The Plan d'Action pour la Croissance et la Transformation des Entreprises, also known as the PACTE law, aims to place VSEs and SMEs at the heart of the challenges facing French economic growth.
The French Minister of the Economy, Bruno le Maire, wanted to "renew the spirit of economic conquest" with a series of reforms designed to improve the situation of small and medium-sized businesses, while strengthening employee participation in their results.
While Germany has 12,000 mid-sized companies, France has just 4,500.
Removing the obstacles to the growth of French companies has thus become one of the government's major projects.
But the law also includes a series of provisions aimed at auto-entrepreneurs and the self-employed to encourage entrepreneurship.
From their creation to their demise, she focuses on key moments in the life of freelance companies.
Defended since autumn 2017, it will be presented to the Council of Ministers on Wednesday June 18, 2018.
Find out here what's new for entrepreneurs
"Simplify" is the word often used by Bruno le Maire, the French Minister of the Economy, when talking about auto-entrepreneurs.
Setting up a business isn't always easy, especially when it comes to knowing who you're dealing with.
From 2021, an electronic one-stop shop is planned to replace the 1,400 Centres de Formalités des Entreprises (CFE) spread across the country.
Today, the latter are dependent on various bodies, such as the commercial court, the chamber of trade or the URSSAF.
This new dematerialized procedure will speed up processing efficiency and simplify administrative tasks. It will also make it possible to centralize data on all persons benefiting from this status, for better harmonization of public policies.
Micro-entrepreneurs with annual sales of less than 5,000 euros will no longer be required to open a dedicated bank account .
Until now, micro-entrepreneurs working in the craft sector were required to complete a 30-hour training course, known as the Stage préalable à l'installation (SPI) .
It was compulsory to obtain registration with the Trade Register.
However, its cost was sometimes a real brake, especially for young craftsmen. It is now entirely optional, and should encourage the growth of artisan entrepreneurship.
The ambitious measures announced by the government will be directly financed by the development of the fund dedicated to innovation.
It will be funded by the sale of shares held by the French State in several major companies, including Aéroport de Paris, Française des Jeux and Engie.
Targeted at priority industries, this fund for disruptive innovation is expected to be endowed with around 10 billion euros for a large number of startups.
Bercy plans to increase its capacity in the coming years, or to use part of the proceeds from the sale of securities to repay part of France's debt.
This fund for innovation has already been in existence since mid-January 2018, but it was only very sparsely endowed until now
The measures taken as part of the PACTE law will provide a new impetus in its favor, although the contours of the companies that will benefit have still not been specified by the government.
The PACTE Act is one of the wide-ranging economic reforms launched by the President of the Republic and his government team more than a year ago.
It is in line with the motto "liberate and protect", by easing the constraints weighing on entrepreneurs, in particular the owners of very small businesses, SMEs and micro-entrepreneurs.
The PACTE law contributes to this, and builds on the already visible consequences of previous reforms, before turning now to future building sites: unemployment insurance and vocational training are on the agenda for the end of 2018.
Written by our expert Paul LASBARRERES-CANDAU
June 19, 2018
