Is decennial insurance mandatory for French subcontractors?

In the French construction sector (BTP), the same question appears in almost every tender and subcontract: is a subcontractor required to hold decennial liability insurance (assurance responsabilité décennale)? Under French law, the short — and often misunderstood — answer is that there is generally no automatic statutory insurance duty for the subcontractor identical to that of the main contractor linked to the project owner (maître d'ouvrage) by a construction contract (louage d'ouvrage). In practice, however, a valid decennial certificate is almost always a contractual condition of access to the site. This gap between legal baseline and market practice shapes who can work, when invoices are paid, and how claims are handled. This article explains the general French framework; it is not personalised legal advice and does not replace a review of your contracts and policies.

What does French law require for decennial insurance?

Decennial liability and the related insurance rules sit in the French Civil Code (builders' ten-year guarantee) and the Insurance Code (compulsory decennial liability insurance for certain builders). In substance, builders bound to the project owner by a louage d'ouvrage contract — typically the main contractor — fall under a specific liability regime and, for relevant works, under a compulsory insurance duty.

The subcontractor is generally not a party to that contract with the project owner. The subcontractor is bound to the main contractor (or another upstream party) by a subcontract. That difference in contractual links is why French practice distinguishes:

• the statutory insurance duty, which mainly targets builders in the louage d'ouvrage relationship with the project owner;
• the contractual requirement of decennial (or equivalent) cover imposed on the subcontractor by the works contract, special conditions, approval process, or site rules.

So “no automatic statutory duty” does not mean “no need for insurance”. It means the immediate foundation of the demand is often contractual and commercial, not only statutory.

Key takeaway. Under French law, a BTP subcontractor is generally not subject to the same compulsory decennial insurance duty as the main contractor linked to the project owner. In practice, almost every market requires a valid certificate before work starts. Always check the contract, the trade package, and the nature of the works — and, depending on your situation, seek appropriate legal or insurance advice.

Why do contracts almost always require subcontractor decennial cover?

Several drivers stack together — without relying on unsourced percentages:

1. Risk control for the main contractor. If a defect of a decennial nature appears, the main contractor remains exposed toward the project owner. Upstream parties therefore want each link in the chain to show an ability to respond, or at least a certificate aligned with the trade.
2. Owner and control-office expectations. Tender dossiers and execution conditions often require certificates (decennial liability, professional indemnity, sometimes contractors' all risks) for every firm on site.
3. Approval and payment conditions. Subcontractor approval, first payment, or site access may be suspended until a valid certificate is produced, sometimes with site-specific wording when the contract so requires.
4. Perceived legal safety. Even where the statutory insurance duty is not the same for the subcontractor, parties prefer homogeneous insurance requirements along the chain.

The practical outcome is clear: without a certificate acceptable to the upstream contractor, the subcontractor can be kept off the site, regardless of the theoretical debate on statutory duty.

Statutory duty vs contractual requirement: a reading grid

Topic	Statutory duty (general French frame)	Contractual requirement (market practice)
Main target	Builders linked to the owner by louage d'ouvrage	Subcontractors under contract / site conditions
Legal basis	Civil Code / Insurance Code	Contract, approval, payment and site rules
Immediate effect	Liability / compulsory insurance where applicable	Refusal of approval, payment hold, site exclusion
Document expected	Certificate matching activities and works	Often the same form of certificate, checked by the buyer

This table is a reading aid, not an automatic legal classification of your file. Clause wording, type of building (housing, public facility, industrial, etc.), trade package (structure, waterproofing, electrical, etc.) and the real role on site can change the analysis. Depending on your situation, have the contract and certificates reviewed by a competent professional.

What should a subcontractor check before signing?

A short pre-signature checklist reduces avoidable friction:

• Activity scope declared to the insurer must actually cover the works in the package (neither too vague nor too narrow).
• Validity period of the certificate and continuity of cover throughout the intervention.
• Site / project mentions when the buyer or the contract requires them.
• Deductibles, limits and exclusions that may create a gap with market expectations (this is about fitness for purpose, not a ranking of “best” cover).
• Consistency with professional indemnity (RC Pro): decennial and PI cover different claim families; both may be requested.
• Further subcontracting: if you pass part of the package downstream, the same questions reappear one level lower.

What are the risks without the “required” cover, even if it is not “statutorily compulsory”?

Even where there is no automatic statutory insurance duty for the subcontractor, missing adapted cover creates practical risks:

• Refusal of approval or early termination for failure to meet conditions precedent.
• Payment hold or delay until insurance documents are produced.
• Balance-sheet exposure if the firm is pursued for defects falling under decennial or other liability regimes: without adapted insurance, claim costs may fall directly on the company.
• Friction with the owner's or main contractor's insurers, who may demand evidence of cover along the chain.

Claim handling always depends on facts, contracts and policy wording. No single pattern fits every site.

How do decennial, PI and other site policies fit together?

On one site, several policies may coexist without replacing each other:

• Decennial liability: typically addresses certain post-handover damage to the works under the ten-year guarantee framework.
• Professional indemnity (RC Pro): mainly targets third-party damage or professional faults outside the sole decennial regime.
• CAR / damage-to-works programmes (owner side or project programme): different indemnity logics, distinct from the subcontractor's liability cover.

The subcontractor does not need “one certificate for everything”. They need to understand what the contract asks for and what the policy actually covers. The factual question for a broker or insurer is: is this activity, on this type of works, covered — and with which limits?

Points of attention for the main contractor

For the main contractor, requiring decennial cover from subcontractors is often risk management, not paperwork for its own sake. Useful habits include:

• checking activity / package consistency, not only the presence of an insurer logo on a PDF;
• archiving certificates and renewals;
• anticipating policy end dates during long works;
• applying the same discipline to second-tier subcontracting when it is allowed.

These practices do not erase risk; they document it and make it more manageable.

Factual summary (general frame)

• Under French law, compulsory decennial insurance mainly targets builders linked to the project owner by a louage d'ouvrage contract.
• The subcontractor is generally not in that direct contractual link with the owner.
• In commercial and contractual practice, a decennial certificate is very widely required to intervene and to be paid.
• The absence of an automatic statutory duty does not remove the need to read the contract or to insure the real risk appropriately.
• Special situations (works type, contractual structure, cross-border elements, technical packages) deserve a case-by-case review.

This article provides general information on the French framework. It is not personalised legal, tax or insurance advice. For binding decisions (signature, approval, claim), rely on your contracts, your policies and, depending on your situation, on a qualified professional.