The National Assembly has adopted a law aimed at prohibiting any canvassing concerning the personal training account (CPF), which will be punishable by a fine of up to €375,000. But this measure may not solve everything…
Whether they are done by telephone, email or SMS, canvassing for the personal training account (CPF) is a real scourge for the French population. And Parliament intends to tackle it. Thus, on Thursday 6 October, the National Assembly voted a bill filed by MoDem and Independent MP Bruno Fuchs seeking to ban “any commercial prospecting of holders of a personal training account” to protect workers’ personal data and training credits. A text which obtained unanimity from its first reading – a rare enough fact to be underlined – with the 73 votes of the deputies present that day. The measure must still be approved by the Senate before it can be adopted by – we hope – the end of the year, and thus come into force at the start of 2023. A nice step forward hailed by UFC-Que Choose, which nevertheless points out the limits.
Spam CPF: a very lucrative business for scammers
the personal training account (CPF) is a public funding scheme that gives French people access to training available via the “Mon Compte Formation” platform. It was launched in January 2019 to guarantee that any active person can acquire training rights in euros – and no longer in hours. Each year, the account is funded up to 500 euros for employees and 800 euros for those who are the least qualified or who are disabled. Of course, ill-intentioned people very quickly knew how to take advantage of it and make a very lucrative business out of it. Many unserious companies take advantage of the weak control exercised over the training courses eligible for the CPF to offer their services, without the person being able to know whether it is serious or bogus training. Some do not hesitate to indulge in commercial and abusive practices in order to force the hand, invoking the compulsory nature of training, the expiry of rights, in order to register the person against his will, to divert his money via fictitious formations, or even to steal his identity!
Spam CPF: a law to put an end to canvassing
To combat this nuisance, the National Assembly opted for a short text – three articles – going to the essentials. The first article aims to prohibit any form of canvassing concerning the CPF when its purpose is to collect personal data or to conclude contracts for training courses eligible for the system. The only case where the person can be contacted is when training is already underway. Otherwise, it is the creditor of the CPF who must go to the organizations. Agents from the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCF) will be empowered to flush out and record potential breaches, which will be punished by an administrative fine of up to 75,000 euros for natural person, and 375,000 euros for a legal person.
Article 2 authorizes the sharing of information between the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, the France competences institution and the other State services responsible for competition, the repression of fraud and the control of professional training (DGCCRF , DREETS, etc.), in order to encourage their collaboration and, thus, to avoid fraud, to carry out checks and to pronounce sanctions. A third and final article has been added to the two previous ones and provides that training organizations will have to go through a referencing procedure on the “My Training Account” portal. In addition, the subcontractors of a training company will also be subject to the same requirements as the company which has been approved by the CPF, in order to prevent certain “praise their certifications to unscrupulous operators”according to Bruno Fuchs.
If this bill is very well received, some still point out its limits. This is the case of UFC-Que Choisir, which has some reservations. While she welcomes the step forward taken by Parliament, she does not however think that, in practice, this will change much. In fact, companies and scammers will still be able to continue their canvassing, they will simply no longer be able to explicitly mention the CPF. Moreover, the reaction, in addition to being limited, happens as “every time late, after thousands of victims have been taken in”. This is why the consumer association is calling for a total ban on cold calling, whatever it may be. As a reminder, the French State has already banned canvassing in the field of energy renovation and regulated that on insurance. In any case, if you receive a call concerning your training account, hang up, because the Caisse des dépôts, the Ministry of Labor or Pôle emploi will never contact you by telephone about the CPF. In case of problem, report the scame.