The FFTir medical certificate: what you ask your doctor to sign

The FFTir medical certificate is valid one year, without exception in sport shooting. Since the 2022/2023 season it has your doctor attest to something they did not previously sign — and that changes what to check before leaving the surgery.

Why shooting survived the 2023 clear-out

The sports medical certificate has nearly disappeared in France. It survives for the disciplines said to have particular constraints, listed in article D.231-1-5 of the code du sport. For those, article L.231-2-3 subjects the issue or renewal of the licence, and participation in competitions, to a certificate less than a year old1.

That list is often quoted from memory, understandably: it had been stable since 2016. It was nonetheless rewritten by decree no. 2023-853 of 31 August 2023, in force from 3 September 20233. The health insurance service sums up the move in one sentence: it went from nine disciplines to five4. Five left — mountaineering, caving, parachuting, rugby and aeronautical disciplines — and one entered, powerboating217. Shooting was kept.

Here is the list in its version in force2.

Shooting falls under 3°. Every rule that follows flows from that.

One piece of paper, two codes: what changed in 2022

We compared the FFTir's official templates season by season, PDF in hand. The progression is clear.

Since 2022/2023 the template carries an extra sentence: the doctor attests that their patient's physical and mental health "is not incompatible with holding firearms and ammunition"7. It repeats the wording of article L.312-6 of the code de la sécurité intérieure, which requires a certificate attesting that "their physical and mental state of health is not incompatible with holding such materiel, firearms or ammunition"29. The text settled in 2023/2024: the 2026/2027 template repeats it word for word, season aside.

In other words, a single piece of paper now covers two distinct legal regimes — the code du sport and the code de la sécurité intérieure — which share neither purpose nor period of validity.

What the doctor must actually examine

The certificate is not a signature at the bottom of a form: it results from a specific medical examination whose content is set by order. Article A.231-1 §5 of the code du sport, created by the order of 24 July 2017 and amended by the order of 9 July 2018, provides that for disciplines using firearms or compressed-air weapons particular attention be paid to three points5:

• the neurological and mental health examination;
• hearing acuity and examination of the dominant upper limb for biathlon;
• examination of the spine in minors shooting standing in the shooting discipline.

That last point is the only targeted orthopaedic examination the code du sport imposes in shooting, and it concerns only minors shooting standing. The logic is understandable: the standing position in rifle or pistol is strongly asymmetric and held for a long time, on a spine still growing. The text is explicit, but it runs to one line in the middle of an order — easy to miss in a fifteen-minute consultation.

The FFTir template has long referred to that article: the 2021/2022 version already reproduced its text in a footnote8, and since 2022/2023 the reference has moved into the very sentence the doctor signs — "certifies having examined this day in accordance with article A.231-1 §5 of the code du sport"9. That is in fact its main value: it reminds the doctor what is expected of them.

The five items to check before you leave

The FFTir template is not compulsory. The federation says so itself: "any document from a health practitioner remains perfectly valid"6. A free-form letter is accepted — provided it carries the right wording.

Who may issue it, and what it costs

Any registered doctor. No federal approval is required at the FFTir: your own GP, a locum, a sports physician, a club doctor, a municipal sports medical center. The federation writes it unambiguously — "any document from a health practitioner remains perfectly valid"6.

On price, let us be plain: the certificate is not a treatment act listed in the schedule. Its pricing is free and it gives no right to reimbursement. The doctor is however obliged to display their fee and to state it orally before the act, under decree no. 2024-1596 of 18 December 202421.

We will therefore not publish a "price of the certificate": by construction there is no national one. The only solid marker is the agreed fee for a sector 1 GP consultation, €30 at 1 January 202620. The ranges found elsewhere are informal surveys, with no official basis. Asking the price when booking the appointment remains the only reliable method.

To place the expense: the federal share of the 2025/2026 FFTir licence is €69 for an adult and €49 for a young shooter, club subscription on top24. Against that total the certificate weighs little — but it is the only line of the renewal whose amount escapes you entirely when you are budgeting.

Your doctor has the right to say no

This is the case worst lived through, and the worst explained. Article R.4127-28 of the code de la santé publique prohibits certificates of convenience: a doctor must certify only what they have themselves observed, and remains free as to the content and wording of their certificate. A false certificate exposes them to professional and criminal sanctions19.

A refusal may therefore be perfectly well founded. The order draws up no list of contraindications: it designates only the axes of the examination5. The first — neurological and mental health — is the one that applies to every shooter, and that is where the commonest grounds sit: neurological disorders with loss of consciousness, disorders of balance or coordination, evolving psychiatric conditions, treatments affecting alertness. Hearing acuity is covered by the text only for biathlon, and examination of the spine only for minors shooting standing.

We draw up no list of contraindications: that is the doctor's role, not an article's. One thing is worth knowing before the consultation — some situations are temporary (a treatment that ends, a condition that stabilises) and the certificate becomes possible afterwards. Better to ask the doctor than to leave with a refusal and no horizon.

