A foreign company can sell online to customers in France without automatically incorporating a French subsidiary. That answer is useful, but incomplete. The legal consequences depend on who is selling, where the stock or service is supplied, whether the buyer is a consumer or another business, how the website targets France, and which entity receives the payment. A website in English operated from abroad can still create French consumer, tax and evidence issues when it accepts French orders, quotes delivery to France or presents itself as available to French customers.

This guide is for foreign founders, parent companies and international e-commerce teams. It maps the practical decision from the first product page to a withdrawal request, refund, VAT filing or customer complaint. It explains the French terms that usually slow down a launch: the Kbis extract, the greffe registry office, the RCS Trade and Companies Register, the SIREN and SIRET identification numbers, the INPI National Institute of Industrial Property, the RNE National Business Register, and the BODACC official bulletin for civil and commercial announcements. It also separates a direct cross-border sale from the situation in which a French branch, subsidiary, warehouse or employee changes the risk profile.

The central rule is operational: identify the legal seller before writing the legal notices, then make the checkout, fulfilment, VAT and after-sales process tell the same story. A French customer should be able to understand who contracts with them, what they will pay, when they will receive the goods or service, how they can withdraw, and how to complain. A foreign company should be able to prove that every answer was designed for the actual flow of orders rather than copied from a generic template.

I. Can a foreign company legally sell online in France?

A. Which entity, contract and customer trigger French rules?

The first question is not “Do I have a French company?” but “Which entity is the professional contracting with the buyer?” The product page, order confirmation, invoice, payment account, returns address and customer-service address should identify the same seller. A foreign company may sell directly from its home country, use a French branch, operate through a French subsidiary, or use a marketplace that takes part in the transaction. Those arrangements are not interchangeable. They affect the identity displayed to the customer, the tax registration, the allocation of product and consumer obligations, and the documents that must be produced if a customer or administration challenges the sale.

A French subsidiary is a separate legal person. Its name, registered office and French registration are not proof that the foreign parent is the seller of every product shown on the group website. A branch is a French establishment of the foreign company; it does not create the same separation from the parent. A warehouse or fulfilment provider may hold stock without becoming the seller, but the contracts and website must not suggest that the provider assumes the seller’s duties when it only stores and dispatches goods. A marketplace may have its own obligations, yet the professional offering the goods remains responsible for the information and promises attached to its offer. The launch file should therefore contain a one-page entity map naming the contracting seller, the owner of the website, the stock owner, the payment recipient, the importer and the returns operator.

The consumer perimeter starts with the contract, not with the nationality of the founder. Article L. 221-1 of the French Consumer Code defines a distance contract by reference to a professional and a consumer, an organised distance-sales system, no simultaneous physical presence and the exclusive use of distance communication up to conclusion. The provision uses the words tout contrat conclu entre un professionnel et un consommateur. In English, the practical test is whether the seller has organised a remote sales process and the buyer is acting outside a professional activity. A French buyer is not the only possible consumer; the same process may be governed by mandatory French rules when the site directs activity to France and the contract has a close connection with the French market.

The buyer’s status must be recorded at checkout. B2C means business-to-consumer: an individual buying outside their commercial, industrial, craft, professional or agricultural activity. B2B means business-to-business: a professional acting for its business. A company may be the buyer in a B2B order, but that label does not automatically remove every protection if the person ordering is acting outside the relevant professional purpose. The form should ask for the buyer’s business identity and VAT number where the transaction is genuinely B2B, while preserving evidence of the declared purpose. Do not rely on an unchecked “professional customer” box if the marketing, product, price and support flow are plainly aimed at consumers.

The Court of Cassation’s Commercial Chamber illustrated the boundary in its decision of 4 September 2024, appeal no. 23-16.886. In that dispute between companies, the Court rejected the attempt to apply the special distance-contract consumer regime and stated that la société Boole ne pouvait bénéficier des dispositions particulières applicables aux contrats à distance. The decision is available on Légifrance, Cass. com., 4 September 2024, no. 23-16.886. The lesson for a foreign seller is precise: classify the buyer and the contract before copying a consumer withdrawal flow into a professional supply agreement. B2B customers still need clear contractual terms, delivery rules, warranty allocation, payment provisions and a usable dispute process.

