Macron Law: focus on the main measures affecting the tourism industry

313 articles. 412 hours of debates. 10,756 proposed amendments 2,329 of which were adopted.

After the usage, for the third time, of article 49-3, the so-called Macron law concerning growth, activity, and equality of economic opportunities was passed on Friday, July 10th, 2015 by the National Assembly.

The Republican deputies and senators (former UMP) have already referred to the Constitutional Council.

Meanwhile, here are the main measures that affect the tourism industry.

In 2013, only 110,000 people have traveled by bus in France, versus 8 million in Germany and 30 million the United Kingdom.

The government hopes to multiply this number and create 22,000 jobs thanks to the immediate opening of new lines for distances above 100 km.

For trips below 100 km, operators will have to ask permission to the new Regulation Authority of Road and Rail Businesses (ARAFER.)

It will control the “absence of the risk of upsetting the economy of transport services organized by collectivities (TER, TET, contracted buses.)”

The construction of the train linking, in 20 minutes, Gare de l’Est to the Paris Airport - Charles de Gaulle should begin in 2017 and be expected to run in 2023.

For the deputies, this project amounting to 1.65 billion euros should be entirely auto-financed and paid from operating revenues.

The State and local collectivities will in no way be solicited in grants.

The majority of the capital of the Lyon and côte d’Azur concessionary companies will be handed over to the private sector.

But the ownership of the platforms will remain public.

“The divesture of shareholdings should serve, first and foremost, to finance our priorities and to invest,” states the legal text.

Maybe to finance the development of the major regional airports which is mentioned in the text without providing more details?

Work on Sunday and in the evening until midnight is being authorized yearlong in international touristic zones (ZTI.)

These are defined by the government in consultation with mayors.

We already know that they will concern the major shopping areas of Paris, as well as coastal cities such as Nice, Cannes, or Deauville.

Employees who will work at night starting at 9pm will earn double. And their employers will have to pay for their transportation home.

The six Parisian train stations, as well as those of Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon, Montpellier, Nice, Avignon will also be able to open their businesses on Sundays and evenings.

In the rest of France, mayors will choose nine Sundays per year starting the month of August, and twelve in 2016.

Finally, new touristic zones and commercial zones (former PUCE) will be determined based on their economic potential and will also be able to open during this usual no-work day.

To appease social partners, the report assures that all work on Sunday will have to be voluntary and will give way to a wage compensation. Indeed, until now, businesses that are opened on Sundays in one of the 640 touristic zones are not forced to give a wage compensation.

From now on, without the majority approval of the employees in the event of an industry-wide agreement, a territorial agreement, or company agreement, the business will not be allowed to open.

The employer must prepare measures to facilitate conciliation between professional and personal life, such as compensating for the expenses induced by child care.

The French, who have spent 57 billion euros in 2014 in online purchases, will be better protected today.

E-commerce and collaborative platforms will be subjected to stronger requirements around the referencing criteria, ranking of contents, sale offers or service delivery, quality of the advertiser, conditions for retrieving orders, rights and obligations of the sides undertaking the transaction on the platform, pre-contractual informations for professional vendors.

Operators failing to conform to these obligations may be imposed an administrative sanction that could amount up to €375,000. The decree will be published before the end of the year.

Other articles will also affect tourism companies and their employees, such as the establishment of a compulsory allowance scale at the industrial tribunals. The law also endorses the creation of “class actions.”

For companies undergoing difficult times, agreements on safeguarding jobs could be concluded in five years instead of two. Employees refusing these agreements will be laid off for economical reasons based on real and serious causes. The employer will not be forced to provide them with a redeployment leave.

In the event of collective lay-offs, companies will no longer be obliged to offer surreal redeployment offers (in Romania for instance.)

The tribunal can now impose a ten-year receivership plan. Small companies with a business turnover less than €8 billion or a balance sheet inferior to €4 billion will be exempted from publishing their income statement.

Finally, to better finance themselves, startups will now be able to benefit from stock options (BSPCE).