What France’s new ‘simplification law’ could change for you

France’s Assemblée nationale narrowly adopted a new bill on June 17 that aims to simplify administrative processes, especially for businesses. 

Despite opposition from most Macronist lawmakers it was adopted by 275 votes to 252 with 21 abstentions. 

The bill was originally tabled by the government of Prime Minister Gabriel Attal in April 2024, but has been postponed several times, including because of President Macron’s dissolution of parliament and the fall of Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government. 

MPs and senators must now meet in a joint committee to agree on a final version of the text.

The bill contains 26 wide-ranging measures covering aspects from payslips to low emissions zones.

Minister for the Civil Service and Simplification Laurent Marcangeli said the bill “responds to a clear demand: to lighten the administrative constraints that weigh down (businesses’) daily lives and hamper their development”. 

Some of the key changes include:

Low-emissions zones 

Controversial low-emissions zones (ZFE, Zones a Faibles Emissions) have been abolished under the new bill. Introduced in 2019 they banned most polluting vehicles from certain urban areas. The ban was supported by the right-wing Les Républicains and the far-right Rassemblement National, and opposed by parties on the left. 

The government is not in favour of abolishing the zones, and had proposed an amendment to make them compulsory only for cities that regularly exceed air quality thresholds such as Paris and Lyon. 

Ecological Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher said she regretted the bill “had been diverted from its original intentions of legitimate simplification to lead to worrying setbacks on environmental and social issues”. 

Employee notice

To make it easier to sell businesses with fewer than 50 members of staff, the legal deadline for employers to inform employees that the business is being sold has been reduced from two months to one month. The fine for failing to do so has also been lowered. 

Simplifying pay slips 

The bill aims to reduce the number of lines on a pay slip to 15 from 2027. It currently has around 50 lines. 

Pay slips will include information on total pay, but extra information relating to ticket restaurant benefits, transport expenses etc will be removed and be available separately. 

Insurance claims 

For property damage, insurance companies must pay within one month of a claim, or within four months if an expert is appointed. 

It will also become compulsory for insurers to give reasons for a unilateral cancellation decision of a business insurance policy. At present they only need to do this for personal policies. 

Infrastructure projects 

The bill will simplify the rules for setting up new industrial and infrastructure projects within the areas of climate and digital technology.

This will, for example, make it easier to build wind turbines and mobile phone antennas. 

The bill will also simplify the implementation of compensation measures for damage to biodiversity during development projects. At the moment, compensation measures must be implemented as soon as work begins, which can cause additional costs for developers, but they will be able to be deferred under the new bill. 

Industrial-scale data centres will be classified as projects of major national interest under certain conditions, which will speed up procedures such as connecting them to the electricity grid. 

The bill also simplifies the mining code, making it easier to develop projects. This was strongly opposed by environmentalists. Business bank accounts 

The bill will also ensure business bank accounts can be closed for free. There is currently sometimes a charge for closing such accounts. 

What changes would you add to this law? Send your thoughts to feedback@connexionfrance.com