How to provide services in France Preliminary procedures Qualification recognition If you are established in your home country in accordance with the law to carrying out the activities you want to provide in France you can freely provide temporary services in France. If you want to provide the activities listed below you need to send a declaration form : - maintenance and repair of vehicles and machinery, excluding cycles; placement, maintenance and repair of networks and devices using fluids and materials and equipment for gas supply, heating of buildings and electrical installations; chimney sweeping; dental prosthesis manufacturing You need to send the declaration, in French, to the centre des formalités of the Chambre de Métiers ou the Chambre de Commerce where you will provide your service. This declaration must be accompanied by following documents: - Proof of your nationality ; A certificate proving that you are legally established in a Member State to pursuing the activity/activities and that the performance of those activities has not been prohibited to you ; An evidence of professional qualifications : a certificate, a diploma issued by a competent authority or any document attesting the professional experience and the duration of the activity ; If an activity is not regulated in your Country of Origin, but is in this list , you need to provide documents demonstrating that you have been carried out the activity in question in your country for at least two years in the preceding ten years. Documents not written in French must be accompanied by a certified translation of the original by an official translator. This declaration is valid for one year; in the event of any further provision of services beyond this term, the declaration must be sent again to the competent body, but this time the accompanying documents are not required. As France has translated the Services Directive activity by activity, in some case other activities than those listed before can be entitled to send a specific declaration. You can check for each activity on the French point of single contact (available in French only). Page 2 of 4 Temporary posting of workers Before providing the service, you must send a pre-secondment declaration to the direction départementale du travail (local work directorate) of the place where the service will be provided (or the first place of business if the service will be provided in several places) in French and indicating amounts in euros, by recorded delivery, fax or email. - See the three models of pre-declaration online (service provision contract, intracompany mobility, secondment on a company’s own behalf). Obtaining of the form A1 (valid up to the limit of 2 years), this confirms that the posted employee remains in the social system of the State of Origin. European Health Insurance Card. the document giving proof of an equivalent medical check-up in the home country to the one practised in France, for employers based in a country of the EU, EEA or the Swiss Confederation, the payslips of each seconded employee or any equivalent document (when the secondment lasts for one month or more) or any document giving proof that the minimum wage has been respected. the document giving proof that a financial guarantee has been obtained, or any equivalent document (for temporary employment agencies). Social obligations: You must comply with several requirements and apply certain provisions laid down by the French Code du travail (labour laws) with regard to employees, particularly in terms of pay, working time and working conditions. - Maximum work period (35 hours a week), minimum rest period. Minimum paid holidays. Minimum rates of pay including overtimes. The minimum hourly net wage is 7.06 euros on 12/17/2010. Conditions of hiring-out workers. Health, safety and hygiene at work. Protective measures for pregnant women, children and young people. Equality of treatment between men and women and other provisions of nondiscrimination. An exception can be used in case of first installation or initial assembly not longer than 8 consecutive days and with the exception of construction. The exception concerns only the minimum rates of pay and minimum paid holidays. You also have to respect the mandatory collective agreements : http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/initRechConvColl.do Page 3 of 4 Tax obligations : The VAT rules have changed at the beginning of 2010. You will have to face two situations : - Your client has a VAT number The principle is that services provide to taxable person acting as such are taxed at the customer's place of establishment. It means that you will charge free of VAT and mention on your invoice that the VAT is deffered on the customer according to article 44 of directive 2006/112/EC. This is called the reverse charge system. Look out ! Exceptions still exist : Services connected with immovable property , Supply of passenger transport , Short-term hiring of means of transport , Services supplied by travel agents , Restaurant and catering services , Cultural, artistic, sporting, scientific, educational, entertainment and similar services, such as fairs and exhibitions. - Your client hasn’t a VAT number The principle is that services provide to non-taxable person are taxed at the supplier's establishment (you). Look out ! Exceptions still exist : Services connected with immovable property , Supply of passenger transport , Short-term hiring of means of transport , Services supplied by travel agents , Restaurant and catering services , Cultural, artistic, sporting, scientific, educational, entertainment and similar services, such as fairs and exhibitions. Customs obligations : - Trade of goods declaration Products linked to your service(s) and charged to the client shall appear on a trade of goods declaration. - European declaration of services Since the beginning of 2010, you must submit a recapitulative statement in case of supply of services. This European declaration of service is compulsory only when the reverse charge system applies. Tiphaine ROCTON - +33.3.83.90.88.79. – [email protected] To be kept informed about the activities of the Sector Group Services and Retail, please go to: http://www.enterprise-europe-network.ec.europa.eu/my/sector-groups/1962 Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the European Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of the information contained herein. The views in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policies of the European Commission. Page 4 of 4