France - Trade and investment environment

- state owned enterprises

• https://www.ft.com/content/093b64b8-ac53-11e8-89a1-e5de165fa619 The government of Emmanuel Macron is to shake up state ownership of the national postal service and other financial assets, creating a “national champion” as the French president looks to shore up rural services. Bruno Le Maire, finance minister, on Thursday announced a merger between La Poste and insurer CNP Assurances, to be carried out through the huge state-backed Caisse des Dépôts bank, which owns minority stakes in both groups. The plan, which has been discussed on-and-off for years, shows the willingness of Paris to shuffle its big portfolio of industrial holdings to try to steer policy, even as Mr Macron’s government, which took over last year, has speeded up some privatisations.

- privatisation

• None of the state's business? ft article 14nov16 
• https://www.ft.com/content/40446aa4-e4e9-11e7-97e2-916d4fbac0da The state’s privatisation drive is set to accelerate in 2018 as it prepares to sell large chunks of its holdings in order to fund ambitious spending plans. France has equity positions in 81 French companies, totalling €100bn and ranging from defence companies such as Safran to carmakers such as Renault and the nuclear group EDF. Stakes in Engie, the energy utility, and Française des Jeux, the state gaming company, are expected to be sold down this year while analysts have also suggested the state could sell part of its holding in Orange, the telecoms group. But Aéroports de Paris, operator of Paris Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, has become the focus of attention. According to multiple sources, the state has appointed Bank of America Merrill Lynch to explore options for the sale of ADP. France owns 50.6 per cent of ADP, which has a market capitalisation of €15.6bn. The next largest shareholder is Vinci, the French construction and infrastructure operator, with 8 per cent. The state agency that manages France’s holdings, Agence des participations de l’Etat, said “no decision has been taken by the government on possible changes in the capital of ADP”.

- employment and labour

• https://www.ft.com/content/6dd2a7a0-8e23-11e7-a352-e46f43c5825d The French government has unveiled pro-business measures to liberalise the country’s dysfunctional jobs market, in an early test of President Emmanuel Macron’s determination to reform the eurozone’s second-largest economy amid sinking approval ratings. The proposals, outlined by prime minister Edouard Philippe on Thursday, are central to Mr Macron’s plan to make France more attractive to foreign investors, coax businesses to hire more workers and tackle an unemployment rate of more than 9 per cent.

- price

• 法國立例今年元旦起禁止超級市場以高折扣出售食品，即售價不得低於原價的34%，亦不能推出「買一送一」優惠，以保障農民和食物生產商的利潤。輿論估計這令消費者每年損失數百歐元，有人認為贏家是超市老闆。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20190113/00180_027.html

- stock market

• http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/05314dfe-e27d-11e4-ba33-00144feab7de.html Some of France’s largest companies are preparing a rebellion to counteract a law passed by the country’s socialist government to automatically award double voting rights to long-term shareholders. Investors, and sometimes management, are trying to overturn the implementation of the legislation at a number of upcoming annual meetings, fighting to maintain the “one share one vote” system. The campaign is being led by PhiTrust and has the backing of 19 institutional investors in countries from Germany to the UK and Switzerland that manage €2,300bn in assets. The fight follows the introduction last year of the Florange law, which automatically grants double voting rights from 2016 to shares registered for more than two years unless two-thirds of shareholders vote to overturn it.

- sale period

• 法國政府每年都會規定冬季大減價的時期，每次長一個多月，零售店只可在該段期間將全部貨品減價出售。惟近年法國經濟不景，加上恐襲陰霾令遊客減少，巴黎的商店東主和消費者對這安排的不滿浮面，有商店走法律罅，以「推廣」或「私人買賣」名義，把部分貨品降價。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180121/00180_023.html

- shared accommodation

• 法國巴黎市政府早前提出，住所每年出租不能超過一百二十天；惟法國的Airbnb一直拒絕配合。Airbnb上周三表示，將遵守有關規定，並會訂立機制，阻止出租的房東違規。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20180610/00180_013.html

- 法國經濟部長勒邁爾周一宣布，該國將於明年元旦日起向大型的互聯網及科技公司徵收「數碼稅」，包括美國的Google、Facebook（Fb）、亞馬遜及蘋果公司。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/china_world/20181219/00180_011.html
- education

• 何太依家喺法國巴黎攻讀哲學博士，今年係第二年，而何太最近就參與咗當地嘅「黃背心示威」，唔通何太都想行維權路？何啟明解釋，雖然當地「黃背心示威」本身係反對加徵燃油稅，但鑑於法國總統馬克龍上場後，修改咗留學生攻讀博士可以喺大多數情況下豁免學費嘅政策，所以何太下學年開始要每年交四萬港元學費，於是何太就上街示威喇。何啟明話，當地政策改咗之後亞洲留學生要交學費，但非洲留學生就多數都有獎學金，相當唔公平。而因為示威令當地學校全部封晒，所以何太都已經幾個星期冇返學，連考試都取消埋。何啟明直言都擔心唔知會唔會影響太太畢業，至於未來要交多幾多學費，佢就話暫時預計需交八萬至十二萬港元。http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/news/20181223/00176_066.html

Wto/gatt
- Cultural exception (French: l’exception culturelle) is a political concept introduced by Francein General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) negotiations in 1993^[1] to treat culture differently from other commercial products. In other words, its purpose is to consider cultural goods and services as exceptions in international treaties and agreements especially with the World Trade Organization (WTO). Its goals are to point out that States are sovereign as far as limitation of culture free trade is concerned in order to protect and promote their artists and other elements of their culture. Concretely, it can be seen through protectionist measures limiting the diffusion of foreign artistic work (quotas) or through subventions distributed according to the country cultural policy.