As of October 16, companies are no longer able to use paper forms for their continuity procedures, except in certain exceptional cases. From now on, they must use the one-stop shop or the Infogreffe website.
Formalities carried out electronically
Opening in 2022 and operated by the Institut national de la propriété industrielle (INPI), the one-stop shop pools the resources of almost ten different sites. It enables companies and professionals to complete their administrative formalities(registration, modification or cessation of activity, filing of accounts) using a single dematerialized form. The site also offers local online assistance to help them complete these formalities.
Since January 2023, the business formalities website has replaced the six networks of Centres de Formalités des Entreprises (CFE) and the Guichet entreprises website.
Two other portals have been created to streamline the online service offering:
- The Entreprendre.Service-Public. fr website for administrative information and procedures for companies, providing information and guidance;
- The Portailpro.gouv. fr website, which brings together DGFiP, Customs and Urssaf to declare and pay tax and social security contributions.
End of paper filing
Since January 1, companies - regardless of their legal form or business sector - have been required to complete their formalities electronically via the "guichet électronique". As the platform experienced a number of malfunctions following its launch, a back-up procedure was put in place until December 31, enabling modification and deregistration formalities to be carried out on the infogreffe.fr website.
While companies were able to file paper forms with the registries for the time being, the rules have changed. As of October 16, this is no longer possible, except for :
- Formalities for the modification and transfer of foreign companies with no establishment in France and no employees covered by French social security(form 16207*01 EE2-EE4) ;
- Formalities for the creation of associations registered with the Trade and Companies Registry(form 15909*02 M0 ASSO).
Similarly, annual financial statements may continue to be filed in paper format(article R 123-77 of the French Commercial Code).
The end of paper forms has been formalized by a decision of the strategic college, which specifies that the filing procedures are now available according to the types of formalities listed in the one-stop shop FAQ.
Guichet unique: end of paper forms for continuity procedureshttps://t.co/oKlhwZ777M
- DILA (@DILA_officiel) October 20, 2023
Despite these changes, derogatory channels will remain in place until December 31, 2023, to secure procedures and take account of the high volume of formalities to be processed during the summer period.
Via the introduction of the one-stop shop, the Government is continuing its simplification drive aimed at businesses, in line with the provisions set out in Articles 1 and 2 of the May 2019 PACTE law.