The ASN conducts a critical analysis of the safety documents proposed by the applicants to obtain an approval certificate for their package design.

Certain package designs require the approval of the competent authority before they can be authorised for transport in France:
- radioactive materials in special forms;
- slightly dispersible radioactive materials;
- type B and C packages and all fissile material packages;
- special arrangement shipments (the package fails to comply with all the requisite criteria, but compensatory transport measures have been taken to ensure that transport safety will not be below that of a transport operation involving an approved package).

By delegation from the ministers and after technical review of the documents by the IRSN, the ASN approves the package designs complying with the regulations and validates approvals issued by the competent authorities in other countries for transport in France.

These certificates are usually issued for a period of a few years. At the present time, about 100 applications for approval are submitted annually by the manufacturers to the ASN (new package design, extension of the term of validity, validation of a certificate issued by a foreign authority, special arrangement, extension of a certificate to cover contents other than those initially defined in the safety documents).

Generally speaking, certificates are issued for package designs and not package by package. However, manufacturing, operating and maintenance conditions are consistently specified.

These certificates are often issued outside the context of specific transport operations, for which no prior notification of the ASN is generally required, but which may be subjected to security checks (physical protection of materials under the control of the Defence High Official at the Ministry for Industry).

It is worth noting the significant reduction in special arrangements issued since 1999. This illustrates the effects of ASN actions in this field and the efforts made by the radioactive material transport industry.

The types of transport concerned by these certificates are as follows: