Company Formation France

BridgeWest provides a wide range of legal services in France through our affiliated French lawyers and Law Firms in Paris and other major cities in France. We are mainly specialized in the main aspects of French Commercial Law, including Company Formation, Debt Collection, Commercial Disputes and Litigation, French Real Estate Law and certain areas of Intellectual Property Law (such as Trademark Registration for instance).

A big advantage to company formation in France is that foreign incorporators don't need to obey any restrictions, withstanding the same rules, regulations, rights and obligations as nationals. The most common business forms chosen by incorporators are French joint stock companies (Socit Anonyme) and French limited liability companies (Socit A Responsabilit Limite).

Preliminary activities before registering limitead libility and joint stock companies in France Every firm must get an unique name and even though it is not legally mandatory, the founders need to verify their name before registering, as unpredicted consequences may follow if 2 firms have the same or similar name. The firm name can be verified online, being free of charge. Also, before the registration it is needed that the firm open a bank account, deposit the required capital, or shares, and get a certificate. This procedure must be done within eight days of the collection of all funds. In the same time the firm's owner needs to publish a notice of the firm and obtain a letter from the legal journal that confirms the publication.

Registering the limited liability and joint stock companies with the Centre de Formalits des Entreprises (CFE) in France This institution handles all the procedures regarding french company formation: statistics, tax authorities, social security, labor and health insurance. The representative of the firm must send a registration request and after getting the necessary documents, the incorporator must send the articles of association, signed by all the members, the attestation of the capital deposit, evidence of publication, structure and objective of the firm , addresses of the managing board, and the desired headquarters of the firm. After getting the form, the CFE files the necessary information to every office and authority in order to complete the formalities. Also, the CFE automatically enters the firm in the Registre Nationale des Entreprise, with the scope of getting the SIRENE (Systme Informatique pour le Rpertoire des Entreprises), SIRET (Systme Informatique pour le Rpertoire des Etablissements) and NAF (Nomenclature des Activitees Francaises) numbers.

Buying company books in France Every firm in France needs to have a special accounting book, which needs to be bought from court, or specialized shops and have to be certified by the Commercial Court.

Setting up a French company from abroad There are no administrative restrictions regarding foreign investment in France. An investor can hire a special agent assigned with the firm's representation, who can do the administrative formalities in France, or he may form the firm himself registering his company online. Another option is getting a ready made company suiting his or her needs.

How long does it take to found a French company? Registering the limited liability company or the joint stock company at the Centre de Formalits des Entreprises is done in four days, while depositing the initial capital, checking the uniqueness of the company's name, and publishing a notice in the legal journal, each take 1 day. A French firm is formed in about 7 days.