Applicable to interns (less than 500 hour-internship)
Article 1: Purpose
The aim of these Rules of Procedure is to specify certain provisions applying to all those enrolling on and participating in the different courses organised by ACD AVOCATS in order to ensure that the training is dispensed smoothly.
Anyone completing a course delivered by ACD AVOCATS must comply with these regulations concerning the main procedures applicable in terms of health and safety, and the applicable rules in terms of discipline.
Article 2: General health and safety rules
All trainees must take care of their personal safety and that of others by complying, depending on the course, with the general and specific instructions in force in the training premises, and those related to health.
However, pursuant to article R. 6352-1 of the French Labour Code, when a course takes place in an establishment which already has its own rules of procedure, the applicable health and safety procedures are those laid down by the latter regulations.
In addition, trainees sent into a company as part of a course are required to comply with the health and safety measures laid down by the company’s own health and safety regulations.
Article 3: Instructions in the case of fire or accident
Fire instructions and in particular a plan of the location of fire extinguishers and emergency exits are posted in the establishment’s premises so that all trainees can be familiar with them.
Any accident or incident occurring during training must be immediately reported by the injured trainee or persons who witnessed the accident, to the person in charge of the establishment.
Pursuant to article R 6342-3 of the French Labour Code, any accident suffered by a trainee while in the training establishment must be declared by the training centre manager to the Social Security authorities.
Article 4: Drinks – Smoking ban – Health measures
Trainees will have access to fixed breaks beside dispensers of non-alcoholic, cold or hot drinks. Trainees are forbidden from entering or remaining in the establishment in a drunken state and from bringing alcoholic drinks into it.
Pursuant to the regulations in force setting out the conditions for the application of a smoking ban in premises for communal use, it is forbidden to smoke in the classrooms. This ban also applies to e-cigarettes.
Trainees will be expected to comply with any health rules and regulations that may be in place.
Article 5: Times
Course times are fixed by the management or the manager of the training establishment and trainees will be informed of them when they are given the course programme.
Should trainees be absent from or late in attending a course, they must inform the instructor or the office of the establishment in charge of the training, giving their reasons. Moreover, trainees may not absent themselves during course hours, except in exceptional circumstances specified by the Management or the head of the training establishment.
When the trainees are employees training as part of a training programme, the establishment must inform the company in advance of these absences.
Furthermore, for trainees who are jobseekers paid by the state or a region, non-justified absences will lead, pursuant to article R 6341-45 of the French Labour code, to a withholding of payment in proportion to the duration of the said absences.
Trainees are also required to complete or sign an attendance sheet, as the course proceeds.
Article 6: Access to the Establishment
Except where express authorisation has been obtained from the management or the head of the training establishment, trainees having access to the establishment in order to attend their course may not enter it or stay there for other purposes, or bring in or facilitate the entrance of persons with no connection to the establishment, or goods intended to be sold to the staff or trainees.
Article 7: Disciplinary law
Any breach by a trainee of any of the stipulations of these rules of procedure may result in a penalty being imposed.
Within the meaning of article R 6352-3 of the French Labour Code, a penalty means any measure, other than verbal observations, taken by the director of the training establishment or their representative, following an action by a trainee considered by them as blameworthy, whether this measure be of a type to immediately affect or not the presence on the course of the person concerned or to jeopardise the continuity of the training they are receiving.
Depending on the gravity of the breach observed, the penalty may consist either of a call to order or a warning, or a final exclusion order.
Fines or other financial penalties are prohibited.
The following provisions are a reiteration of articles R. 6352-4 to R. 6352-8 of the French Labour Code:
No penalty may be imposed on the trainee without them having been informed in advance of the accusations held against them.
When the director of the training establishment or their representative contemplates imposing a penalty which has an effect, immediate or not, on the presence of the trainee on a course, the following procedure must be followed:
- The director or their representative summons the trainee, indicating to them the purpose of this summons.
- This must specify the date, the time and the location of the interview. It must be in writing and sent by registered post or handed to the person concerned against a receipt.
- During the interview, the trainee may be assisted by a person of their choice. The summons mentioned in the previous paragraph must state this option.
- The director or their representative must indicate the reason for the envisaged penalty and record the trainee’s explanations.
- The penalty may not be applied within one clear day or more than fifteen days after the interview. The decision must be given in writing stating the reasons, and sent to the trainee by registered post or handed to them against a receipt.
When the action has made a precautionary measure of temporary exclusion with immediate effect compulsory, no definitive penalty relating to this action may be imposed without the above-described procedure having been observed.
The director of the training establishment shall inform the employer and the funding body of the penalty imposed.
Article 8: Entry into force
These rules of procedure replace any previous rules having the same purpose, with effect from 1st February 2010. Updated January 2021.