The sales technique can also matter. A page that merely describes products is not the same as a checkout that accepts an order, and a bespoke digital service is not automatically a sale of goods. The First Civil Chamber’s decision of 5 November 2025, appeal no. 23-22.883, considered an organised distance-sales system and explained that the material conditions of delivering the offer do not change the distance-contract qualification. The Court’s wording includes sont sans influence sur la qualification de contrat à distance; the official decision is Cass. 1st civ., 5 November 2025, no. 23-22.883. A foreign company cannot avoid a distance-sales analysis merely because a document was handed over, signed or processed through a different operational channel after the remote marketing journey began.

Digital services require their own classification. On 28 May 2026, the First Civil Chamber held that a contract for the design and production of a personalised website, without transfer of ownership of one or more tangible movable goods, could not be treated as a sale for the relevant consumer rules. The decision, appeal no. 25-14.507, uses the phrase ne peut pas être qualifié de vente and is published on Légifrance, Cass. 1st civ., 28 May 2026, no. 25-14.507. For an international business, the checkout should identify whether the customer receives a physical product, a service, a subscription, a digital service, digital content or a mixed package. The cancellation and performance wording should follow that classification.

Targeting France is a fact-sensitive assessment. Relevant signals can include accepting delivery addresses in France, displaying prices in euros, using French advertising or search terms, offering French customer support, naming French delivery times, referring to French compliance or presenting a .fr storefront. None of these signals alone answers every jurisdiction question. Together, they are evidence of the market the business chose to serve. If the group intends to exclude France, the exclusion should be real: the website should reject French delivery addresses, explain the territorial limit before payment and ensure that advertising and customer-service teams do not promise shipment to France. If the business wants French customers, it should design for French mandatory information instead of relying on an exclusion paragraph that the checkout contradicts.

Opening a French company is therefore a structural choice, not a universal precondition for online sales. The direct foreign-company model may work for a limited cross-border test with no French stock, no French employees and no local operational base. A branch or subsidiary becomes a more serious option when the group maintains a French establishment, hires locally, holds stock, signs local contracts, manages returns or wants a stable French contracting identity. The official Service Public Entreprendre guidance on a foreign national creating a business in France and the INPI creation guide should be read alongside the actual activity and structure. The INPI is the portal operator for the single window, not a substitute for deciding which entity has created a French establishment.

If the French entity is registered, explain its documents correctly. The Kbis is the official extract traditionally used to evidence a company’s registration in the RCS, the Trade and Companies Register. The greffe is the registry office of the commercial court that handles many commercial registration matters. The SIREN identifies the legal entity with a nine-digit number; the SIRET identifies a particular establishment with fourteen digits. The RNE is the National Business Register, while the INPI single window transmits formalities to the relevant bodies. A foreign seller should never put a French Kbis number in its legal notices if the named seller is actually the foreign parent. Conversely, a French subsidiary should not hide behind the parent’s foreign registration when the subsidiary signs the order confirmation.

B. What must appear before a French customer pays?

The first layer is the website’s legal notice. The French law on confidence in the digital economy, commonly called the LCEN (Loi pour la confiance dans l’économie numérique), requires accessible information about the publisher. Article 19 of Law no. 2004-575 of 21 June 2004 requires an easy, direct and permanent access to prescribed information. Its opening wording is un accès facile, direct et permanent. A foreign company’s page should normally make it possible to identify, in a stable place:

• the exact legal name, legal form and registered office of the foreign company;
• the registration number and country or register of incorporation, rather than an unexplained local number;
• a working email address and telephone contact for the seller;
• the French VAT identification number when the seller has one and it is relevant to the transaction;
• the identity and contact details of the site host;
• the French branch or subsidiary, if that entity is the seller, service provider or local contact described to the buyer;
• any authorisation or professional registration required for a regulated product or service; and
• a clear explanation of who handles orders, returns, complaints and payments.

