As an organizer of scientific events, i.e. congresses, colloquia and other symposia, you may choose to include one or more sessions eligible for CPD - Continuing Professional Development - in your event. The ethics committee of the Agence nationale du DPC recently clarified its position on this point, setting out certain rules governing the organization of such CPD sessions as part of a congress. Here are the main points to bear in mind from this clarification concerning program design, session organization and event promotion.

When designing the program, it is important to :

• schedule sessions of at least 3 consecutive hours,
• structure each session around a single pedagogical theme,
• carry out a pre- and post-training evaluation to quantify what participants have learned.

Within the organization, ensure that :

• Rental of the CPD venue is covered by a contract between the ODPC and you, the conference organizer.
• This room is accessible to CPD participants only.
• Congress registration is not compulsory for CPD participants.
• Participants in CPD sessions wear distinctive badges.

For promotion, keep in mind that :

Sessions eligible for CPD can be included in the official program of your congress. You will then need to mention the CPD action in question and its organizer (name and registration number).

Please note that until the action has been validated by the Agence nationale du DPC, it should be indicated that it is "eligible for CPD, subject to publication".

2 watchwords for the Agence Nationale du DPC in 2019: simplification and adaptation

The Agency's feedback from ODPCs showed that they perceived the filing procedure as :

• restrictive (as it requires them to provide all the elements of the action from the outset),
  unsuitable (as it does not take into account the specific features of each action),
• and time-consuming (as it requires the updating of elements transmitted at a very early stage, which have become obsolete by the time they are evaluated).

To increase flexibility and responsiveness, the agency has simplified the filing process on its website, and now offers filing forms adapted to each type of share. Another example of this simplification is the fact that publication of an action no longer requires all the information to be submitted at the initial filing stage. Instead, it can be iterated. This new feature reduces the number of documents to be provided at the outset, making it easier to get your project off the ground. In 2018, the agency had already rolled out an action renewal procedure to simplify the process for renewals.

For more information:
https://www.agencedpc.fr/