What is the role of the Medical Council in the Public Service?

Verified 28 January 2026 - Public Service / Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Medical advice is a advisory body that your employer administration must mandatory view before make certain decisions about your administrative situation in case of illness. We present you the information you need to know about this instance.

In the State civil service, a ministerial medical council shall be established at each central administration of each ministerial department. A departmental medical council is also established at the prefect in each department.

In the territorial and hospital public functions, it is the departmental medical council, placed with the prefect of each department, which is competent.

The members of the medical council may meet in restricted or plenary formation depending on the situation on which they are consulted.

Restricted training

The medical board in restricted training is composed of 3 regular doctors and 1 or more substitute doctors.

These doctors are designated, by the minister or the prefect, among the registered doctors.

FYI  

The list of approved general practitioners and specialists is drawn up by the prefect on a proposal from theARS: titleContent after consulting the Departmental Council of the Order of Physicians.

Plenary Training

In plenary session, the medical council is composed of doctors sitting in restricted session, 2 representatives of the administration to which the staff member concerned belongs and 2 full staff representatives.

The medical council is chaired by a doctor appointed by the minister or the prefect from among the regular doctors.

Restricted training

The Medical Council shall meet in restricted training when considering the following draft decisions:

  • 1re setting up long-term sick leave (LWOP) or long-term (CLD) or severe illness
  • Renewal of a CLM or a CLD after the one-year or three-year period has been exhausted and paid full salary
  • Reinstatement at the end of the rights à sick leave, to CLM, CLD, sick leave, leave for temporary disability attributable to service - Citis), leave for {circumflex over (a)} or occupational disease
  • Reinstatement at the end of a CLM or CLD period if you perform duties that require specific health conditions or if you have been automatically placed in a CLM or CLD
  • Automatic lay-off for health reasons, renewal of lay-off and reinstatement at the end of availability
  • Reclassification to another job body or framework of jobs as a result of an alteration in your health.

The medical board also meets in restricted formation, when it is referred for advice in the event of a challenge to a medical opinion rendered by a licensed physician.

Plenary Training

The medical board shall meet in plenary session to decide on the imputability to the service of an accident or illness when an act committed by the official or a circumstance unrelated to the service does not allow the administration to establish itself the link between the service and the illness or accident.

The medical council also meets in plenary session, in particular in the following situations:

  • Determination of the rate of permanent incapacity following an occupational disease
  • Allocation of thetemporary invalidity allowance in the event of invalidity resulting from an accident on duty which has led to a permanent incapacity of at least 10% or an occupational disease
  • Sick leave due to injury or illness acquired or aggravated by performing an act of devotion in the public interest or by exposing one's life to save the life of one or more persons
  • Retirement for disability
  • Allocation of an annuity to a probationary official dismissed for physical incapacity.

Medical advice is seized for opinion by the administration, at its initiative or at your request.

The medical officer presiding over the medical board examines the file. He can entrust the instruction to another doctor, member of the board.

The doctor in charge of the investigation may use the expertise of a licensed physician.

The registered doctor who has been asked for an expert opinion shall give a written opinion and may attend the Council without taking part in the vote.

Please note

A physician who is a member of the medical board and has acted as an expert on a file may not vote on that file.

When it sits in plenary training, the medical board may have the administration carry out an investigation or an expertise it considers necessary.

You are informed at least 10 working days in advance the date of the meeting of the medical council.

You have the right to consult your medical records, make written submissions and provide medical certificates.

You also have the right to be accompanied or represented by a person of your choice at all stages of the procedure.

You can request that the doctor of your choice be heard by the medical board. Your administration can also make the doctor of his choice heard. If it deems it useful, the medical council may ask to hear you.

When your situation is reviewed by the Board in restricted training, the secretariat of the council shall inform you of grounds of challenge possible from the opinion rendered before the higher medical council.

When your situation is reviewed by the plenary training, the council secretariat shall inform you of your right to be heard by the medical board.

The opinion of the medical council is motivated in compliance with the medical secret. It is addressed to you and your administration.

Your administration informs the medical board of its decision.

When your situation has been reviewed by the medical advice in restricted training, you and your administration may challenge the opinion of the medical board before the higher medical council.

The Higher Medical Council is a national body attached to the Ministry of Health.

The secretariat of the medical council explains how to formulate this appeal.

The appeal must be made within 2 months following the notification in the opinion of the medical board.

The challenge must be presented to the medical council which forwards it to the higher medical council and informs you and your administration.

The Higher Medical Council may arrange for a complementary medical expertise.

The higher medical council shall decide on the basis of the documents in the file on the day on which it examines it.

In the absence of notice issued by the higher medical council within 4 months according to the date on which he has your file, the notice of the medical board in restricted training is considered as confirmed.

This period shall be suspended when the higher medical council has a supplementary medical assessment carried out.

Your administration shall make a new decision on the basis of the opinion of the Higher Medical Council or, in the absence of the opinion of the Higher Medical Council, at the end of the 4 months.

Opinions given by the medical council and possibly by the higher medical council are not binding on the administration.

The administration may take a different decision of the opinion delivered.

The opinion of the medical board cannot therefore not be the subject of a appeal to the administrative judge.

By contrast, in the event of irregular proceedings (absence of consultation of the medical board, irregular consultation), this irregularity can be invoked before the administrative tribunal during a cancelation request a decision of the administration.