Other news for march 2022

Wearing a mask

For 2 years now, the “national protocol to ensure the health and safety of employees in companies in the face of the Covid-19 epidemic” has been telling employers the rules to follow to protect their employees against the Covid-19 epidemic. The protocol was modified according to the evolution of the health crisis. The current decline in Covid-19 cases in the population has led the government to relax this protocol. Thus, since February 28, 2022, employees, who work in premises receiving the public and who are subject to the obligation to present a vaccination pass, are no longer obliged to wear a mask (except in long-distance transportation).

VAT and importation

Since January 1st, 2022, the management and collection of import VAT has been transferred from customs to the tax administration. The declaration and payment of import VAT must therefore now be made with the CA3 VAT return. In practice, this change implies for the businesses concerned to collect and deduct import VAT simultaneously, without a cash advance, in other words to conduct a “reverse charge.”

Access to public procurement

To encourage small and medium-sized companies to apply for public procurement, the Ministry of Economy and Finance has just developed a guide entitled “Developing through public procurement,” which aims to “support them in building their commercial strategy to develop through public procurement by enhancing their assets in terms of non-price competitiveness.” This guide can be downloaded from the government website: www.entreprises.gouv.fr.

Aid for companies impacted by the health crisis

Due to the ongoing health crisis and the restrictions imposed by the government (prohibition to welcome the public, in particular), an exemption and aid for the payment of social contributions have again been granted to certain companies, for the months of December 2021 and January 2022. The exemption and the aid for the payment of social security contributions were intended for companies with fewer than 250 employees whose activity has been affected and which fall within a protected or related sector, such as catering, hotels, tourism, sport, and events.