An employer posting workers to France is obliged to notify them to SIPSI. Unfortunately, the implementation of the obligation in question poses many difficulties for employers. Below, we will try to explain what SIPSI is and how to comply with the necessity for a notification.
1. What is SIPSI?
The provisions of Articles L. 1262-2-1, R. 1263-3 of the French Labour Code require any foreign employer posting workers to France to notify the secondment to the French labour inspectorate. The tool for implementing this obligation is the online platform: SIPSI, available at: https://www.sipsi.travail.gouv.fr/. The submission of a notification in a different form or by other means of communication isn’t be considered as the fulfilment of the obligation in question.
2. When does the obligation to make a notification to SIPSI arise?
The notification to SIPSI should be made before the start of the secondment. In the event of its cancellation, the application must be cancelled. On the other hand, changing the dates of posting results in the need to modify the submitted declaration.
The SIPSI platform is also used to notify the extension of the secondment beyond the twelfth month.
3. Entity obliged to make a notification
The obligation to submit a notification to SIPSI is incumbent on a foreign employer posting workers to France in order to provide services to an entity located in France. A foreign employer doesn’t have to make a declaration to SIPSI if he/she posts his/her workers to France for own use.
If temporary workers are posted to France, the temporary employment agency constitutes the entity responsible for submitting the declaration. This obligation concerns temporary-work agencies also in the case of chain posting. Chain posting occurs when a temporary employment agency seconds a temporary worker to a user employer with a head office in another country and the user employer provides services using the temporary worker seconded to it in a State other than the one in which it is established.
4. Employees whose secondment to France doesn’t need to be notified to SIPSI
The French legislator distinguished four occupational groups which foreign employers don’t have to report to SIPSI. These are:
- researchers invited to participate in seminars or other scientific events taking place in the territory of the French Republic, with a maximum stay of 12 consecutive months in France;
- artists if the duration of their presence doesn’t exceed 90 days within a period of 12 consecutive months and is related to their participation in an artistic event in France – this exception doesn’t apply to the technical crew who, in connection with the organisation of the artistic event, assembles and dismantles the installation, transports and supervises it;
- athletes, sports referees, members of the technical team, but the duration of their stay on French territory may not exceed 90 days in 12 consecutive months – this exception doesn’t concern persons who perform technical activities, assembly and disassembly of the sports installation, its transport and supervision;
- trainees doing an apprenticeship, as part of their vocational training, in an enterprise located in France, provided that their presence in this country isn’t linked to the provision of a service and doesn’t exceed a period of 12 consecutive months.
In the case of a secondment to France of a worker who is a representative of any of the professional groups indicated above, the employer is also not obliged to appoint a representative in France. However, the posting of such an employee doesn’t exempt from the obligation to have labour documents required by French law (among others, payslips, time sheets) and to respect the provisions concerning the minimum wage.
5. Employer account
A foreign employer posting to France should create an account with SIPSI. For this purpose, it’s necessary to provide a range of information concerning the employer and his/her economic activity. These include, among others:
- full name of the employer;
- legal form;
- employer’s head office and exact address;
- telephone and e-mail address;
- name of the register in which the enterprise is registered and number in that register;
- data concerning the director/chairman of the management board;
- Intra-Community VAT number.
At this stage, the employer also selects the language of the declaration. Indeed, the SIPSI platform operates in several language versions: French, German, English, Spanish and Italian.
6. Notification of workers
The secondment declaration is made by completing an electronic form.
As regards the data of the posting employer, the form is completed automatically. The remaining data shall be entered by yourself. These include, among others:
- data of the counterparty for whom the services are provided in France or of the recipient of services;
- information concerning the nature and conditions of the provision of services in France;
- address or subsequent places of collective accommodation of the workers;
- information concerning the secondment and the posted employee;
- details of the employer’s representative in France at the time of providing the service.
After completing the declaration, it shall be validated. Then it’s possible to dowload it from the system. The declaration isn’t sent to the employer’s e-mail address. The employer only receives an email notification with the application reference number.
It should be mentioned here that the foreign employer is obliged to provide his/her French counterparty with the confirmation of receipt of the SIPSI declaration and the so-called statement of honor. In the statement in question, the foreign employer declares that he/she has paid the administrative fines imposed on him/her by the French Labour Inspectorate.
7. Legal notice
The study is a work within the meaning of the Act of 4 February 1994 on Copyright and Related Rights (OJ 2006, No. 90, item 631, consolidated text, as amended). Publishing or reproducing this study or its part, quoting opinions, as well as disseminating in any other way the information contained therein without the written consent of Crede sp. z o.o. is prohibited.
