FRANCE Trends and Developments Contributed by: Eric Weil, Victor Gozzerino and Giada Cancemi, Weil & Associés
compliance is becoming a formal regulatory obliga - tion. French invoicing rules apply, in principle, to transac - tions treated as being located in France for VAT pur - poses. They may also apply to certain transactions not located in France where they are carried out by a taxable person whose registered office, domicile or fixed establishment from which the transaction is made is in France. Conversely, a foreign company without a permanent establishment in France is not, in principle, subject to the e-invoicing requirements, ie, the obligation to issue and receive electronic invoices between taxable persons established in France. It may, however, be subject to e-reporting when it carries out transactions deemed to be situated in France for which it is liable for French VAT. In practice, foreign groups will need to map their French flows more carefully: who is invoicing, from which country, in respect of which transaction, with what VAT treatment and with what documentation available in the event of a tax audit? Taken together, these two developments tell the same story. French law is no longer content to sanction fraud after the event; it is progressively organising a more structured traceability of economic flows. Energy Savings Certificates: Green Assets Under Scrutiny Energy savings certificates ( certificats d ’ économies d ’ énergie – CEE) illustrate a further development in economic crime: fraud increasingly targets regulated intangible assets. Article L. 221-8 of the Energy Code defines CEE as negotiable moveable property, expressed in kilowatt- hours of final energy saved, which may be held, acquired or transferred by certain legal persons.
This market value creates an inherent risk. Non-exist - ent works, inaccurate attestations, doubtful profes - sional qualifications or falsified documentation may be used to obtain certificates which are then circulated within the legitimate economy. Act No 2025-594 of 30 June 2025 against fraud against public aids has significantly tightened the regime. CEE acquirers are now required to implement identifica - tion, assessment and risk management procedures to detect fraudulent procurement by the transferor. The new framework is coercive. Article L. 222-2 of the Energy Code now allows for the cancellation of certificates acquired where the acquirer failed to implement, or implemented inadequately, the due dili - gence procedures required by Article L. 221-8. It also permits the imposition of a financial penalty of up to 10% of the pre-tax turnover of the most recent com - pleted financial year, increased to 12% in the event of a repeat breach. The risk may even become criminal. Article L. 222-8 criminalises the fraudulent procurement of a CEE, as well as the acquisition of certificates where the due diligence procedures have made it possible to detect a fraudulent procurement by the transferor. Civil litigation is also beginning to reflect this eco - nomic reality. In a matter recently handled by Weil & Associés, the Nanterre Commercial Court granted, on an ex parte application, a conservatory seizure over energy savings certificates. The CEE market thus demonstrates that the instru - ments of the energy transition can themselves become a terrain for white-collar risk.
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