Bruno Le Maire unveils his simplification bill to free SMEs, VSEs and artisans from administrative paperwork

The Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, presented today a global simplification action plan. It includes fifty concrete measures and mobilizes multiple levers available to the government, including legislative and regulatory. It redefines a method and lays the foundations for systemic change. It displays three ambitious and complementary objectives.

The first objective is a radical change in philosophy, so that the administration places itself fully at the service of all businesses. Simplification in fact requires a questioning of State services, which must reorganize and review their practices from A to Z. The government wants to do this without totems or taboos, by attacking, for example, Cerfa, the pay slip, the Commercial Code, the complexity of public procurement or litigation and unnecessary commissions. The government wants to make it long-term, thanks to annual simplification laws and reinforced monitoring, which will scrutinize all the standards to identify new room for maneuver.

The second objective is to provide relief in particular to small economic players – VSE-SMEs, self-employed people, craftsmen, traders, who suffer the most from the multiplication of standards. Bruno Le Maire announced that he wanted to bring together the rights of professionals and the rights of individuals in matters of banking, insurance or energy. He also wants to simplify complex procedures – whether it involves soliciting a third party, coming together for a project, recruiting or obtaining a label – as well as the installation and operation of businesses and restaurants.

The third objective is to facilitate and accelerate the ecological, energy and digital transitions that will allow our country to reindustrialize. The minister intends to reduce the deadlines and conditions for installing factories and data centers. He also announces that he will remove the barriers that prevent France from reaching its full potential in terms of geothermal energy, offshore wind power, carbon storage and biogas. The government will also encourage the mining of lithium and copper in our subsoil, to power our electric battery gigafactories. The government's stated ambition is to make France a leader in innovation by accelerating procedures and the research tax credit.

Radically simplify administrative procedures for businesses

Delete all Cerfa forms

• All Cerfa forms will be removed by 2030, 80% by 2026.
• Three options to allow this deletion:

1. Delete the process altogether (the process will no longer exist and/or the information will be obtained differently);
2. Integrate the collection of information with another online process (merger of processes);
3. Create a new simplified and pre-filled procedure.

• The Interministerial Directorate for Public Transformation will manage this interministerial project.

Streamline the process at source: fewer mandatory authorization requests, fewer declarations

• Any approach which has not proven its usefulness or is not imposed by European or international law will be deleted.
• As many authorizations as possible will be transformed into simple declarations.
• Unnecessary statements will be deleted.

How?

• A dedicated interministerial team will identify the procedures to be eliminated.
• The necessary removal or transformation measures will be taken by order and at the regulatory level, depending on the procedures.

Allow unique access to company procedures in a “business space”

• A “business space” will provide unified access to all administrative procedures and subsidies by 2030.
• Within this space a data safe will be set up, to facilitate the updating of data and their transmission to the administration, by the company.
• The use of artificial intelligence tools will make it possible to provide the company with personalized information.

Facilitate certain key moments in the life of the company

The takeover or sale of a company are complex periods to manage in terms of procedures and normative constraints. They deserve to benefit from specific attention to ensure their smooth running.

• Transfer:

The principle of information will be preserved in order to allow employees to organize themselves to take over the company.

The prior information period will, however, be reduced to 1 month and fines in the event of non-compliance capped at 0,5% of the amount of the sale for companies with fewer than 50 employees, in order to accelerate takeovers and reduce costs. formalities.

• Reprise :

A buyer’s guide will be put in place to support them.

A “compliance – takeover window” will be created in Bercy to facilitate compliance at the time of takeover and allow the entrepreneur to request compliance visits or advisory visits from the various administrations.

Simplify access to public procurement

Facilitate access to online public ordering

By 2028, all public procurement by the State, its operators, hospitals and social security organizations will go through this unique “Place” platform.

Communities will be able to voluntarily join this platform.

Community sites will also be made “interoperable”, meaning that it will be possible to easily navigate between them.

Simplify the public procurement application process

From 2026, a company will be able to complete an application using only its SIRET.

It is the administration which will search for the information already transmitted, in accordance with the principle of “tell us once”.

Improve payment times for public buyers

Strengthen transparency on payment deadlines for communities:

• The average payment deadlines for local authorities with more than 3.500 inhabitants are published from today in open data7 (those of the State already are).

Raise awareness among public buyers about reducing payment deadlines and paying default interest:

• A circular will call for the mobilization of public accountants to raise awareness among buyers on these issues.

Make the counting of payment deadlines more reliable:

• A working group bringing together administrations, associations of local elected officials and the construction sector will make this count more reliable and propose solutions to improve deadlines.

