France has completed another important regulatory step towards the introduction of mandatory e-invoicing and e-reporting.
Decree No. 2026-677 and the Order of 27 July 2026 were published in the French Official Journal on 28 July 2026 and entered into force on 29 July 2026. The texts update France’s implementing legislation in line with the 2026 Finance Law and provide further legal certainty ahead of the first mandatory phase beginning on 1 September 2026.
A Platform-Centred E-Invoicing Model
The new texts formally reflect France’s revised e-invoicing architecture.
References to Partner Dematerialisation Platforms and the invoicing services previously expected from the Public Invoicing Portal have been replaced by references to Plateformes Agréées, or accredited platforms.
The central directory and the government’s data-collection solution will remain part of the infrastructure, but invoice exchange and regulatory data transmission will be performed through accredited platforms.
Formal Rules for Changing Accredited Platforms
The decree introduces a detailed portability procedure for businesses wishing to change their receiving platform.
A business may request a change to its invoice-routing information at any time. The newly appointed accredited platform, referred to as the incoming platform, will be responsible for carrying out the platform-switching formalities and updating the central directory.
Service Continuity Must Be Protected
The outgoing accredited platform will remain subject to certain continuity obligations after a customer changes provider.
Certain services must continue to be available for one year. The former platform must also provide, upon the taxpayer’s request, the information required to ensure business continuity within five working days.
Supported Electronic Invoice Formats Confirmed
The Order formally confirms the structured formats and profiles that accredited platforms must support.
These include:
- CII with the EN 16931 profile;
- CII with the EXTENDED-CTC-FR profile;
- UBL with the EN 16931 profile;
- UBL with the EXTENDED-CTC-FR profile;
- a hybrid format combining structured CII XML data with a readable PDF/A-3 representation.
The formats must follow the French AFNOR standard XP Z12-012. The Order also refers to XP Z12-014 for supported business use cases and XP Z12-013 for standardised application programming interfaces.
Where an invoice is converted between formats, accredited platforms must protect the integrity of the invoice data. If full integrity cannot be guaranteed during conversion, a readable representation containing the original information must also be provided.
Stronger Audit Requirements for Accredited Platforms
The decree and order also strengthen the monitoring of accredited platforms.
In addition to the initial conformity audit, a surveillance audit must be performed during the second year following the platform’s registration. Following each renewal of the registration number, further surveillance audits must be conducted during the first and second years after renewal.
Where an audit identifies non-compliance, the platform must inform the tax administration of the corrective measures and their implementation timetable. The corrective period may not exceed three months following submission of the audit report.
E-Reporting Rules Further Clarified
The decree also updates several provisions concerning transaction and payment e-reporting.
Under the French reform, e-reporting complements e-invoicing by covering transactions that do not fall within the domestic B2B e-invoicing obligation, particularly certain B2C and international transactions. Payment data must also be transmitted for relevant transactions where VAT becomes due upon collection.
The new decree confirms that:
- transaction and payment data will be sent to the tax administration through accredited platforms;
- reporting frequency will be assessed separately for each accredited platform used by a business;
- no nil transaction e-reporting transmission will be required where the business has no reportable transactions during the applicable period;
- certain transaction and payment data fields have been updated, including references to the taxable base and payment amounts reported in euros.
The removal of nil reporting is an important practical simplification, as businesses will not need to submit empty reports solely to confirm that no reportable activity occurred.
France’s Implementation Timeline Remains Unchanged
The publication of the decree and order does not postpone the mandatory implementation dates.
From 1 September 2026
- All businesses within the scope of the reform must be able to receive electronic invoices.
- Large enterprises and intermediate-sized enterprises must issue electronic invoices.
- Large enterprises and intermediate-sized enterprises must comply with the applicable transaction and payment e-reporting obligations.
From 1 September 2027
- Small and medium-sized enterprises and micro-enterprises must issue electronic invoices.
- The applicable transaction and payment e-reporting obligations will extend to these businesses.
The timing of the e-reporting obligation follows the same phased implementation calendar as the obligation to issue electronic invoices.
What Should Businesses Do Next?
With the first implementation date approaching, businesses should now focus on operational readiness by selecting an accredited platform, ensuring that they can receive electronic invoices from 1 September 2026, identifying transactions subject to e-invoicing, transaction e-reporting and payment e-reporting, mapping the required invoice and reporting data from their ERP and billing systems, confirming support for CII, UBL and hybrid invoice formats, validating customer identifiers and invoice-routing information, and testing invoice issuance, receipt, lifecycle statuses and reporting processes. All businesses should prioritise inbound e-invoicing readiness, regardless of whether their own issuance obligation begins in 2026 or 2027.
