No one may be taken on as an apprentice unless they are between the ages of sixteen and twenty-nine at the start of the apprenticeship.
However, young people aged at least fifteen may begin an apprenticeship contract if they can prove that they have completed the first cycle of secondary education.
Young people who reach the age of fifteen before the end of the calendar year may be enrolled in a vocational lycée or apprentice training centre to begin their training, under the conditions laid down by decree of the Conseil d’Etat.