Since 1986, Inserm has been mandated by NLM (U.S. National Library of Medicine) to translate MeSH into French. The bilingual version (English-French) of MeSH is updated every year and is available as an XML file that is produced by the NLM, Inserm and Inist-CNRS. Inserm holds the copyright of the bilingual version (English-French) of MeSH and distributes it in the French-speaking scientific community.

Inserm provides the the bilingual version (English-French) of MeSH XML file free of charge to users who request it. The re-use and distribution conditions for these data are governed by a CC-BY-NC 4.0 Creative Commons license. Under the terms of this license, the user agrees to mention the sources of the the bilingual version (English-French) of MeSH (NLM and Inserm) and not to use it commercially.