France and the Netherlands at a glance
- Stamp
- Apostille, Hague Convention in force for France since 24 January 1965
- Issued by
- Since 1 May 2025, French notaries have issued apostilles through 15 regional apostille and legalisation centres
- Language
- French, often accepted as it is
- Register
- Registre national des entreprises (INPI) and the Registre du commerce et des sociétés (online)
- Tax treaty
- Signed 1973, in force 1974 (Rijksoverheid, 1 October 2026)
- EU trade
- EU single market and customs union
- In the Netherlands
- 1,175 companies controlled from France in 2024, 1,035 in 2021 (+13.5%), about 202,000 jobs, €81.7 billion turnover, 5.9% of all 19,995 foreign-controlled companies (CBS, 9 October 2026)
- Moving here
- EU free movement
Documents from France
Passport copy, certified by a notary in France.
Proof of address in France, at most three months old.
Power of attorney. Sign the power of attorney before a French notaire. The same notarial network then issues the apostille.
Ownership statement, one page from us.
The apostille. Since 1 May 2025, French notaries have issued apostilles through 15 regional apostille and legalisation centres. Since 1 September 2025, they have also issued legalisations. Apply online.
Official page: https://apostille.notaires.fr
Good to know. You may still see the cour d’appel or the ministry in older guides. These offices stopped issuing apostilles and legalisations. A Kbis extract is valid for three months, so order it last.
If a company from France becomes a shareholder
Register extract, at most three months old: Registre national des entreprises (INPI) and the Registre du commerce et des sociétés. The company extract (Kbis) is ordered via Infogreffe. Plus articles, signing authority and ownership chart.
France: business register and trade
In mainland France, the registrars (greffiers) of the commercial courts keep the trade and companies registers. The National Institute for Industrial Property (INPI) keeps the national register, which centralises the information and documents validated by the registrars.
Infogreffe gives free access to certain information on registered businesses, in French and English. National register data on the DATA INPI portal are free of charge, and further use requires a licence.
The Kbis extract serves as a company's identity card: it is issued and signed by the court registrar and deemed authentic. It shows any collective insolvency proceedings against the company, and extracts are available for a fee set by the State.
In 2024, Dutch goods exports to France were worth €52.2 billion and imports from France €20.6 billion. In 2023, 8.8% of France's goods imports came from the Netherlands, up from 4.2% in 2015.
Your next step from France
Get free first advice Your own document list · How a Dutch BV is set up