Terms and conditions

France Éducation International (FEI) offers a language proficiency test that assesses French language skills: the Test de Connaissance du Français (TCF).
France Éducation international is committed to processing personal data in accordance with Law No. 78-17 of January 6, 1978, as amended, relating to information technology, files, and civil liberties, and Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 27, 2016, on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (GDPR).

Who is the data controller?

The controller of personal data is France Éducation international (FEI), a public administrative institution located at 1, avenue Léon Journault, 92318 Sèvres.
What is your personal data used for?
France Éducation international processes your personal data for the administration of the TCF, which includes test design, test management, and the management of the network of test centers.
More specifically, the data collected is used to:
– Manage your registration and the administration of the TCF;
– Assess your oral and written language skills;
– Improve the quality and fairness of the tests

For this purpose, FEI may use certain pseudonymized or anonymized data for: o psychometric analyses;
– the training of assessors (graders, examiners, and test writers);
– scientific research in the field of language assessment and the development of tools, particularly those based on AI;
– Refinement of the AI-based correction assistance solution developed by FEI (FIDELIA).
o Prevention and combating of certification fraud;
o Compilation of statistics.

What is the legal basis for the processing?

The legal bases for processing are:

– The performance of a task carried out in the public interest within the meaning of Article 6(1)(e) of the GDPR,
– Legitimate interests as defined in Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR, namely improving the quality and fairness of the tests, positioning FEI as an innovative public entity in the field of the French language, and optimizing financial management and costs related to grading; as well as preventing and combating fraud.
– The legal obligation within the meaning of Article 6(1)(c) of the GDPR to transmit the data of TCF candidates in France to the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, in accordance with the decree of May 21, 2021, issued pursuant to Article R. 6113-17-4 of the Labor Code.

Who has access to your data?

The data collected by France Éducation international is accessible only to:
– Authorized representatives of France Éducation international;
– Staff at your TCF testing center during the validity period of your test;
– A subcontractor of France Éducation international responsible for printing the personalized test booklets;
– Researchers may be asked to analyze the test responses.

To help prevent fraud, organizations with which you voluntarily share your TCF certificate may verify its validity, in particular using the QR code it contains.

If you object, the validity of your certificate cannot be confirmed.

Certain anonymous written and oral assessments may be used for the purpose of having the TCF recognized by official bodies, including those outside the EU.
In addition, France Éducation International shares certain data regarding candidates who have taken the TCF certification in France—which is registered in the National Directory of Professional Certifications (RNCP)—with the Caisse des dépôts et des consignations to comply with a legal obligation.

What data is used?

France Éducation International processes only the data strictly necessary to achieve the objectives described above. This includes data you provide when you register with a testing center, as well as data derived from the assessment of your oral and written language skills, namely:

Identification Data:
o Personal Information: last name, first name, gender, date and country (and city if born in France) of birth,
o Candidate’s email address,
o Nationality,
o Photo,
o Primary language,
o Candidate number,
o Certificate number,
o For the TCF Canada only: passport number,
o only for the TCF as part of the DAP in France: mailing address and phone number,
o signature,
o TCF certificate number.

Information about taking the TCF:
o TCF test formats:
o Test locations and dates:
o Written answers:
o Voice recording for the speaking section:
o reason for registering for the TCF,
o if applicable, your documentation supporting a request for accommodations or an exemption from the tests,
o if applicable, your documentation supporting an absence,
o if applicable, information related to cheating, including information related to the disciplinary committee.

s based on the CEFR language proficiency levels.

The content of your responses may be used to create corpora for scientific research. If personal data is accidentally included in the data sets, France Éducation international implements measures (pseudo-anonymization) when creating research corpora to prevent the risk of identification.

Since October 2024, language proficiency assessment results have been based on a hybrid dual-correction process: one correction is always performed by a human grader, while the other is generated by an automated system called “FIDELIA.” In the event of a significant discrepancy between the two evaluations, a third human evaluation is conducted to ensure the quality and fairness of the assessment.
France Éducation international never bases candidates’ language proficiency assessment results solely on automated processing.
France Éducation international never uses personally identifiable or directly identifying data for the development or refinement of the AI-based marking assistance solution “FIDELIA.” The data used is strictly limited to the purposes at hand (answers to TCF questions, associated language proficiency levels, and sociodemographic data on candidates and graders necessary to prevent bias).

How long is your data retained?

Your data is retained for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described above and until the applicable statutory limitation periods and archiving periods have expired.
FEI retains your data in a format that allows for your identification for 10 years, with the exception of the following specific shorter retention periods:
– Incomplete registration files are deleted after 6 months.
– Signatures are retained for 3 years.
– Voice recordings of spoken statements are retained for 2 years.
– Supporting documents for requests for exam accommodations and requests for exam exemptions are retained for 1 year.
– Supporting documents for requests for absences are retained for the statutory period applicable to accounting records.
– Data related to cheating is retained as follows: o Ban on taking exams – until the sanction expires. o Disciplinary committee records: 10 years.

Data Transfer Outside the EU

The test centers where you register to take the TCF may be located anywhere in the world, including in countries outside the European Union, where personal data protection rules may differ from those applicable within the European Union.
Only the test center where you registered will have access to your data, including your test results, for the duration of your certification’s validity.

What are your rights regarding your personal data?

In accordance with the French Data Protection Act (Law No. 78-17 of January 6, 1978, as amended) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR – No. 2016-679 of April 27, 2016), you have, depending on the applicable legal basis, the right to access, rectify, erase, restrict, and object to the processing of your personal data.

You may exercise these rights by submitting your request: – by email to dpd@france-education-international.fr or
– – via the online form at
– – by mail to:
Data Protection Officer
France Éducation International
1 avenue Léon Journault 92310 Sèvres cedex

If, after contacting us, you believe that your personal data protection rights have not been respected, you may file a complaint with the National Commission for Information Technology and Civil Liberties (CNIL).