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  4. PRESS RELEASE - DELSOL Avocats unveils t...

PRESS RELEASE - DELSOL Avocats unveils the results of its international survey on the perception of French business law by American legal professionals and economic players

As the United States have just elected a new President, Donald Trump, who will return to power on 20 January 2025, DELSOL Avocats conducted a survey on the perception of French law from the point of view of US lawyers, in-house lawyers, companies, directors, investors and more generally all US economic players, to find out how they view French law, particularly in the Corporate/M&A and Tax areas.

The survey was conducted between 18 July and 30 September 2024 among more than 2,000 professionals, clients, colleagues and best-friends.

Here are the main results of the survey :

  • Corporate/M&A :
    • The process to incorporate a company in France is perceived as long and complex. Respondents were not familiar with the most-frequently used corporate structure : the SAS (French simplified joint stock company), which organizational rules can be tailored as in a contract.
    • Regarding transactions involving a French target, respondents consider the process as more complex than when all parties are American, in particular with respect to HR-related matters.
    • Respondents consider that financial assistance rules (i.e. having the target finance its own acquisition) should be less restricted, and that the so-called “Hamon” law imposing to inform all employees of a sale process is business unfriendly.
    • Respondents consider that the financial assistance rules, which allow the target to finance its own acquisition, should be less restrictive.
  • Tax :
    • France is still perceived as imposing a tax burden on individuals which is too high, while most of the respondents over-estimated the taxation of capital gains and dividends, showing the gap between how French individual taxation is perceived and its actual implications.
    • Regarding French corporate income tax, respondents acknowledge that France apply the average CIT rate applied within the EU (25%) and the importance of R&D tax credit and other incentives in their and their client’s investments decisions in our country.

The survey therefore highlights the fact that American economic players perceive the French legal framework as complex, particularly for business start-ups and M&A transactions, and that taxation is particularly high, even though incentives such as the research tax credit mitigate this impression in investment decisions.

The election of Donald Trump could exacerbate these perceptions, with the new administration introducing potentially simpler and more attractive tax and economic policies that would widen the perceived gap in competitiveness and accessibility.