The carte BTP is mandatory on all the French territory since 01/10/2017

All employers, whose employees carry out, direct or organise, including on an occasional, secondary or ancillary basis, construction work or public works are obliged to apply for the Carte BTP for the employees concerned.

The work integration structures (intermediary associations, work integration social enterprises) are subject to the obligations from the moment they make employees or work sites available.

This obligation applies also for the same work:

- to temporary placement agencies established in France,

- to employers established in France, which second their employees in France,

- to companies established in France, which have recourse to temporarily seconded employees.

Application for the Carte BTP is mandatory for every new request for secondment of permanent or temporary company employees for companies established outside France covered by Article R.8291-1 of the French Labour Code. In the case of the secondment of temporary employees application for the Carte BTP must be made by the user company established in France.

Penalties : 

In the case of failure by the employer to comply with the duties of declaration and information, administrative fines imposed may total €2000 per employee and €4000 in the case of subsequent offences within one year with effect from the date of notification of the initial fine (Article L.8291-2 of the French Labour Code).

A false declaration is sanctioned by Article 441-6 of the French Criminal Code, which provides:

"The offence of unlawfully procuring delivery by a public administration or an authority with a public service remit by any fraudulent means whatsoever of a document intended to establish a right, an identity or a characteristic to grant an authorisation is punishable by a sentence of imprisonment of two years and a fine of 30,000 euros. The offence of knowingly supplying a false or incomplete declaration in order to obtain or to attempt to obtain from a public entity, a social welfare authority or a public service authority an allowance, service, payment or individual advantage is punishable by the same penalties."

Moreover, obstruction of inspections by the Employment Inspectorate is also subject to penalties. Article L.8114-1 of the French Labour Code in fact provides that: "The offence of obstructing an inspection official of the inspection directorate referred to in Article L.8112-1 in the course of his duties is punishable by a sentence of imprisonment of two years and a fine of 37,500 euros."

https://www.cartebtp.fr/fileadmin/medias/Telechargements/FAQ_Toutes_cibles_en.pdf