usage regulations. 

These documents were sent to you by your certifying body and are available on the Ministry of Labor’s website. Find them here.

Now that I have Qualiopi certification, is my program eligible for the CPF?

Being certified under the National Quality Framework is not enough to make your program eligible for the CPF. To be eligible, it must be listed in the National Directory of Professional Certifications (RNCP) or the Specific Directory (RS). You will then need to register on EDOF.

Version 8 of the Reading Guide introduces several new features: 

The framework for certification and conducting the audit, described in the preamble;

The expectations for the framework’s indicators are clarified (e.g., Indicator 2);

The requirements for certification training have been strengthened (e.g., indicators 1 and 5);

The examples of evidence associated with the indicators have been expanded and adjusted (e.g., indicators 12, 18, and 30).

Indicator 12, regarding the management of dropouts, now applies only to training programs lasting more than 2 days.

Version 9 of the reader’s guide, effective as of March 8, 2024, incorporates Version 8 and additional requirements regarding subcontracting. Available here.

If you are an organization that does not have its own premises, you are not required to display the certificate on the premises since, by definition, you do not have any. However, the legislature’s intent behind this requirement is to ensure that your service recipients can quickly and easily identify your Qualiopi certifier. You must therefore make this information available to them.

Whenever possible, at Normec CertUp (formerly CertUp-Maïeutika), we prefer to assign the same auditor for an entire certification cycle. However, if this is not possible due to scheduling conflicts or other constraints, the auditor assigned to the audit will have access to all relevant information regarding your file, including the previous audit report, any identified nonconformities, and their action plans, if applicable.

If you wish to add a new type of activity to your scope of certification, you must submit a request to us, and we will then schedule an audit to extend your activity category. To do this, at least one activity must have taken place within this new scope, either with beneficiaries or through the implementation of a “pilot project.”