Improve the conditions for executing public contracts

VSEs and SMEs will benefit from a double cash flow advantage:

• The minimum advance payment will increase to 30% for public works contracts for local authorities and public establishments whose operating budget is greater than €60 million;
• The amounts retained by the principals for guarantees will decrease for the benefit of the craftsman from 5 to 3%.

This modification will be made by decree.

Unify and accelerate litigation linked to public procurement

A single block of competence in favor of the administrative judge for all contracts awarded in application of the public procurement code will make it possible to simplify and secure the legal environment of public procurement:

• Less hesitation for the company and the legal system between the judicial judge and the administrative judge.
• Less risk of divergence between case law.

Support for less punishment

Develop the rulings and make them available to the public

The practice of issuing rulings will be developed, making it possible to provide companies and professional federations with an interpretation of the law in force that can be enforced against the administration.

A collection making tax and non-tax rulings available to the public will be available from 2024. They will be enforceable against the administration.

Several hundred anonymized general rulings will be posted there this year.

Develop compliance visits and advice offerings

The General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), in line with the principle of a relationship of trust, will experiment in 2025 with a targeted compliance inspection system for newly created VSEs.

URSSAF will develop a new program of free diagnostics and advice enforceable against the administration, intended to support companies in their compliance.

The General Directorate of Customs and Indirect Duties (DGDDI) will strengthen its personalized support for companies: broader use of the status of approved economic operator, business advisory units and emphasis on securing import-export.

Simplify and clarify the tax and social treatment of benefits in kind and professional expenses

A new consultation will be launched in 2024 to identify all the concerns and proposals of companies and together define a renewed framework of rules for evaluating benefits in kind and professional expenses.

It will give priority to the case of gifts distributed in the professional context, which constitutes an irritant.

This review of the regulations will aim for convergence between tax and social doctrine.

Make an in-company internship compulsory for agents in charge of control

The training of agents in charge of controls will systematically include a module linked to the relationship of trust and a compulsory in-company internship.

At the same time, joint training will be organized for managers in control administrations, on the relationship of trust and the implementation of the right to make mistakes, integrating workshops for the exchange of practices.

Limit the risk of litigation and disputes

Review certain sanctions applicable to business leaders

Remove the two-year prison sentence for incorrectly filling out the register of beneficial owners (RBE), This register will remain a mandatory document to provide to the tax administration. Dissuasive financial sanctions will be maintained.

Eliminate the prison sentence when the mission of certifying sustainability information (CSRD directive) is obstructed while maintaining sanctions in this area.

An interministerial mission should make it possible to identify avenues for work in terms of “decriminalization”.

Generalize mediation

Mediation mechanisms between businesses and administrations will be extended to all ministries.

The opening of mediation with the administration will interrupt the appeal deadlines in order to give this method of dispute resolution its full chance.

Accelerate the processing of contentious appeals before the administrative jurisdiction

Promote the use of honorary magistrates and simplify the conditions for exercising the functions of summary judge, who is the judge of urgency.

This measure will make it possible to streamline and accelerate the processing of requests and summary proceedings, the implementation of public inquiries and the execution of jurisdictional decisions from administrative courts and administrative courts of appeal.

Reforming the law of special contracts

Reform the law of special contracts, within 2 years.

The main contracts concerned will be: sale, exchange, rental of work or business contract, lease or rental contract, loan, deposit and escrow, random contracts and mandate.

Relieving the constraints weighing on business organization

A simplified pay slip

A new one-page salary slip will be established with the social partners by 2027, with a target number of fifteen lines, drawing inspiration from the models of our neighbors (see proposal above).

It will present the main aggregates making up the remuneration, without detailing the social security contributions made.

However, systematic provision by the employer of the information necessary to reconstitute the amounts appearing on the bulletin will remain provided for the employee.

Simplify and dematerialize corporate governance

Thanks to the proposed law on business financing and the attractiveness of France, all board meetings and general assemblies can be organized in a dematerialized or hybrid manner, and within a secure legal framework.

Companies will thus be able to benefit from governance that is both more participatory and more agile.

Fewer steps during a merger or takeover

75% increase in mandatory notification thresholds from €150 million to €250 million in consolidated global turnover, or €50 million to €80 million for the French market alone.

25 to 30% of operations will thus be reduced, without exempting from this control merger operations that could harm competition.

The thresholds specific to overseas territories are not modified.

Reduce and rationalize the stock of standards

Conduct regular assessment of adopted standards

• Just as budgetary “expenditure reviews” were launched, “standards reviews” will be launched from 2025.
• This work will notably feed into the annual simplification laws (see project no. 7).

