Administrative Simplification: The End Of Cerfa Forms By 2030

In an interview with Le Monde on March 6, 2024, the Minister of Economy Bruno Le Maire announced the end of Cerfa forms by 2030. We invite you to find out what this administrative simplification measure will change for you.

Hundreds of administrative forms

As the Minister of Economy, Bruno Le Maire, has announced the end of Cerfa forms by 2030, you might be wondering what this decision will mean for businesses and individuals in France.

For reference, these forms are the official documents that establish the connection between citizens and the French administration. The acronym CERFA stands for "Centre d'enregistrement et de révision des formulaires administratifs" (Center for the Registration and Review of Administrative Forms).

This acronym is found on various official forms that an individual or business must complete as part of an administrative procedure. There are no fewer than 1,800 such forms in France for all existing formalities: applying for a building permit or vehicle registration, negotiating a mutual termination agreement or sick leave, registering a new business or declaring a change of circumstances to the family benefits office, for example...

Bruno Le Maire has pointed out the complexity created by the large number of available forms, but also and above all the "staggering cost in jobs as well as in hours worked" that this mass of paperwork to be filled out represents.

80% of pre-filled forms by 2026

The announcement by Bruno Le Maire of the end of Cerfa forms is not going to dramatically change French habits in the near future. Indeed, the removal of these administrative forms, which are filled out for requests for benefits, construction projects, work stoppages, or granting power of attorney to a relative, will be done gradually.

In an interview with the newspaper Le Monde on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, the Minister of the Economy declared: "By 2026, 80% of the Cerfa will be pre-filled by the administration, just like your tax return. After that, we will eliminate them completely."

Administrative simplification is a necessity for France since there are currently 1,800 different administrative forms in our country, including 1,200 for businesses and 600 for individuals.

Thanks to forms pre-filled by the administrations with the information they hold, businesses and individuals will only have to verify the pre-filled information and complete it if necessary.

A removal announced by 2030

As part of the "shock of simplification" promised by the government, Bruno Le Maire also announced that Cerfa forms would be permanently eliminated by 2030.

The goal of this reform is to digitalize administrative procedures. However, French citizens who are not adept with digital tools need not worry! Paper forms will remain available for all those who require them.

The Minister of the Economy also specified that the government is looking for a way to improve them before finding an alternative solution.

A simplification of the commercial code.

As part of the ongoing simplification initiative, Bruno Le Maire has announced his intention to "cut the commercial code in half." This document, which compiles all laws and standards governing commercial activities in France, was established two centuries ago during the Consulate and the codification of French law.

It currently contains some 7,000 articles. It is impossible to know it in its entirety, so much so that professionals generally do not know the laws governing their activity...

To address this issue, the Minister of the Economy declared: "I propose that along with the Keeper of the Seals, Éric Dupont-Moretti, we bring together parliamentarians, legal and commercial experts to halve the size of this code by 2027. My administration will use AI to tailor information to the specific needs of businesses."