In order to sell on French markets you will need to get a carte de commerçant ambulant from the sous préfecture and register your business with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. So how do you go about getting this card?
- Contact your local préfecture or sous-préfecture and ask for a carte de commerçant ambulant. A temporary certificate entitled attestation provisoire, valid for 30 days will be delivered to you.
- On reception of your temporary certificate, go and register your business at the Centre de Formalités des Entreprises at the Chambre du Commerce et d’Industrie. The extrait KBIS, official document confirming the creation of your company, will be posted to you within 10 days.
- Go back to the préfecture with your extrait KBIS and attestation provisoire in order to request your final carte de commerçant ambulant which will be valid for 2 years.
- Renew your carte de commerçant ambulant every 2 years at the préfecture.
In order to get a spot in your local market, you will need to get in touch with the placier at the mairie. This person is responsible for managing all existing sellers, allocating new spaces and dealing with potential issues. Get in touch with him in the first place, to ensure that there is still some space available. Some markets refuse to take new sellers, if there already are several traders with the same activity. A market spot is charged anything between 1 to 5 euros per meter.
This card is free for now. A new law has been voted, which will enable the Centre de Fomalites des Entreprises at the Chamber of Commerce to manage the card in the future. However the new law will not be effective until the arrete is published, probably by the end of the year.