How?

• Each year, a project team from the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty will propose subjects to be analyzed in conjunction with other ministries.

Rationalize current law

• Projects to simplify existing law have been initiated by the Council of State at the request of the Prime Minister.
• A specific project to rationalize and simplify the commercial code will be initiated from 2024, with the aim of halving it by 2027.

What objectives?

• Strengthen the readability of law with constant law: rationalize, delegalize, remove superfluous standards – at all levels of standards.
• Simplify: rethink the systems to detranspose, deregulate or simplify what can be.

Ensuring sustainable simplification

Establish annual laws to simplify the standards applicable to businesses

As in matters of public and social finances, a law will be prepared each year to simplify the law in force applicable to businesses.

“Simplification pilots” will be designated within each of the central administration departments producing standards or approaches for businesses. The community of these referents will be led by the Interministerial Directorate for Public Transformation.

This annual simplification bill will also be fed by France Expérimentation (existing DITP-DGE system, seized by companies) and France Simplification (scheme created during the CITP of April 23, 2024, seized by the prefects).

Establish an SME test

Create a test to ensure that the impact on businesses, and in particular SMEs, is systematically taken into account when developing the standards that concern them.

This SME test should enable the standards to now be subject to both quantitative and qualitative evaluation in terms of their effects on the economy.

This SME Test tool was notably recommended by the report on normative sobriety to strengthen the competitiveness of companies from the Senate Business Delegation of June 2023.

Simplifying the lives of very small and small businesses, self-employed people, craftsmen

Align the rights of professionals and individuals regarding bank account closure

Closing bank accounts for professionals will now be free of charge.

An annual statement of fees will be provided free of charge to VSEs.

These two measures will promote banking mobility and competition, so that each professional can more easily find the banking offer that is best suited to them.

Limit compensation deadlines for damage insurance to six months

Compensation must be provided no later than six months from the declaration of the claim, for an individual or a professional.

This maximum duration of compensation will be reduced to two months for claims not requiring expertise.

A power of injunction under penalty may be triggered.

Cancel professional damage insurance at any time

This bill will allow the termination of damage insurance for SMEs and VSEs at any time, after the first anniversary of the contract.

This will simplify their lives and make it easier to compete for the best offer.

Aligning the rights of professionals and individuals regarding energy

Small and very small businesses will benefit from reinforced rights aligned with individuals in terms of consumer protection:

• In order to facilitate the comparison of electricity or natural gas supply offers by the consumer, their presentation will be accompanied by a harmonized sheet, according to a specific model.
• Any information concerning the price of energy supply will be supplemented by an estimate of the annual bill.
• Termination fees will be regulated and a maximum level will be defined.
• The regulated sales prices will be accessible to all VSEs.
• These measures will be dealt with under a separate law in 2024.

Reduce reporting obligations linked to “DAS2” and general costs

The DAS2 declaration threshold will be raised from €1.200 to €2.400 per year and per beneficiary.

More than 340.000 companies, mainly VSEs and SMEs, will be exempt from this declaration (representing 20% ​​of declarants).

Give mandate to the accountant once and for all

In order to facilitate and accelerate the procedures carried out on behalf of their clients, more administrations will accept the mandate.

The DGFiP's information systems will be modified to ensure in advance the applicant's status as a chartered accountant.

The procedure for issuing activation codes to businesses to access online services on their impots.gouv.fr space will be dematerialized to simplify the designation of the reporting third party, in complete security.

It will also be possible to delegate to them the signature of the agents in PRO CONNECT, the identity tool for the public services portal.

Simplifying social procedures for self-employed people

URSSAF will simplify access to social benefits for all self-employed workers. For exemple :

• income and turnover data will be pre-filled for certain social benefit requests;
• the payment of daily allowances for artist authors will be automated;
• the common reception of self-employed workers will be enhanced by the association of tax services and France Travail.

The social declaration of self-employed workers will also be simplified from 2026, as part of the implementation of the reform of their contribution base.

URSSAF will now be present in France Service houses for procedures for individual employers and microentrepreneurs, from 2024 in around twenty departments, before generalization in 2025.

Providing VSEs with tools to facilitate hiring and contracting

The business service employment title (TESE) will be modernized. A new user journey and new functionalities by 2026 will drastically facilitate its use.

A kit will be made available to companies with examples of employment contracts and the essential elements of the contract and its prohibitions.

Models may be released from the end of 2024.