The second layer is the pre-contract information. Article L. 221-5 of the Consumer Code requires information to be provided before the consumer is bound. It expressly requires information to be supplied de manière lisible et compréhensible. The page should therefore disclose the essential characteristics of the goods or service, the total price and applicable charges, the delivery date or period, the seller’s identity and contact details, complaint and dispute arrangements, legal guarantees, and the withdrawal rules or applicable exception. If a customer is asked to pay customs charges, return costs or a subscription renewal, the checkout should disclose that cost or mechanism before the order is placed.

For a foreign business, “total price” needs a cross-border review. A price that looks attractive because it excludes French VAT, duties, brokerage fees or delivery charges can create a misleading commercial experience if those sums are foreseeable and payable by the customer. The website should state whether taxes are included, who is the importer, whether delivery is restricted, and how a return crossing a border will be handled. If the foreign entity uses a French subsidiary for the sale but another group company issues the invoice, the customer should not have to reconstruct the group chart to understand the price or the contracting party.

Subscriptions and digital products add a second timing problem. The consumer should see the duration, renewal, cancellation method and minimum commitment before paying. If a digital content or digital service is made available immediately, obtain the legally required express request and explain the consequence for withdrawal where the statutory conditions are met. If a product is personalised, sealed for hygiene reasons, perishable or otherwise within an exception, state the exception before the order and explain what it means. A general sentence saying “all sales are final” is not a reliable substitute for the statutory analysis.

The checkout button is itself part of the legal design. Article L. 221-14 of the Consumer Code requires the professional to remind the consumer of the essential information before the order and to make the payment commitment explicit. The law says the function used to validate the order must carry a clear phrase such as commande avec obligation de paiement, or an equally unambiguous wording. In an English-language interface sold to France, “Continue”, “Confirm” or “Register” may not communicate the payment obligation. The final button should say “Place order with obligation to pay”, “Pay now” or a wording that makes the obligation unmistakable in the language shown to the buyer.

The same provision requires the website to state, at the latest at the beginning of the order process, the accepted payment methods and any delivery restrictions. Keep a dated screenshot or rendered capture of the order journey for each material version. The evidence should show the product, price, tax treatment, shipping options, returns link, withdrawal information, checkbox wording, final button and confirmation email. A foreign company often changes these elements through a marketing platform, payment provider or fulfilment plugin. Ownership of the evidence must be assigned to a person who can retrieve the exact version used for a disputed order.

Marketing claims must match the legal seller and the actual service. Article L. 121-2 of the Consumer Code treats a practice as misleading when it contains false or deceptive indications, or is likely to create confusion about essential characteristics, price, origin, identity or rights. A statement such as “ships from France” should not be used when the parcel is dispatched from a third country. “French company” should not describe a foreign parent that has no French company. “Free returns” should identify whether the seller pays international postage and whether a customs form is required. This is not only a copywriting question: the page, invoice and logistics data should all support the promise.

A compliant pre-payment file for a foreign seller should contain at least:

• the entity map and the current legal-notice text;
• the product, service and customer classification;
• the French version or French-facing version of the terms and checkout;
• the tax and customs decision for each fulfilment route;
• the delivery, return and refund operating procedure;
• the consent records for subscriptions or immediate digital performance;
• the supplier, importer, warehouse and marketplace agreements; and
• the dated test order, confirmation, invoice and cancellation journey.

For the wider French company-formation route, the firm’s French company creation and business-law page can be used as the internal starting point. It should not replace the product-specific review: selling cosmetics, food, medical devices, software, financial products or regulated services may require additional rules that a general e-commerce checklist does not cover.

II. How should a foreign company organise withdrawal rights, VAT and proof?

A. How do withdrawal, refunds and post-order disputes work?

For a distance contract with a consumer, the default withdrawal period is fourteen days, but the starting point depends on what was supplied. Article L. 221-18 of the Consumer Code states that the consumer has fourteen days to exercise the right without giving reasons or bearing costs other than those allowed by law. For a service, the period generally runs from conclusion of the contract; for goods, it generally runs from receipt of the goods, with rules for multiple deliveries and third-party recipients. The official text uses the phrase Le consommateur dispose d’un délai de quatorze jours. A foreign seller should record the date of contract, dispatch, delivery, digital access and any express request for early performance.

