France
Catherine Olive
Landwell & Associés,
Paris, France
Introduction
France has a strategic position at the heart of Europe. One of the founders of the
European Community and a member of the Eurozone, France offers the
advantages of a single currency that is used in 16 different countries.
With approximately 64,000,000 inhabitants, France is the second largest
consumer market in Europe after Germany and the fifth largest economy in the
world, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of €1,907,000,000 in 2009.
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD),1 France also was second among the leading recipients of direct
foreign investment in 2008, receiving US $117,500,000,000 in foreign
investment flow, after the United States (US $316,000,000,000). France is
therefore the leading target for foreign investment in Europe, with a market
share of 23.3 per cent (18.7 per cent in 2007).
Approximately 23,000 foreign companies are currently established in France,
employing more than 2,800,000 people, double the figure from only 10 years
ago. More than 40 per cent of the equity of companies listed on the CAC 40, the
top French stock exchange benchmark index, was held by foreign investors as of
the end of 2008.2
Over the past few years, many key factors in the French economy (eg, labor law,
tax system, corporate law, innovation, and public-private partnership contracts)
have been subject to significant reforms aiming to improve the French business
environment and competitiveness.
These reforms have been accompanied by strong support for an enterprise
culture, including the introduction of a simplified legal status for the selfemployed
(auto-entrepreneur status). Labor law has been made more flexible,