French Sports Code

Sports associations, companies and federations take out insurance to cover their own civil liability, that of their salaried or volunteer employees and that of sports users. Licence holders and participants are considered to be third parties. These guarantees also cover referees and judges in the exercise of their activities.

Failure by the head of a sports association to take out insurance cover in accordance with the conditions set out in article L. 321-1 is punishable by six months’ imprisonment and a fine of €7,500.

It is compulsory to take out a civil liability insurance policy for recreational underwater fishing. Proof of insurance must be presented to any authority responsible for policing this activity.

Practitioners cannot be held liable for material damage caused to another practitioner by something in their custody, within the meaning of the first paragraph of article 1242 of the Civil Code, when practising a sport during a sporting event or training for this sporting event in a place reserved permanently or temporarily for this practice.

Sports associations and federations are obliged to inform their members of the benefits of taking out a personal insurance policy covering physical injury to which they may be exposed as a result of their sporting activities. They must also inform their members of the existence of guarantees relating to legal and psychological support and the payment of legal costs incurred by victims of sexual, physical and psychological violence.

The delegated sports federations take out personal insurance policies for their licence-holders on the list of top-level sportsmen and women mentioned in the first paragraph of article L. 221-2, covering any bodily injury they may suffer as a result of an accident occurring in the course of their top-level sporting activities. A decree sets the minimum amount of cover to be taken out by the federations. These contracts may only…

Approved sports federations may conclude collective insurance contracts to cover affiliated associations and their licence-holders under the conditions set out in articles L. 321-1, L. 321-4, L. 321-6 and L. 331-10. These contracts may only be concluded following a call for competition.

Where the approved federation to which the sports association is affiliated offers its members, who apply for a licence, the option of simultaneously taking out a group personal insurance policy underwritten by the federation, it is obliged : 1° Formulate this proposal in a document, which may or may not be separate from the licence application, which mentions the cost of membership, specifies that membership is not compulsory and indicates…

Without prejudice to the other provisions of this chapter, the operation of an establishment referred to in article L. 322-2 is subject to the operator taking out an insurance policy covering his civil liability, that of the teachers referred to in article L. 212-1 and of any employee of the operator, as well as that of persons usually or occasionally admitted to the establishment to carry out the activities taught…