As part of your company’s development, you have recently established a subsidiary in France or you are about to. You will find below a succinct summary of your obligations as well as some advice.
New subsidary in France : obligations
- Employee benefits : The French social security system offers a good level of coverage, but it needs to be supplemented by corporate insurance policies. Three types of policies can be implemented in a company: Medical expenses, Death/short-term sickness benefits/disability and pension plans. Only medical expenses are mandatory.
- Property & casualty : French legislation imposes insurance obligations for buildings
New subsidiary in France : how to proceed
To improve their insurance cover and cost efficiency, many global firms develop international insurance programmes when establishing subsidiary abroad. The aim is to cover gaps, and comply with the local legal and regulatory environment. However the problem is complex as the regulators in each country are closely observing this issue ; they are particularly strict when it comes to compliance with local norms.
In recent years, there has been a closer follow-up of the existing local regulations in order to enforce the obligation of local insurances and to limit premium export in order to build a local insurance market.
Organisations can exclusively purchase local insurance policies in each country where they have activities, however, this approach may result in gaps in cover, high costs and a loss of control from headquarters. On the other hand, buying only global policies could expose the company to the risk of fines and sanctions in the countries where admitted policies are required.
