After many models voiced their concerns about their own health and well being, France has adopted a bill requiring models to submit a doctor’s certificate confirming their health before being permitted to work. Models will need to prove that their health and weight are “compatible with the practise of the profession”
It will now be up to individual doctors to assess the health of models on a case by case basis taking a number of factors into account including age and gender. Employers who break the law could face up to six months in jail and a €75,000 fine
France is not the first country to legislate on underweight models – Italy, Spain and Israel have all done so. Magazines must also flag all photographs that have been digitally enhanced and altered, be labeling them “touched up”