If the refusal seems to rest on something other than your file, ask for the ground, bring the FFTir template and the A.231-1 §5 reference, and turn to a sports physician or a practitioner recommended by your club. Nothing prevents consulting another practitioner, but each remains free as to the content and wording of their certificate19, and none is bound to issue one a colleague has refused.

The calendar: September's real trap

Three dates collide every autumn.

• The sporting season runs from 1 September to 31 August.
• New licences and renewals open in ITAC on Monday 24 August 2026 for the 2026/2027 season16.
• The federal insurance of the 2025/2026 licence holder runs to 30 September 2026: that is the month of slack to renew, not an extension of the licence16.

The certificate follows none of these dates: it is valid one year from the day it was issued7. It therefore almost always straddles two seasons, which the FFTir expressly accepts15. Hence a margin of manoeuvre not always used.

The EDEN mechanism, step by step

The licence holder uploads their own certificate in their EDEN space, under My information → Medical certificate15; the club then validates in ITAC, and the licence is issued only after that validation6. Two details are worth knowing: an email alert goes out two months before expiry, and an expired certificate shows — the licence's security QR code then flags an invalid certificate15.

It is this procedure, and no longer the doctor's stamp on the back of the licence, that governs today: the FFTir specifies that a certificate no longer has to be produced at championships, while maintaining the obligation to hold a valid one in order to compete6. The stamp on the licence no longer has any federal effect.

The minor's case: the general waiver does not apply

This is probably parents' most frequent question in September, and the mistake is easy to make. Decree no. 2021-564 of 7 May 2021 did abolish the medical certificate for minors' licences, in favor of a health questionnaire. But the sports ministry states it in black and white: production of the certificate remains for disciplines with particular constraints17.

In shooting the certificate therefore stays annual and compulsory at any age, for a new licence as for a renewal6. The minor's health questionnaire appears in article D.231-1-4-1, still in force, but it does not substitute for it; on the adult side, article D.231-1-4 which had introduced theirs has been repealed since 24 June 202218. No derogating three-year period exists for disciplines with particular constraints1.

Two concrete consequences for a young shooter: the spine examination provided for by A.231-1 §5, and a subject little discussed, lead.

The blind spot of the annual visit

Two shooting societies in the Doubs were the subject of an investigation by Santé publique France and the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté regional health agency, completed in February 2020. Among the volunteer shooters screened — 41 in the first society, 92 in the second — 60% and 40% were above 70 µg/L, the threshold adopted for adult over-exposure. The associated factors are very concrete: impregnation rose with range attendance, and practices such as taking part in cleaning the ranges or eating on site were associated with high blood lead levels22.

Among children the finding is of the same order. Between 2015 and 2018, 29 minors underwent a first screening prompted by attendance at shooting ranges; 18 showed a blood lead level at or above 50 µg/L, the mandatory reporting threshold, so 62%. Screening overwhelmingly concerned children over seven (82%), and exposure can also be indirect, through dust brought home by a shooting parent23.

These figures do not say that shooting is dangerous, and neither sample is representative: in the Doubs, the shooters volunteered; among the children, the blood test had been prescribed precisely because a risk factor was identified — Santé publique France notes that this factor is not necessarily the real source of exposure23. They say something else, which Santé publique France puts bluntly: in an amateur club, participants are subject to no specific surveillance22. The annual certificate, the only medical appointment structurally tied to the practice, includes no blood lead measurement. Nothing stops you raising it with your doctor.

Coming back after a break

The certificate is rarely what blocks a return. What blocks it is the administrative chain behind the licence.

If the licence is not renewed, the Category B authorization becomes null as of right three months after the licence's validity ends, with an obligation to dispose of the firearm1226. And to acquire again, you have to go back through attendance.

On that point, a persistent myth deserves correcting: the shooting logbook has not been the required document since the arrêté of 28 April 2020, in favor of the prior opinion signed by the club president25, which grounds the federation's favorable opinion — and it is that federal opinion, not a logbook, that service-public.fr12 and the prefectures13 list today among the application documents. What remains is the substance: three controlled shooting sessions at least two months apart, during the twelve months preceding the application, for a first application, and regular practice for a renewal, the exclusion criterion being an absence of practice for at least twelve consecutive months25.

For a shooter returning after several years, the realistic chronology is therefore: licence and fresh certificate, then four months at minimum between the first and third controlled session — all of it having to fit inside the twelve months preceding the filing — then prefectural processing: count several months more. The medical certificate itself takes one consultation.

FFTir, ball-trap, archery: three regimes

All three sit readily under the word "shooting", and search engines mix them up constantly. Two of them share the same substantive requirement, and none shares the same calendar.

The reason is purely legal: a bow is neither a firearm nor a compressed-air weapon, so it falls into none of the five categories of article D.231-1-52. Archery's medical obligations belong to the general regime and to its own federation's rules: they do not transpose to sport shooting, or the reverse.

A shooter practicing both FFTir and ball-trap therefore fits two calendars into one certificate. Before choosing the date of the consultation, it is worth looking at both: the one that suits the sporting season is not necessarily the one that covers the next ball-trap competition.