The information supplied before payment affects the clock. Under Article L. 221-20, if the consumer was not given the required information about withdrawal, the period can be extended by twelve months after the initial period would have expired. This is why a missing form, an inaccessible returns address or a generic “no refund” condition can remain commercially relevant long after the delivery. A foreign company should test the withdrawal information from a French IP address, on mobile and in the same language as the customer journey. The link should work after the order as well as before it.

Withdrawal is not universal. Article L. 221-28 of the Consumer Code lists exceptions that can cover, depending on the facts, personalised goods, goods that deteriorate or expire quickly, sealed goods unsealed after delivery for health or hygiene reasons, certain recordings or software after unsealing, and digital content supplied before the end of the period after the required consent and acknowledgement. The seller must select the correct exception and explain it before payment. The exception should not be used to erase a legal guarantee, a failure-to-conform claim or a contractual remedy for a defective product.

Digital subscriptions need a separate workflow. A customer who orders access to a digital service may be asked to request immediate performance, but the checkout should show what that request changes. If the package combines a consultation, a downloadable file, a subscription and a physical product, the terms should say which part is performed when and how the withdrawal analysis applies to each part. The Court of Cassation’s 28 May 2026 decision on a personalised website shows why the commercial label is not enough: the judge examines the actual object of the agreement. The foreign seller should preserve the product description and contract version that explain the classification at the time of purchase.

Since 19 June 2026, the online withdrawal journey has an additional requirement. Article L. 221-21, in its current version, requires a professional using an online interface for distance contracts to make a free online functionality available for exercising withdrawal before the period expires. The source says le professionnel met à la disposition du consommateur, sans frais pour ce dernier, une fonctionnalité. The functionality must not be hidden in an account area that the customer cannot access, a chatbot that fails outside business hours, or a support address that does not accept the declaration. It should identify the order, permit an unambiguous declaration, transmit an acknowledgement on a durable medium and create an internal case with the date and time.

The implementing rule is specific. Article D. 221-5 of the Consumer Code, in force since 19 June 2026, says the feature is visibly identified by wording such as renoncer au contrat ici and that the confirmation function uses wording such as confirmer la rétractation, or an equally unambiguous formula. The foreign company may present an English interface, but it must ensure that a French-facing customer can easily identify the function and understand its effect. The page should remain available throughout the withdrawal period, not only while the order is in a temporary support queue.

Once withdrawal is validly exercised, the refund process must be automated or closely supervised. Article L. 221-24 of the Consumer Code requires reimbursement of the sums paid, including delivery charges, without unjustified delay and no later than fourteen days from the seller’s notice of the decision. The text uses sans retard injustifié et au plus tard dans les quatorze jours. For goods, the seller may in the permitted circumstances delay reimbursement until recovery or proof of dispatch. The system should therefore distinguish: date of withdrawal, date of return-label creation, date of parcel receipt, date of proof of dispatch, date of refund instruction and date of payment-provider settlement.

The customer should receive a durable record of the refund and of any deduction lawfully made. The company should explain whether the customer pays return costs, whether a premium delivery surcharge is excluded from the refund, and how a damaged or used item is assessed. A foreign return address must be usable in practice. If the customer must export the parcel, pay a customs fee or send it to a country outside the European Union, the process should say who bears that burden before the order. A refund policy that looks simple on the website but becomes impossible at the returns desk is a predictable source of complaints and chargebacks.

The financial risk is not limited to a private claim. Article L. 242-13 of the Consumer Code provides for an administrative fine of up to 15,000 euros for an individual and 75,000 euros for a legal person for breaches concerning the exercise and effects of the withdrawal right, including the articles governing the period, notice, return and reimbursement. A foreign company that sells through a French branch or subsidiary should decide which group entity responds to an inspection, who has access to order evidence and which bank account funds refunds. A group policy without a local owner is not an operational safeguard.

The post-order complaint protocol should follow a fixed sequence:

1. identify the contracting entity and order version;
2. confirm whether the buyer is a consumer, professional or mixed-use customer;
3. record the date of contract, delivery, access or performance;
4. check whether the withdrawal period, an exception or a legal guarantee applies;
5. secure the customer’s declaration, photographs, tracking and payment evidence;
6. issue the refund, replacement or reasoned refusal within the applicable time; and
7. escalate a repeated failure to the compliance owner and preserve the complete case file.

