Isn't the "always in sight of surface" a UK notified "difference" to the ICAO definition of VFR/VMC? Hence not included in your "licence" rules, but in the "airspace" rules?
Not sure what that means to a JAA PPL holder, licence issued in the UK, when flying in countries where VFR above cloud is allowed. I suspect that, in reality, nobody will care. The French won't mind because their PPLs are allowed to do it, and the CAA won't know if you're doing it in France...