Facilitate the creation of temporary groupings of companies in the building and public works sector

Experiment for two years with the elimination of joint liability for GMEs in private building contracts relating to energy renovation work worth less than €100.000 excluding taxes.

The objective of this measure is to simplify the lives of craftsmen who will be able to group together more easily to respond to certain renovation markets.

This measure will appear in a separate legislative vehicle in 2024.

Simplify the procedures of building and public works companies to promote the energy renovation of buildings

A new route to the RGE label, in the form of validation of acquired experience, will be established.

The qualification request will be simplified thanks to the dematerialization of files.

In connection with the extension of the qualification period, the renewal files and the documents requested annually will be simplified.

A voluntary “assisted renovation” standard quote will also be made available, which will facilitate the processing of aid request files.

Facilitate reindustrialization and infrastructure projects

Further accelerate the implementation of industrial projects

Prior to the authorization request:

• No industrial project will be blocked by the implementation of the ZAN. They will benefit from the national quota provided for by the law of July 20, 2023.
• Industrial projects will no longer appear within the scope of intervention of the CNDP, the new public participation procedure established by the green industry law having greatly strengthened the possibilities of developing the project during consultation.
• Flexibility will be provided to the application of environmental compensation measures over time: these can be carried out in parallel with the project if their prior implementation proves impossible and they are implemented within a reasonable time.

After authorization:

• The deadline for third parties to appeal against environmental authorization is reduced from 4 to 2 months. In addition, projects of major national interest and structuring projects (industrial and logistics projects with more than 20.000 m² of floor space) will be subject to accelerated litigation procedures, thanks to the elimination of the double degree of jurisdiction and a deadline judgment of 10 months.

Simplify to accelerate the energy and ecological transition of our economy

Simplify the installation of renewable energy devices

The building permit will now be able to deviate from the rules of the local town planning plan to allow the installation of heat pumps, or renewable energy production systems in the broad sense (thermodynamic and solar heaters, photovoltaic panels, etc.).

Modernizing mining law for responsible mobilization of our subsoil, in the service of the ecological transition

The duration of the exclusive research permit procedure will be greatly reduced to between 6 and 9 months, by parallelizing the hitherto successive stages, in the spirit of the green industry law, without impact on the environmental quality of the projects.

Facilitate the deployment of strategic energy infrastructure

For energy infrastructure, public procurement rules will be simplified in order to accelerate projects (possibility of waiving the allotment obligation and benefiting from direct payment).

Simplifying redundant obligations on biogas

In order to reduce the administrative burden on project leaders, the obligation to carry out a carbon footprint will be removed for biogas support as part of competitive bidding procedures.

Simplify to innovate

Facilitate innovation resulting from research, particularly in health

An inventory of mobility and innovation promotion approaches by researchers will be established in order to simplify and facilitate limiting procedures.

By who ? The work will be led by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, in conjunction with the Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty and the Health Innovation Agency.

The authorization process for health data will be reduced by at least 1 month.

How ? It will no longer be necessary to request an opinion from the Ethical and Scientific Committee for Research, Studies and Evaluations in the Field of Health (CESREES) once a local ethics committee has issued an opinion. Furthermore, the CNIL (National Commission for Information Technology and Liberties) and health research stakeholders will create a set of new “reference methodologies” allowing research to be carried out by simple declaration to the CNIL, without a procedure of authorisation.

For duly authorized research promoters and biobank managers, it will now be possible to import or export biological samples without additional formality.

How ? Authorization to conduct research will constitute authorization to import and export biological samples without the need for additional procedures (deadlines reduced by 3 months).

Accelerate the payment of the research tax credit

2/3 of CIR refunds will now take place within 3 months.

How ? The CIR instruction and payment chain will be re-examined, as part of a dedicated mission.

The deadlines for obtaining service provider approval will be halved before 2, to reach 2027 months.

How ? 2/3 of approval requests will be processed within less than 6 months from 2025, with the prospect of then moving towards tacit approval after 6 months.

Better take into account the issue of innovation in data regulation

Innovation will be integrated into the CNIL's mandate, allowing full consideration of this objective within the current framework of the CNIL's missions.

Facilitate the implementation of data centers

Data centers, and in particular those strategic for the development of artificial intelligence, may be identified as a project of major national interest (PINM).

They will thus benefit from measures to accelerate the implementation project:

• accelerated compatibility, by the State, of local town planning documents and regional planning documents;
• delivery of building permits by the State and no longer by the municipalities;
• accelerated electrical connection procedures;
• advance recognition of the “compelling reason of major public interest” (RIIPM), necessary to obtain the protected species exemption.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.