After 8 years of waiting for a new amateur radio, decree has finally been published in the French Government Official Journal

The most significant change is the way amateur radio exams are marked (see Article 2 of the Decree).

France only has one amateur radio exam which is the equivalent of the CEPT HAREC or all three UK exams combined. The French HAREC exam comprises 40 questions to be completed in 45 minutes. 15 minutes are allowed for the 20 Rules and Regulations questions and 30 minutes for the 20 Technical Theory questions.

The marking was unusual, 3 points were given for each correct answer but one point was deducted for each wrong answer. France is now adopting the system used in the UK and around the world of 1 point for a correct answer and 0 points for a wrong answer.

To pass a candidate will need to get 50% or more of the questions correct in both the Rules and Regs and Technical Theory parts.

Article 14 indicates Digital Signal Processing (DSP) is being added to the exam.

The exam change is expected to be implemented 3 months after its publication in the Journal.

The decree also contains some changes relating to callsigns.

Official Journal PDF - https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/download/pdf?id=URjHGUS3MIa2ACFEemnX43m5ifQeOmNVXdsTzHrVmHE=