Doing Business In (Insert Country Name Here) - BNA
Doing Business In (Insert Country Name Here) - BNA
Doing Business In (Insert Country Name Here) - BNA
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Chapter 6: <strong>In</strong>vestment Climate<br />
• Openness to Foreign <strong>In</strong>vestment<br />
• Conversion and Transfer Policies<br />
• Expropriation and Compensation<br />
• Dispute Settlement<br />
• Performance Requirements and <strong>In</strong>centives<br />
• Right to Private Ownership and Establishment<br />
• Protection of Property Rights<br />
• Transparency of Regulatory System<br />
• Efficient Capital Markets and Portfolio <strong>In</strong>vestment<br />
• Political Violence<br />
• Corruption<br />
• Bilateral <strong>In</strong>vestment Agreements<br />
• OPIC and Other <strong>In</strong>vestment <strong>In</strong>surance Programs<br />
• Labor<br />
• Foreign-Trade Zones/Free Ports<br />
• Foreign Direct <strong>In</strong>vestment Statistics<br />
• Web Resources<br />
Openness to Foreign <strong>In</strong>vestment Return to top<br />
The Formal <strong>In</strong>vestment Regime<br />
The formal French investment regime remains among the least restrictive in the world.<br />
While there is no generalized screening of foreign investment, legislation passed at the<br />
end of 2005 dictates that acquisitions, irrespective of size or nationality, involving<br />
“sensitive” sectors are subject to prior approval by the Finance Minister<br />
([http://www.legifrance.gouv.fr] – search for the 31 December 2005 French Official<br />
Journal, decree 2005-1739 of 30 December 2005). Acquisitions involving sensitive<br />
sectors are screened. Sensitive sectors include: gambling activities, private security<br />
services, research, development or production of chemical or biological medicines,<br />
equipment for intercepting communications or eavesdropping, security services for<br />
computer systems, dual-use (civil and military) technologies; cryptology, firms that are<br />
repositories of defense secrets, firms that research, produce and sell military equipment,<br />
and lastly any other industry supplying the defense ministry any of the goods or services<br />
described above. Some investments in sensitive sectors require the consensus of<br />
several ministries, including the Defense Ministry. The Finance Ministry examined only<br />
30 cases in 2006 and all were approved. Only two transactions related to defense<br />
matters were rejected in the last ten years.<br />
The EU Commission initially questioned whether the December 2005 decree respected<br />
the free circulation of capital and the freedom of establishment within the EU. The 2005<br />
decree introduced a distinction between E.U. investors and non-EU investors, with a less<br />
restrictive regime applying to the former. However, the difference in treatment is often<br />
minimal.<br />
2/15/2008 <strong>Country</strong> Commercial Guide for France 102<br />
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT, U.S. & FOREIGN COMMERCIAL SERVICE AND U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE,<br />
© 2007. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED OUTSIDE OF THE UNITED STATES.
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