Buy Medical Equipment in France

An ASNR receipt before the unit ships

French rules bar anyone from supplying an X-ray device to a user without a declaration receipt, registration, or authorisation. ASNR inspectors ask X-ray suppliers in France to obtain that receipt before each delivery. Each supplier also keeps a list of the units it has passed on. So, with any X-ray order, please send your receipt or decision before the unit leaves the maker.

We're MediGear, registered in England and Wales as a medical equipment distributor, with healthcare buyers in more than 80 countries. For each request, we prepare the quote and the documents, then ship the certified unit. Send a model number, or tell us what the department needs. We look for verified manufacturers who can supply it with French labelling, then check the points on this page before sending the quote to your biomedical engineers and purchasing team. Requests come in through our buyers page, with nothing to sign up for, whether you need one unit or equipment supplies in France for a whole ward.

From AP-HP to private clinic groups

We quote medical equipment in Paris and the regions for public hospital groups and private operators alike:

• AP-HP and its 38 hospitals, including Bichat, Lariboisière and Beaujon in Clichy
• Hospices Civils de Lyon with its 13 hospitals, AP-HM in Marseille and the CHU de Nantes
• New builds such as AP-HP's Saint-Ouen campus, expected in 2028 with 986 beds, and Hôpital Loire Santé in Nantes
• Private groups such as ELSAN, with 212 hospitals and centres, and Ramsay Santé, and the theatre equipment their clinics run on
• Military hospitals of the Service de santé des armées, such as Bégin
• Dental and veterinary practices, which follow their own ASNR lists
• French distributors that have declared their activity to ANSM

In the French health system, public hospitals buy directly or through central purchasing bodies. UniHA is the national buying group for public hospitals, with about 1,650 member establishments. Resah serves health and social care, and UGAP lets buyers order without running their own procedure. State tenders sit on PLACE, the State's procurement platform, and notices appear in BOAMP. None of this applies to a practice ordering a single ultrasound unit, which needs only a clear written quote.

ANSM declarations and French labelling

ANSM, the national agency for the safety of medicines and health products, is the device authority. An ordinance of April 2022 adapted French law to the EU Medical Devices Regulation. Every distributor making devices available in France must declare its activity to ANSM, even as a side activity, though sales to the public are excluded. Manufacturers, authorised representatives and importers register in EUDAMED, and devices registered nationally with ANSM must be entered there before 28 November 2026.

Labels and instructions must be in French, for professional and lay users alike, while software screens for professionals may be in French or English. Because the UK sits outside the EU, who acts as the importer when hospitals in France buy directly from us is for them and their own advisers to settle. Regulatory advice is outside what we offer, and we are neither a French importer nor a distributor. Every quote includes a list of the unit's certificates.

ASNR declaration, registration and room reports

ASNR, the nuclear safety and radiation protection authority formed on 1 January 2025 from ASN and IRSN, oversees medical X-ray imaging. Fixed and mobile radiography units, including mammography and bone densitometry, and dental units, including panoramic ones, are used under a declaration filed online through ASNR Téléservices. Diagnostic CT, some interventional work, and non-dental cone-beam CT require registration, valid for up to 10 years.

Any change to a declared installation needs a new declaration. An X-ray room must meet ASN decision 2017-DC-0591, with a technical report to prove it. The operator runs internal and external quality control under ANSM decisions. Mammography has an initial external control before first clinical use and another every 6 months, while CT has an annual one. CT and MRI scanners also count as heavy equipment and require their own authorisation under a regime in force since 1 June 2023.

Sockets, maintenance and Mon espace santé

Four details go to the maker before we quote:

• Sockets. French sockets follow standard NF C 61-314 on a 230 V, 50 Hz supply. Have the plug checked on site, and tell us at once if the maker's design is 110 V or 60 Hz.
• Maintenance. Radiology equipment is on the list of devices that must be maintained, and the operator can do it in-house, through the supplier or under contract. Ask the maker who covers France.
• Wear parts. Probes, filters, and tubes on diagnostic imaging devices wear out, and spare parts and consumables can be included in the first order.
• Patient records. Mon espace santé, run by Assurance Maladie and the health ministry, holds patients' records, so check DICOM and HL7 links with your IT team.

Open points go to the maker in writing, because a missing French manual or test report is hard to fix once the unit is on the quay.

DELTA IE and wood packaging checks

Since 26 March 2025, imports have been declared in DELTA IE, the system run by the DGDDI, French customs. The declarant or a customs representative, acting directly or indirectly, lodges the declaration, and an EORI number is assigned first. Supporting documents are held and shown on request rather than filed each time, so each order travels with:

• Commercial invoice and packing list, matched to the declaration
• Proof of origin, where the declarant needs it
• HS codes for every unit and accessory
• CE marking evidence: certificate and declaration of conformity
• Labels and instructions for use in French

Wood packaging from outside the EU must be ISPM 15 treated and marked. The agriculture ministry's plant health service checks imports under its 2025 control plan, which applies the EU rules on wood that fails. We ask makers for crates treated and marked to that standard.

Shipping into Le Havre, Fos or Dunkerque

1. Start the request. Use the RFQ form or email with the model, quantity and site, and attach your ASNR receipt for an X-ray unit.
2. Look it over. Catalogue items are usually quoted within 48 hours, with the product, certification, lead time and French port.
3. Say yes in writing. Nothing goes to the maker until we receive that approval by email or letter.
4. The French ports. Sea freight into Le Havre or Rouen on HAROPA PORT, Marseille Fos or Dunkerque, or air freight into Paris-Charles de Gaulle for smaller items.

Delivery ends at the port or airport you nominate. Your declarant then lodges the import declaration in DELTA IE, and the road leg to the hospital is yours. For a hospital in an overseas region such as La Réunion or Martinique, tell us early, because the long sea or air leg shapes the timing.

One unit, a new campus or a used scanner

Even a single autoclave for a practice in Brittany is a normal request, since most catalogue lines are quoted per unit. New campuses and wards are quoted as multi-line requests; see hospital setup for that work, and trauma teams can browse Orthopaedic, Trauma and Prosthetics. If you run a lab, send us the list you would give a lab equipment supplier, and we will quote what makers can supply. You can then compare our quote with quotes from manufacturers of laboratory equipment in France. Refurbished medical devices and other pre-owned units are in our refurbished range, and French law sets a condition on the transfer of some used devices. For a device on the 2012 list, whoever is responsible for the transfer must first draw up a technical attestation confirming that it has been regularly maintained. A used X-ray unit also needs its own declaration or registration and its quality control on entry into service.

Disclaimer

Treat this page as general information for French buyers. Nothing on it is an offer to supply, and it cannot stand in for legal, regulatory or customs advice. Each quote depends on what the maker can supply, and an order exists only once both sides confirm it in writing. Devices need French labels and instructions, and X-ray equipment needs its ASNR declaration, registration or authorisation in place. You handle import clearance and the regulatory side of the purchase, since we are neither a French importer nor a distributor.