Sources 29 references

Legal texts reread on Légifrance in their version in force; FFTir templates compared season by season from the official PDFs; health data taken from Santé publique France publications with their sampling caveats. Click a note marker in the text to highlight the matching source.

1. Légifrance — article L.231-2-3 of the code du sport: certificate less than a year old required for the issue or renewal of the licence and for participation in competitions, in disciplines with particular constraints. No derogating three-year period.
2. Légifrance — article D.231-1-5 of the code du sport, version in force: the five disciplines with particular constraints, including 3° disciplines involving the use of firearms or compressed-air weapons.
3. Légifrance — decree no. 2023-853 of 31 August 2023, in force 3 September 2023: rewriting of the list of disciplines with particular constraints.
4. Assurance maladie — summary of the 2023 change: the list moves from nine disciplines to five.
5. Légifrance — article A.231-1 §5 of the code du sport, created by the order of 24 July 2017 and amended by the order of 9 July 2018: neurological and mental health examination, hearing acuity and dominant upper limb for biathlon, examination of the spine in minors shooting standing.
6. FFTir — medical certificate guidance: any document from a health practitioner remains valid, annual certificate compulsory at any age, upload by the licence holder then validation by the club, no certificate to produce at championships but the obligation to hold a valid one to compete.
7. FFTir — official medical certificate template, 2026/2027 season (PDF): "is not incompatible with holding firearms and ammunition", validity one year from the date of issue.
8. FFTir — medical certificate template, 2021/2022 season, V4 of 08/07/2021 (PDF): no wording on holding; A.231-1 §5 reproduced in a footnote.
9. FFTir — medical certificate template, 2022/2023 season (PDF): appearance of the wording on holding firearms and ammunition, and of the reference to A.231-1 §5 in the sentence signed.
10. FFTir — medical certificate template, 2023/2024 season (PDF): title extended to instructing and/or practicing.
11. Légifrance — article R.312-5 of the code de la sécurité intérieure: waiver of the certificate less than a month old where the licence has been issued or renewed on production of a certificate less than a year old.
12. service-public.fr — sport shooter factsheet: no certificate automatically required of a licensed sport shooter; Category B authorization null as of right three months after the licence's validity ends.
13. Préfecture des Deux-Sèvres — list of documents to supply for sport shooters: federal favorable opinion as an original, no medical certificate in the list.
14. Légifrance — article R.312-6 of the code de la sécurité intérieure: one-month validity of the holding certificate, and closed list of practitioners able to issue the psychiatrist's certificate.
15. FFTir — EDEN guidance: upload under My information → Medical certificate, email alert two months before expiry, expired certificate flagged by the licence QR code, certificate straddling two seasons.
16. FFTir — EDEN licence protocol, 2026/2027 season: opening of creations and renewals on Monday 24 August 2026, season from 1 September, federal insurance of the previous season running to 30 September.
17. Ministère des Sports — guidance on the 2021 reform: the certificate remains for disciplines with particular constraints.
18. Légifrance — articles D.231-1-4 (repealed 24 June 2022) and D.231-1-4-1 (in force) of the code du sport: health questionnaire for minors, no substitution in disciplines with particular constraints.
19. Légifrance — article R.4127-28 of the code de la santé publique: prohibition of certificates of convenience, the doctor certifying only what they have observed and remaining free as to content and wording.
20. Assurance maladie — agreed fee for a sector 1 GP consultation: €30 at 1 January 2026.
21. Légifrance — decree no. 2024-1596 of 18 December 2024: obligation to display fees and to state them orally before the act.
22. Santé publique France — investigation into two shooting societies in the Doubs, completed February 2020: 41 and 92 shooters screened, 60% and 40% above 70 µg/L, impregnation rising with range attendance, cleaning and eating on site associated with high levels, absence of specific surveillance in amateur clubs. ⚠️ Voluntary participation: not a representative sample.
23. Santé publique France — first screenings of minors 2015-2018: 29 minors screened for range attendance, 18 at or above 50 µg/L, 82% over seven years old, possible indirect exposure through dust. ⚠️ Screening prompted by an identified risk factor, which is not necessarily the real source of exposure.
24. FFTir — 2025/2026 licence fees: federal share of €69 for an adult and €49 for a young shooter, club subscription on top.
25. Légifrance — arrêté of 28 April 2020: three controlled sessions at least two months apart during the twelve months preceding the application, regular practice for renewal, exclusion after twelve consecutive months without practice, prior opinion signed by the club president.
26. SIA — holder guidance: manual update of the licence in My profile → Edit my account information, no operational link with the federal intranet.
27. FFBT — ball-trap licence rules: certificate less than a year old at the licence application, calendar year, certificate less than a year old at the date of each competition.
28. Légifrance — article R.312-43-1 of the code de la sécurité intérieure, from decree no. 2022-144 of 8 February 2022: two introductory sessions per twelve months for a non-member, no licence or medical certificate, identity check, FINIADA check through ITAC, direct supervision, association firearms, nominative list.
29. Légifrance — article L.312-6 of the code de la sécurité intérieure: certificate attesting that physical and mental health is not incompatible with holding such materiel, firearms or ammunition; second paragraph on psychiatric history.