End of ESUS approval as of right: what the Act of 26 May 2026 changes

Since 2014 the French ESUS approval has rested on a two-tier architecture: a general regime, in which an enterprise demonstrates that it meets four conditions, and a statutory list of organisations deemed to meet them, which file a lighter application. Act no. 2026-403 of 26 May 2026 on the simplification of economic life dismantles the second tier. Entry into force is set for 1 January 2027, and the decree meant to draw the new perimeter had not been published when this article was written.

What the list of approval as of right provided

Article L. 3332-17-1 of the Labour Code contained a list of categories considered, by their nature, to meet the conditions of approval: work-integration enterprises, temporary work-integration agencies, intermediary associations, integration workshops and projects, adapted enterprises, sheltered work establishments and services (ESAT), neighbourhood management companies, social reintegration centres, among others.

Those organisations were not exempt from every step: they had to show that they did fall within one of the listed categories, with a reduced file. But they escaped the heaviest part of the assessment — the accounting demonstration that the cost induced by social utility has a significant impact on the income statement.

The logic of the list was straightforward: those categories are already contracted with, monitored and funded by other public schemes on account of their social purpose. Asking for the same demonstration again was administrative duplication.

What the simplification Act puts in its place

Act no. 2026-403 of 26 May 2026 removes that list. In its place it creates a presumption: social and solidarity economy enterprises carrying out activities that pursue social utility and belonging to categories defined by decree will be presumed to satisfy the conditions relating to the social utility of their activity and to its impact on their business model.

Two shifts are worth noting.

The perimeter moves from statute to regulation. A list written into the Act could only change through Parliament. Categories set by decree can be amended more quickly. That is precisely the point of a simplification act — and it cuts both ways: the perimeter can be widened, and it can be narrowed.

The presumption covers only two of the four conditions. The text targets social utility and its impact on the business model. The pay cap and the absence of listed securities still have to be verified in every case, and the requirement that the relevant clauses appear in the articles of association remains.

The point to watch: the decree is not published

This is the limit of anything that can be written about the reform today, and it should be stated plainly: until the decree appears, the perimeter of the categories benefiting from the presumption is unknown.

An organisation currently approved as of right that did not appear in the future decree would fall back into the general regime, with the full demonstration to produce. For a small intermediary association or integration workshop, that would mean accounting work it has never had to supply.

Nothing suggests that this is the intended outcome — the legislator’s stated aim is simplification, not tightening. But building a renewal calendar on an unverifiable assumption would be imprudent.

What to do, depending on your situation

Your approval is in force and expires before 1 January 2027. Nothing changes for that renewal: today’s regime applies. Take the opportunity to restart a five-year term if your age allows.

Your expiry falls after 1 January 2027. Assume the applicable regime will be the decree’s, not today’s list. Start building the components of a complete file now: an analytical breakdown isolating operating costs linked to socially useful activities over recent financial years, a table of the five highest pay packages against the SMIC reference, and articles of association carrying the required clauses explicitly. Those components will serve you whatever happens.

You are not yet approved and you fall within a category on the current list. Filing before the 2027 deadline gives you the lighter regime and secures an approval whose term runs beyond the reform.

You fall under the general regime. Your situation is unchanged: the four conditions remain those of article L. 3332-17-1, set out in our article on the four conditions of the approval.

A reform that restates what the approval is

Beyond the mechanics, the shift is interesting. By dropping a list of legal forms in favour of a presumption based on activity, the legislator recentres the approval on what the enterprise does rather than on what it is.

That movement echoes an older debate. Francesca Petrella and Nadine Richez-Battesti, in a 2014 article in the Journal of Innovation Economics & Management, showed that the definition of social enterprise swings precisely between an approach through legal status and an approach through the purpose of the activity, and that the tension runs through every public policy in the field (see the study). The 2026 reform leans towards activity.

It is also worth recalling that these schemes exist to steer capital. Alex Nicholls showed, in the Journal of Social Entrepreneurship in 2010, that social investment institutionalises around distinct investor rationalities whose coordination requires common, stable reference points (see the study). A perimeter defined by decree is more flexible than a statutory list; by construction, it is also less predictable for funders.

Take action

Look at your approval’s expiry date. If it falls after 1 January 2027, open the analytical cost-breakdown project with your accountant this quarter: it is the longest component to produce and the one you cannot improvise. The ESUS approval page sets out the conditions, the steps and the terms of validity, and our article on filing with the DDETS covers the procedure and the two-month deadline.