French consumer mediation can also matter. The pre-contract information under Article L. 221-5 includes the possibility of using a consumer mediator under the applicable conditions. The seller should identify the mediator, eligibility rules and contact method that actually cover the seller’s activity. A foreign company should not list a mediator simply because the name appears in a template used by a French subsidiary in another sector. Check the contractual perimeter, the entity and the sector before publishing the notice.

B. How do VAT, imports, fulfilment and evidence change the launch plan?

VAT is a separate decision from consumer law. VAT means value-added tax; in France it is commonly called TVA, for taxe sur la valeur ajoutée. The website’s language does not decide where VAT is due. The analysis begins with the location of the goods when the order is fulfilled, the customer’s status, the route of transport, the origin of the shipment and the nature of the product or service. The foreign company should draw the route for each SKU or service instead of applying one VAT setting to the whole catalogue.

For a foreign company, the French tax administration’s official VAT page for foreign businesses lists, among other cases, distance sales of goods coming from another country and sold to individuals in France. The official registration guidance explains that a foreign business may need a French VAT identification and filings for operations taxable in France, including operations performed from French stock or sales to French customers in the circumstances described by the administration. A VAT number is not the same thing as a French subsidiary, and having a subsidiary does not by itself answer whether the parent, subsidiary or a marketplace is the taxable seller.

For goods dispatched from one European Union country to consumers in another, the destination principle and the small-operator threshold must be reviewed. The official impots.gouv.fr guide on purchases and sales of goods describes the 10,000-euro annual threshold for the relevant combined cross-border distance sales and certain electronically supplied services, and explains that the place of taxation changes when the threshold or an election makes destination taxation applicable. The threshold is not a safe assumption for every foreign company: the establishment location, prior EU sales, service type and customer status can change the result. Calculate the EU-wide total, not only sales to France, and document the period used.

The OSS is the One Stop Shop, an optional EU reporting system that can allow eligible businesses to declare and pay consumer VAT due in other Member States through one Member State. The IOSS is the Import One Stop Shop for certain imported consignments up to 150 euros. The official impots.gouv.fr OSS-IOSS page explains that the schemes cover defined categories of cross-border services, intra-EU distance sales and certain imported goods. OSS does not make a product exempt from VAT, and it does not remove every local registration, customs or product obligation. It simplifies declaration and payment only within its legal scope.

Use a four-route VAT matrix:

• French stock or French fulfilment: determine whether the foreign company or French entity makes a taxable domestic supply, whether a French VAT registration and returns are required, and whether the stock transfer itself creates reporting obligations.
• Stock in another EU Member State shipped to France: classify B2C or B2B, calculate the relevant EU-wide distance-sales total, decide whether destination VAT and OSS apply, and keep transport evidence.
• Goods imported from outside the EU: identify the importer, customs declarant, EORI number, import VAT payer and any IOSS or marketplace collection mechanism. EORI means Economic Operators Registration and Identification, the customs identifier used for relevant operators.
• Services or digital supplies: identify the customer location, the B2B reverse-charge or B2C rule where applicable, the performance date and the evidence supporting the customer’s status and location.

Never present an OSS registration as proof that the business has a French establishment. A company can use a Union or non-Union scheme under the conditions of the VAT rules without creating the same corporate footprint as a branch or subsidiary. Conversely, a French warehouse, local staff or an establishment may require a broader French tax and corporate review even if a particular consumer sale is reported through OSS. The exact contracting seller and physical flow should be reconciled to the VAT return, invoice and payment account.

Imports create a second layer of customer communication. The buyer should know before payment whether the price includes import VAT, customs duties, brokerage or a delivery surcharge. If the foreign company is the importer, it should own the customs data and retain the commercial invoice, transport document, commodity code, origin evidence and import declaration. If the customer is the importer, that choice should not be hidden in a small-print sentence after the payment button. The return process should explain whether a returned parcel is an export, who completes the customs form and how the company prevents the customer from paying tax twice.

