In what context is international mobility of alternants implemented?

Alternates, unlike students, have an employee status during their training. In order to facilitate their international mobility, the Law of 27 December 2023 on an Erasmus for Apprenticeships provides for the lifting in certain cases of the obligation for the host organization abroad (a company or a training organization) to sign the individual agreement governing the status of the alternant during mobility.

It is thus provided that, where the mobility abroad is carried out within a company, the latter is exempt from signing the individual agreement of an alternant if the latter enjoys guarantees equivalent to those which he would have enjoyed in France. In this case, the individual agreement can be signed only by the alternate (and his legal representative if he is a minor), the employer in France and the French training organization.

A decree issued in Official Journal December 5, 2024 specifies the nature of the guarantees. These include:

• knowledge of the start and end dates of reception in company;
• consistency between the subject-matter of the training and the nature of the tasks entrusted to the alternant;
• knowledge of the workplace(s);
• the identification of the persons responsible for monitoring the mobility of the alternant within the host company and the definition of the monitoring arrangements;
• prior notification of the work schedule and leave;
• a description of the equipment and products used;
• a description of the host employer's commitments to prevent occupational risks where the company is located outside the European Union.

These guarantees must be shown on one or more documents signed by the host employer and the alternate employer.

What derogation in the event of a partnership between the training organization in France and the training organization abroad?

The law of 27 December 2023 on ‘Erasmus for apprenticeships’ also provides that a training organization hosting an alternant abroad is not obliged to sign the individual mobility agreement where a partnership links it to the alternant’s French training organization (center de formation des apprentis - CFA, unit de formation par apprentice...). The individual agreement which organizes the alternant’s mobility may then be signed only by that alternant, his employer in France and his French training organization.

The decree published in Official Journal on 5 december 2024, the french training organization must indicate, in place of the training organization hosting abroad, various items of information, including:

• the start and end dates of the mobility period within the host training organization;
• the objectives and main content of the training provided by the host training organization;
• the place or places of training;
• the equipment and products used;
• the pace of training and leave.

This information does not have to be included in the individual mobility agreement of the alternant; however, it must then be indicated in a contractual document concluded between the host training organization abroad and the French training organization.