French Federation and our C-cards

mattmexico

Yo all

I ha dreplied to an introduction and it turned interesting, so I thought I start a new thread about it.

I heard that it is quite difficult or even impossible to dive on french dive boats unless you have done a french federation course, meaning is my courses and training so far do not count in France and I could not get onto a diving boat ........

Could you educate me on this point please ... cause you have some awesome wrecks in southern France ...


Hi Matt,

I was on my CCR course with Mike from your shop last week - BTW many thanks the course was excellent and I was very impressed with your set-up and Mike's teaching - I will be moving to the South of France and have heard rumours that the French can be very 'interessant' reagrding people's qualifications. What is you're experience with this and I was wondering if you plan to do a Protec CMAS cross over course to enable some of us non-CMAS qualified divers to dive happily in France in the future,

Regards,

Nick


yo all

As I understand the issue doing a cross over program to CMAS is not the issue even. If your training and certification has been through IANTD then you are part of CMAS. I was just looking at the new redone CMAS web page and could actually not find the listing.

The way I heard it is that even if you hold a CMAS training c-card, which has been earned outside France, is not enough to let you dive inside France, on a French vessel, to that level level of training because you have not done the training under French Federation rules with a French Federation instructor.

I was told that by some French Federation instructors and would like to take the oprtunity her on Rebreather World to learnd more about it.


Matt

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mattmexico

yo

After some more digging on the CMAS web page www.cmas2000.org I actually found TDI listed, but not IANTD anymore ...

Matt

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N 20' 37.617'
W 87' 04.693'
www.andreaswmatthes.com

Stephane

Hi,

To dive in France you must be certified, whatever card you have.
To dive a rebreather, you must be certified on the gas you are breathing. And it must be CE approved.
This is when you dive in a dive center. When you are on your own, you are free to do what you want.

Most technical agencies (TDI, IANTD, etc...) are recognised. Anyway, if you want to dive with your rebreather, there some smart people do accept non CE stuff.

An instructor in France can deliver a temporary certification (only valid in the dive center) based on the level and the skill of the foreigne diver. So everyone is happy!

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Stéphane
Hammer-rEvo powered!

denzel

Matt,

You're talking about the old dark days here.
I vividly remember being told "non" after showing everthing from padi OW till padi idc staff instructor. no matter what card or specialty I pulled out of my hat was sufficient. Wether it was cert card or instructor rating.

Then I showed my CMAS 1* card and the faces started shining.
Then I showed them all the silly CMAS cards up to 2* CMAS instructor and told them to f@ck off.
And went happily diving with the dive centre next door who was happy with my (first) offered padi adv for the donatheur (sp(failing memery))

This donatheur is in just over 40 metres of water.
these days things are waaayyyy better. This story dates from about 6 years ago....

Denz.

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decoweenie

I dived in southern France with my MK-15 in Oct-2000. No one asked me if it was CE-approved, so may be things have changed now...

Matt, send Simon (IANTD-UK) an email. A few months ago, he sent out a notice about a recent agreement about cross-recognition between CMAS and IANTD certs.

Stephane

Yes, the law changed in 2004 and explicitly says that the rebreather must be CE approved or must be manufactured before 1990 and that no modifications must have been done on it.
So diving a Megalodon is not OK while diving an stock IDA71 is.

But there are some smart instructors that allow us to dive non CE rebreather.

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Stéphane
Hammer-rEvo powered!

decoweenie

Thanks for the info.
Yes, I can still dive the MK-15 then...
No, I can't...

How about diving a CE-certified unit (i.e. Evolution, for example) with modifications (i.e. BMCL, TF, etc) ?

Stephane

Well, I suppose it's not CE approved anymore but it has the CE sticker on it.
There are few people diving rebreathers in France and there are fewer intructors who knows if a machine is OK or not. So you will be allowed to dive with it.
Even a modified Dolphin.

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Stéphane
Hammer-rEvo powered!

caveseeker7

Stock MK15 are extinct I believe. The last one spotted in the wild was back in '84.
Seriously, how many people have seen 100% original MK15. How many in France?

Joe, ANDI - CMAS?

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Cheers
Stefan



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jradomski

ANDI has no official agreement with CMAS, it is not really necessary..

ANDI certs should have been recognized in the EU since last year by all members since they have EUF certification, as does PADI and SSI.

SDI has recently been approved (april 30 -2006) and IANTD as well (april 15, 2006)

EU members are allowed to put additional requirements on THEIR citizens, but must recognize standards that are EU recognized on non nationals.

France did apply for a waiver for a temporary extension concerning the regulation for divers working as professionsals.. Eventuallly they will have to recognize non nationals ability to teach unencombered.

Some other countries (not necessarily EU members) have similiar rules requiring extra requirements on their citizens..

For Example Greece has a whole list of requirements necessary to be recognized.. The two points that may prevent multiple agencies being recognized is that the Agency must have a full time regional HQ presence (in Greece) and Staff, and the Materials for classes taught have to be in Greek. They do recognize outside certifications, but to certify within the country each agency must obtain a license and to do so they have to meet the above requirements and more.

As of Today, ANDI is the only licensed Dive Training Agency in Greece, and the head of ANDI - Hellas has been apointed the Auditor for ANY facility wishing to be licensed as a dive operator.

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Joe Radomski
CCR Trimix Instructor Trainer
ANDI Instructor Trainer Director #10

All posts are personal opinions and DO NOT reflect any affiliated agency unless specifically stated.