France

Operating a business

Different types of companies	Number of partners/shareholders	Maximum and/or minimum capital	Liabilities	Registration fees
Individual businessman alone	1 person	No notion of capital	Liability for debts on his personal property.	None
Limited liability company (SARL)	2 to 100 partners.	Set freely by the partners.	Limited to the amount of capital contributed.	About 420 €
Private limited company under sole ownership (EURL)	1 person	7 500 € minimum	Limited to the amount of capital contributed.	About 420 €
Public limited company (SA)	minimum 7 shareholders	2 250 00€ minimum if the company brings in public savings, 37 000 € otherwise	Limited to the amount of capital contributed.	About 420 €
Simplified joint-stock company (SAS).	minimum : 1 natural person or legal entity	37 000 € minimum	Limited to the amount of capital contributed.
General partnership (SNC).	minimum 2 partners	no minimum	Liability is joint and indefinite.
Limited joint-stock partnership	- the active partners - the silent partners	no minimum	- active partner: joint and indefinite. - silent partner: limited to the amount of capital contributed.
Non-trading company	minimum 2 partners	no minimum	Liability for registered debts.

Business setup procedures: The administrative formalities necessary to create a company have been simplified. Company formalities centers (CFE) have been set up; they are single places which forward all the documents in the creation dossier to the relevant services:
- the Clerk's office of the Commercial Court for registration in the Register of Commerce and Companies (RCS)
- the National Statistics Institute (INSEE) to obtain the numbers ( APE, SIREN, SIRET codes) necessary for recruiting employees and other procedures such as invoicing.
- the fiscal services (Tax Offices)and social services (URSSAF).
Some formalities are not taken care of by the CFEs such as requests for authorization for regulated professions or proof of domiciliation of a company.
Remember to check that the commercial name has not already been used or registered as a brand name with the INPI (National Institute for Industrial Property).
In addition, remember to reserve the domain name with the AFNIC (French Network Information Center) in case you decide to create a website in the more or less long term.
The competent organization: The Portal for the Company Formalities Centers
The register of commerce

Legal weekly duration: 35 hours
Retirement age: 65 years of age, but as soon as the employee has paid enough into the compulsory retirement scheme, he can leave his work any time after age 60.
Working contracts: The permanent contract (CDI) is the type of contract which is most often used.
The fixed-term contract (CDD) makes it possible to resort to temporary workers.
The Contrat Nouvelle Embauche (New Hiring Contract) is a new form of CDI where the rules for breach of contract are more flexible during the first two years in exchange for the payment of an indemnity of 10%.

Minimum wage: The minimum wage is 8.44 euros an hour.
Average wage: In 2005, the average annual wage for men was 24 446€ and for women 19 818 €.
Social contributions: Social security contributions paid by employers: 42% to 45% (the employer pays the contributions to be free of his commitments as regards sickness, retirement and unemployment).
Social security contributions paid by employees: 22%