OD FLASH | Economic Life Simplification Act: key employment-related measures for employers

On 27 May 2026, Act No. 2026-403 of 26 May 2026 to simplify economic life was published in the Official Journal.

Presented as a measure intended to ease the administrative constraints weighing on businesses, the Act contains several provisions directly relevant to employment law, collective employment relations, apprenticeships, portage salarial, employers’ groups, occupational health and certain employment-related obligations.

Without overhauling the substantive rules applicable to employers, the Act abolishes or eases several administrative formalities.

•  Internal rules: abolition of filing with the employment tribunal registry

The Act amends Article L. 1321-4 of the French Labour Code. Until now, internal rules had notably to be filed with the registry of the employment tribunal with jurisdiction over the relevant company or establishment. This formality has been abolished. Employers therefore no longer have to file their internal rules with the employment tribunal registry.

The other obligations remain applicable:

• internal rules remain mandatory in companies or establishments employing at least 50 employees;
• they must still be submitted to the opinion of the Social and Economic Committee;
• they must still be sent to the Labour Inspectorate;
• they must be brought, by any means, to the attention of employees.

The measure therefore constitutes a procedural simplification, without calling into question the mandatory content of internal rules or the Labour Inspectorate’s possible oversight.

• Business transfers: easing of the employee information mechanism

The Act eases the prior employee information mechanism, which is now limited to:

• companies with fewer than 50 employees;
• companies with 50 or more employees where there is no Social and Economic Committee, as recorded in minutes.

Companies with 50 or more employees that have a Social and Economic Committee are therefore exempt from this requirement, but remain subject to the obligation to consult the Social and Economic Committee.

Point to note for companies with 250 or more employees and no Social and Economic Committee:

• before the Act, they were not subject to this obligation;
• under the Act, they now appear to be covered by it, subject to further clarification.

Finally, the information period is reduced from two months to one month.

• Apprenticeships: abolition of a prior hiring declaration formality for apprentices

The Act repeals Article L. 6223-1 of the French Labour Code.

This provision required an employer declaring its intention to train apprentices to certify that it was taking the measures necessary to organise the apprenticeship and, in particular, to guarantee that the company’s equipment, techniques used, working conditions, health and safety conditions, and the skills of the persons responsible for training would enable satisfactory training.

This declaration is abolished.

The scope of the measure must nevertheless be properly understood: it removes a declaration formality, but does not release the employer from its substantive obligations.

The employer remains required to ensure effective training for the apprentice, guarantee appropriate working conditions and appoint a competent apprenticeship supervisor.

The Act also removes the cross-reference to branch-level agreements or collective bargaining agreements for determining the professional competence requirements applicable to apprenticeship supervisors. These requirements will now fall within the regulatory framework.

• Training for Social and Economic Committee members: abolition of administrative approval for training organisations

The Act amends Article L. 2315-17 of the French Labour Code. Training for Social and Economic Committee members will no longer necessarily have to be provided by an organisation included on a list established by the administrative authority.

Going forward, these training courses may be provided by:

• an organisation registered with the administrative authority under the rules applicable to training organisations;
• or one of the organisations referred to in Article L. 2145-5 of the French Labour Code.

This measure therefore simplifies access to the market for Social and Economic Committee training.

In practice, it nevertheless requires vigilance in selecting the provider, since administrative approval will no longer act as a preliminary filter. Companies and Social and Economic Committees will therefore need to verify the organisation’s actual quality, experience, materials and suitability for employee representatives’ needs.

• Employers’ groups: abolition of information to the Labour Inspectorate and guarantee of certain receivables

The Act amends several provisions relating to employers’ groups.

• First, the requirement to inform the Labour Inspectorate when an employers’ group is formed has been abolished.
• Second, groups made up of employers that do not fall under the same collective bargaining agreement will no longer have to make a prior declaration to the administrative authority before carrying on their activity.

However, the Act does not abolish the obligation to determine the collective bargaining agreement applicable to the group.

It also introduces:

• a financial protection mechanism for the benefit of the employers’ group.
• Where safeguard, reorganisation or liquidation proceedings are opened in respect of a member company, receivables held by the group against that company are secured by specific privilegees for the portion corresponding to amounts due to the employees made available and related social security charges.

• Portage salarial: abolition of the prior declaration

The Act amends Article L. 1254-27 of the French Labour Code to abolish the prior declaration to the administrative authority when a portage salarial company is created.

It also makes a coordinating amendment to Article L. 1255-14 of the French Labour Code, removing the penalty attached to failure to comply with that declaration obligation.

The substantive regime governing portage salarial remains unchanged.

• Prevention of occupational disinsertion: easier pooling of occupational health service units

The Act amends Article L. 4622-8-1 of the French Labour Code on the multidisciplinary occupational disinsertion prevention units set up within occupational health and prevention services.

The pooling of these units between several occupational health and prevention services in the same region will no longer be subject to prior authorisation from the administrative authority.

This measure aims to facilitate the organisation of occupational health services and the management of job-retention situations, particularly where there is a risk of incapacity or a need to adapt the employee’s position.

• Social utility solidarity enterprise: simplified access to approval

The Act amends Article L. 3332-17-1 of the French Labour Code relating to the “social utility solidarity enterprise” approval.

Social and solidarity economy enterprises carrying on an activity pursuing a social utility purpose will be presumed to satisfy certain approval conditions where they belong to a category set by decree.

This measure is due to enter into force on 1 January 2027.

• Collective disputes: refocusing of conciliation commissions

The Act amends Articles L. 2522-1 and L. 2522-7 of the French Labour Code relating to conciliation commissions competent for collective labour disputes, in order to abolish the national collective labour disputes conciliation commission.

By way of reminder, that commission was responsible for handling collective labour disputes extending to the entire national territory or concerning several regions.

This results in refocusing the system on regional conciliation commissions.

• • Entry into force

The Act entered into force, under ordinary law rules, on the day after its publication in the Official Journal, i.e., on 28 May 2026, subject to the specific entry-into-force provisions set out in the text.

Certain measures are therefore subject to a deferred entry into force, including:

• the new rules on employee information in the event of a sale, applicable to sales concluded at least two months after promulgation of the Act, i.e., from 26 July 2026;
• the simplification of “social utility solidarity enterprise” approval, applicable from 1 January 2027;

the measures whose application is subject to the adoption of a decree.