Fulfilment also affects corporate and employment questions. A third-party logistics provider in France may only store and dispatch, but a dedicated facility, an agent with authority to negotiate, or a person habitually concluding contracts may require an establishment and permanent-establishment analysis. If the foreign company hires a French employee to manage sales, customer service or operations, URSSAF becomes relevant. URSSAF is the French network responsible for collecting social-security contributions and related declarations. The first employee may bring payroll, employment, health-and-safety and insurance obligations that are not triggered by a purely remote sale to a French customer. The e-commerce launch plan must have a “people and premises” checkpoint.

Registration evidence should be assembled through the correct channel. The INPI single window handles French business formalities, including creation, modification and cessation filings. The RNE stores national business registration data. The greffe may process the commercial-register component. The BODACC, the Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales, publishes certain notices concerning companies and proceedings. These terms are not interchangeable: a BODACC notice is not a Kbis, a SIRET is not a VAT number, and an INPI filing receipt is not necessarily proof that the commercial registration has been completed. A foreign founder should name the document actually required by the bank, marketplace, customs broker or customer.

Where the group creates a French subsidiary, choose the structure before launch materials are final. A SAS (société par actions simplifiée, simplified joint-stock company) can provide flexible governance; an SARL (société à responsabilité limitée, limited-liability company) has a different statutory framework; a branch keeps the foreign company at the centre of liability; and a subsidiary creates a separate contracting person. The choice should reflect stock, employees, financing, director status, VAT, customer claims and exit plans. Online sales do not turn one form into the universally correct form. The legal notices must follow the chosen structure and never blur parent and subsidiary responsibilities.

A foreign company should retain a launch evidence pack with five synchronized folders:

1. Corporate identity: incorporation certificate, current register extract, beneficial-owner information where required, powers of attorney, French establishment documents and the final entity map.
2. Website and contract: legal notices, terms, privacy information, product sheets, price and delivery versions, checkout captures, consent logs and order confirmations.
3. Tax and customs: VAT registrations, OSS or IOSS evidence where used, VAT calculations, EORI data, import records, invoices and transport proof.
4. Fulfilment and customer care: warehouse contract, delivery service levels, returns address, refund workflow, complaints, mediator information and chargeback responses.
5. Governance: a named owner, quarterly compliance tests, change log, incident record and escalation decision for a French branch, subsidiary, employee or premises.

When a customer claims that a French-facing website concealed the seller, charged the wrong VAT, refused a withdrawal or advertised an impossible delivery, the strongest response is not a generic explanation of the group. It is a dated file showing the page, terms, order, invoice, shipping route, legal entity, tax treatment and response time for that specific transaction. Article L. 110-3 of the French Commercial Code states that, against merchants, commercial acts may be proven by any means unless the law provides otherwise. The source says les actes de commerce peuvent se prouver par tous moyens. Preserve the data in a form that can be read, linked to the order and explained by a responsible person.

The final pre-launch test should be a real but controlled journey: choose a French delivery address, place a low-value order in the intended language, verify the total price and payment wording, receive the confirmation, exercise withdrawal through the online function, follow the return instructions, calculate the refund and reconcile the invoice and VAT route. Repeat the test after changing the legal seller, warehouse, payment provider, product category or country of dispatch. This is the shortest way to discover that the website names a French subsidiary while the invoice names the parent, or that the checkout offers a return right which the warehouse cannot process.

Conclusion

A foreign company can sell online in France, but the answer is not a licence to copy a generic international website. The business must first identify the legal seller and customer, then decide whether its targeting, stock, people or premises require a French structure or registration. Before payment, the site must identify the seller, disclose the essential information, make the payment commitment clear and align its claims with the real delivery and tax route. After payment, it must operate the fourteen-day withdrawal framework, the statutory exceptions, the refund timetable and, since 19 June 2026, the accessible online withdrawal function.

The practical dividing line is evidence. The parent, branch, subsidiary, marketplace, warehouse, payment provider and tax account should describe one coherent transaction. Kbis, RCS, greffe, SIREN, SIRET, INPI, RNE, BODACC, URSSAF, VAT, OSS, IOSS and EORI documents each answer a different question. If the group can connect those documents to the website version, order record, fulfilment route and customer response, it can launch with a clearer allocation of risk and react faster when a French customer, bank, customs broker or authority asks who is responsible.

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