There is an obligation of traders to provide the general terms and conditions of sale to their customers. The terms and conditions should include the conditions of sale, the unit price lists, reductions in prices and the payment terms. For international sales it would be important to include a clause about the governing law. It is advisable to include the general terms and conditions on invoices and orders in order to provide evidence that the purchaser was aware thereof.

It is not necessary to apply the same general terms and conditions of sale to all customers. However it is necessary to apply the same terms and conditions to a given category of customer

Under the French Commercial Code a business has basic accounting requirements such as recording accounting entries on a chronological basis, a valuation of the assets at least every 12 months and preparation of the annual accounts at the end of the financial year.

The Commercial Code also prescribes accounting registers and the recording of invoices. Accounting information should be kept for 10 years.

Invoices should be dated and have an individual number. They must include the name of the parties and their address, the date of the sale or the provision of services, the quantity, the type of service or article, the net unit price, the date at which payment should occur and any possible price reductions. Invoices should be drawn up in the French language.

The legal requirements concerning commercial documents will depend on whether there is an individual trader or a commercial company. It is important to ensure that invoices, orders, price-lists, advertising material and all commercial correspondence should include the single identification number as well as a place of registration. Specific information should also appear in the case of regulated activities. The same information should appear Internet sites

A commercial agent is an independent trader who represents the principal in order to promote the latter’s products or services. A commercial agent can be registered as such on a special register and will receive statutory protection under the commercial code. However, other traders can seek the classification of a commercial agent from the court if they can prove that the conditions for an agency agreement are met.

Both a franchisee and a distributor are independent traders. Both must be granted exclusivity and may be given a licence to trade under the trademark owned by the franchisor or of the principal. The difference under a franchise agreement is that the franchisee should receive assistance and advice. Franchise agreements can be subject to certain strict contractual rules notably in terms of pre-contractual information.

In French law, a non-competition clause must be limited in terms of its purpose, in time and in geographical area. In addition, in the field of employment law, the clause must not prevent the employee from engaging in gainful employment and the clause must provide for financial consideration to be paid to the employee.

It is important to verify if the invention is truly original and that it does not step on the shoes of existing patents. It is recommended that assistance should be sought from a patent agent.

It is first necessary to verify that a similar trademark is not already protected in the class of products in which the trademark is to be used. In France there is a national register of French trademarks, upon which the chosen trademark should be filed.