Where candidates go wrong
Most officers arrive thinking the jury is a language test bolted onto a visa application. It is neither. Three errors recur:
- Assuming nationality can be fixed. It cannot. The jury only verifies knowledge. A British, American, Australian or South African master cannot command a French-flag yacht however good his French, because none of those States is on the list.
- Confusing the suppléant with the STCW chief mate. The officier chargé de la suppléance (the officer who stands in for the master) is a French-law role: the deck officer ranking immediately below the master (décret 2015-598 art. 1).
- Forgetting that a French title settles it. An officer holding a French CoC that gives access to command already meets both knowledge conditions (art. 3 I).
The three cumulative conditions
Articles L5521-3 (all French-flag ships) and L5612-3 II (RIF ships) of the Code des transports make access to the posts of capitaine (master) and suppléant subject to:
| Condition | How it is met |
|---|---|
| 1. Qualifications professionnelles (STCW CoC) | French title, or a foreign CoC with a visa de reconnaissance (recognition endorsement) |
| 2. Langue française | French secondary or higher diploma, or a B2 certificate less than one year old, or the jury attestation |
| 3. Matières juridiques (French law) | NP-1 (module national pont 1), or a French higher-education diploma covering the master's public-authority powers, or an approved-course pass, or the jury attestation |
On RIF ships L5612-3 II adds the nationality rule: master and suppléant must be French or nationals of the EU, the EEA, Switzerland or a State with an equivalent agreement on residence and work. The RIF lists 38 States: the 27 EU members, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, and Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Togo and Tunisia.
WARNING — the jury does not cure nationality The UK is on the June 2026 list of States whose CoCs France recognises, so a British officer can get a visa and serve as an officer. He still cannot command or be suppléant on a French-flag yacht. The jury is open only to officers whose nationality already qualifies (RIF page a550).
When a suppléant is needed, and the fallbacks
- A suppléant is required where the fiche d'effectif minimal (minimum safe manning document) lists at least two deck officers (art. 2).
- Under L5521-3, the knowledge conditions may be carried by the chef mécanicien where there is no suppléant on a commercial ship. The nationality rule has no such fallback (RIF page a337).
- Fleet growth. For each newly flagged ship that enlarges an owner's French fleet, one of that owner's ships may carry just one person meeting the knowledge conditions for 2 years. Growth is judged over the previous 18 months, and the relief is lost if the fleet shrinks.
Sanctions
- The owner who embarks a non-compliant master or suppléant commits a 4th-class contravention (décret 2015-598 art. 7).
- Exercising command without meeting the conditions: 6 months' imprisonment and €3,750 (L5523-2), and the owner who caused it faces the same (L5523-3).
What the examiner wants to see
- The three conditions stated in order, with the article numbers.
- A clear sentence on why you are before the jury: which knowledge condition you lack.
- The difference between STCW recognition (the visa) and French command aptitude (this jury).
Vocabulaire de l'examen
| French | English |
|---|---|
| aptitude au commandement | eligibility to command |
| officier chargé de la suppléance | officer standing in for the master |
| fiche d'effectif minimal | minimum safe manning document |
| visa de reconnaissance | recognition endorsement of a foreign CoC |
| prérogatives de puissance publique | public-authority powers |
| ressortissant | national (of a State) |
| contravention de 4e classe | minor offence, 4th class |