France’s lower house of parliament has passed a law that bans the use of excessively thin fashion models and imposes possible jail sentences on companies that hire them.

The move by France, with its fashion and luxury industries worth tens of billions of euros, comes after a similar ban by Israel in 2013, while other countries, like Italy and Spain, rely on voluntary codes of conduct to protect models.

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It is part of a wider move against anorexia in France by president Francois Hollande’s government, where up to 40,000 people – mostly girls and women – suffer from the condition.

The law bans the use of any model whose Body Mass Index (BMI) is lower than levels approved by health authorities.

“The activity of model is banned for any person whose Body Mass Index (BMI) is lower than levels proposed by health authorities and decreed by the ministers of health and labour,” the legislation said.

The lawmaker behind the bill previously said models would have to present a medical certificate showing a BMI of at least 18, about 55 kg for a height of 1.75 metres, before being hired for a job and for a few weeks afterwards.

MPs also made it illegal to condone anorexia and said any re-touched photo that alters the bodily appearance of a model for commercial purposes must carry a message stating it had been manipulated.

The law, voted through the lower house of parliament by Mr Hollande’s Socialist majority despite opposition by conservative parliamentarians, envisages imprisonment of up to six months and a fine of 75,000 euros ($107,820) for any agency contravening it.

A second measure means that any website inciting a reader to “seek excessive thinness by encouraging eating restrictions for a prolonged period of time, resulting in risk of mortality or damage to health” will face up to a year in prison and fines of up to 100,000 euros.

Elite and IMG, two big modelling agencies present in France, both declined to comment on the moves.

Some 30,000 to 40,000 people in France suffer from anorexia, most of them teenagers, health experts estimate.

In 2010, Isabelle Caro, an anorexic 28-year-old former French fashion model, died after posing for a photographic campaign to raise awareness about the illness.

ABC/Reuters