Background checks in France
Join Zinc for non-invasive global candidate vetting, including criminal court searches and diploma or reference verification.
Checks and features
The essentials for smooth hiring in France
Criminal certificate verification
To meet French criminal record certificate restrictions and comply with the French Labour Code, Zinc offers a candidate-led criminal certificate verification.
The right support, when you need it
Zinc's AI-enabled chatbot provides candidate assistance in 200+ languages, so their questions don't clutter up your inbox or make you the go-between.
Compliance you can count on
Zinc's dedicated legal, compliance, and data security team are always on hand to help you navigate France's unique screening requirements, run proportional checks, and help you stay in line with CNIL.
7.62
/10
14
days
Average criminal check completion
12
days
Average education check completion
Only the checks you need
Build candidate vetting packages in line with French labour laws, and ensure that you’re only checking what’s relevant. Zinc helps you adapt to local hiring and build a smoother candidate experience across multiple regions.
Fast, reliable results
65% of Zinc’s checks return near-instant results, helping you get your workforce moving faster. All of our turnaround times, including global education checks, are published live so you always know when you can expect to see results.
Your candidate data, secured
Zinc follows GDPR and CNIL guidelines to make sure that candidate data is protected. Our platform is ISO 27001 certified, and our team of legal, data security, and compliance experts are always on hand to help you understand relevant legislation.
“Zinc has been good, the main benefit for us has been the time saved. Before, references were a killer, trying to get hold of people and chase up emails. With Zinc, it is a far more robust way of doing it and the international scope for checks has been important for us as well.”
Checks that work everywhere you do
Fully visibility, transparent pricing, and adaptable checks for borderless hiring.
Industry-leading global turnaround times
Adaptive checks, not extra admin
Integrated with your HR tech stacking
Truly transparent pricing
Pricing
Built for global teams
Whether you're a growing team or an enterprise hiring across borders, Zinc has a plan for you.
Under 20 hires annually
Pay As You Grow
Get started in minutes. Our Pay As You Grow plan is built for lower hiring volumes — a flat rate per check, with no hidden costs or setup fees.
Start checking in minutes, no setup needed
Flat rates per check, no hidden fees
Pay only for what you check, every month
20+ hires annually
Custom solutions
For larger volumes, our experts build a plan around your needs. Credit is flexible with your hiring and never expires, with integrations, setup, training, and support all included for free.
A custom plan built around your hiring
Credit pool that rolls over and never expires
Integrations, setup, and training included for free
What background checks are permitted in France?
France runs one of the most restrictive background check environments in Europe. Employers can carry out employment history verification, education and qualification checks, references, and criminal court searches, but the Bulletin n°3 (the French criminal record certificate) has to be requested by the candidate personally.
Employers can't request it directly or keep an electronic copy. Every check has to meet the CNIL's proportionality requirement: a direct and necessary link to the role.
What is the CNIL and how does it affect background checks?
The CNIL (Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés) is France's data protection authority, enforcing GDPR as implemented through France's Loi Informatique et Libertés. It takes a strict line on pre-employment screening. Data collection has to be proportionate and necessary, consent has to be explicit, and sweeping background checks aren't permitted. Zinc's compliance team can advise on what's appropriate for specific roles.
Can Zinc automate the Bulletin n°3 process in France?
No, the candidate has to request it themselves from the Casier judiciaire national.
Once they've received a validation link and reference code by email, they download the certificate and upload it to Zinc, which then issues a signed digital report. Where this process creates friction for candidates, Zinc offers a criminal court search as an automated alternative for eligible roles to speed up hiring.
Can Zinc run checks for our French employees alongside our global workforce?
Yes, that's exactly what Zinc is built for. Your French hiring sits on the same platform as your other international hires, so you’re using one centralised system instead of paying for localised solutions.
Zinc’s platform adapts to the legal requirements of the country you’re hiring in, so candidates aren’t giving you unnecessary data or being frustrated with redundant fields. All your checks progress is available in a centralised dashboard, including country-by-country breakdowns. If you have multiple hiring teams globally, user groups allow you to share checks packages across Zinc without exposing candidate data to users who don’t need to see it.