The French healthcare system is a plural system.Patients have the choice of being treated in private hospitals, in public non-teaching hospitals, in teaching hospitals or in private hospitals also participating in the public sector.Some structures can be small and quite isolated or, at the opposite end, can be secondary or tertiary care centres.Specifically for oncology, a special type of hospital exists with the Comprehensive Cancer Centres (CLCC) which are private but also operate in the public sector and which are also teaching Hospitals (20 in France).Given this range in types of institutions, the French Government felt it necessary to ensure minimum standards of care across all institutions offering care to cancer patients, by defining a National Cancer Plan on which institutional accreditations are based.Since 2003,two National Cancer Plans (2003-2007 and 2009-2013) have been launched to organise the healthcare offer in order to enhance quality and safety, covering three types of cancer treatment: chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery.The first plan established the fundamental bases for cancer care in France.The objective of the second plan is to sustain and further the progress achieved by the first plan with a special focus on coordination for post-hospital care, equal access to treatment and innovation.It should be noted that oncology is the first medical domain to be discussed and defined as such at a political level which has forced medical professionals to increase the quality of their practices.As an interface between politicians and medical professionals, an Institute was created in 2004, the National Institute for Cancer (INCa) which introduced a new paradigm of medical management in France.As a result of cancer being decreed to be a national concern, medical professionals have had to accept limitations on their freedom and to abide by sometimes restrictive rules.INCa has the mission to implement this national policy as the interface between healthcare professionals and the population.The accreditation allocation process began in November 2008 and has continued throughout 2009 and 2010.The complete regulatory framework will be fully implemented by the end of 2010.The regulatory framework applicable to all three modalities of cancer treatment ineluding surgery is based on three pillars: transversal requirements, minimum volume thresholds and technical criteria.