The joint committee text of the economic simplification bill, which aims to reduce the administrative burden on businesses, was adopted by the National Assembly on 14 April 2026 and by the Senate on 15 April 2026. It is now awaiting promulgation. Two of its provisions affect labour relations directly.
Informing employees in the event of a business sale
The 2014 loi Hamon (Law no. 2014-856 of 31 July 2014) requires employers selling certain types of business to inform employees in advance, to give them an opportunity to submit a takeover offer. The bill significantly streamlines this regime.
For businesses with fewer than 50 employees, the prior notice period is reduced from 2 months to 1 month before the sale. The maximum civil fine for breach of these obligations is reduced from 2% to 0.5% of the sale price. The accelerated safeguard procedure (sauvegarde accélérée) is added to the list of insolvency procedures excluded from the prior information regime.
For businesses with 50 or more employees, the previous cumulative requirement that the company also fall within the SME category (turnover ≤ €50 million or balance sheet ≤ €43 million) is removed. The 50-employee headcount threshold is now sufficient. Where a works council (comité social et économique, CSE) exists, it must be informed and consulted on the proposed sale under its general remit, and directly and individually informing employees is no longer required: the corresponding provisions are repealed. Direct information of employees only applies where there is no CSE (a situation that must be formally recorded by procès-verbal de carence – an official statement that the company currently lacks a CSE). In this case, the rules applicable to businesses with fewer than 50 employees apply.
The new rules will apply to sales concluded at least 2 months after the law’s promulgation.
Internal regulations (règlement intérieur)
The requirement that internal regulations (règlement intérieur) be filed with the registry of the labour court (conseil de prud’hommes) for them to take effect is removed, as is the associated criminal fine for failure to file. The remaining publicity formalities (notification to employees and transmission to the labour inspectorate) are deemed sufficient guarantees.
