Definition
A client asks for your Kbis before signing. You dig through your post, through your online account, and you find nothing: you will never have one.
An hour of contradictory articles later, you come across an acronym nobody mentioned when you registered your business, and a website you had never opened.
The registre national des entreprises (RNE), the national business register, is the official database listing every business carrying on a commercial, craft, agricultural or independent activity in France.
It is held by INPI, the French industrial property office, and fed by the filings made through the One-stop shop.
Created by the loi PACTE of 22 May 2019 and organised by the decrees of 19 July 2022, it has been running since 1 January 2023.
Since that date a liberal-profession micro-enterprise is entered in a register, which had never been the case before. Your public data is free to consult on data.inpi.fr, by name or by SIREN number.
What it replaced, and what it did not
The RNE wiped out two registers: the répertoire des métiers (the craft trades register held by the chambres de métiers et de l'artisanat) and the registre des actifs agricoles (the farming register).
The extrait D1 that craftspeople used to request from their chamber therefore no longer exists, and craft status is now simply a mention carried on your line in the register.
The Trade and companies register held by the commercial court registries was not abolished, and neither was the special register of commercial agents.
A micro-entrepreneur who buys and resells goods is entered in both, and only that person holds a Kbis extract.
"The RCS has given way to the RNE" is a sentence you will read everywhere, including from serious writers, and it is wrong.
What disappeared is the registre national du commerce et des sociétés, the centralised copy INPI kept alongside the court registries.
The local RCS carries on, and so does the Kbis. The consequence is very concrete: a seller of goods will indeed obtain a Kbis from the registry, but a freelance service provider or a craftsperson never will, and must supply an RNE registration extract instead.
Hunting for a document that does not exist in your case costs you bank account openings and supplier approvals.
What your line in the register actually decides
The register does more than record that you exist: it records a qualification, and that qualification has a price. Take three service providers each collecting 30,000 € in 2026.
The one entered with craft status owes 0.48% in Chamber of commerce levy, which is 144 €, plus 0.3% in CFP vocational training contribution, which is 90 €: 234 € in all.
The one entered as a trader owes 0.044% in chamber of commerce levy, which is 13.20 €, plus 0.1% in vocational training contribution, which is 30 €: 43.20 €.
190.80 € of difference on identical turnover, decided by one line in a register. The third, the liberal-profession provider, belongs to no chamber at all: the only levy is the CFP, 0.2% in 2026, which is 60 €.
These levies sit on top of the social contribution rate and are not included in it.
The 0.48% rate applies outside Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin and Moselle, where local law raises it to 0.65% in the first two and 0.83% in Moselle for services.
The chamber levy alone is due neither below 5,000 € of turnover nor before the second year of activity: check which reference year applies in your Urssaf account.
The CFP, on the other hand, stays due as soon as turnover was declared in the previous calendar year, and Acre does not exempt it.
That qualification is not a choice: it follows from the real nature of the activity you described.
But a vague description at the one-stop shop produces a vague entry, and the bill follows without warning.
RNE, RCS and SIRENE: three databases, three documents
Three directories coexist and they do not say the same thing. The RNE, held by INPI, certifies that your business is registered, and its extract downloads free of charge.
The RCS, held by the court registries, covers only traders and companies, and issues the Kbis.
The répertoire SIRENE, held by INSEE, the national statistics office, only identifies: it is the source of your SIRENE status notice, which proves a number was issued and nothing more.
A client asking for "proof that the business exists" is almost always satisfied with the RNE extract.
For a natural person, the register publishes the surname, first names, month and year of birth, and municipality of residence: neither the day of birth nor the home address as such.
The address declared as the business address, however, is public, and when you work from home it is the same one.
That is exactly what the senders of Fraudulent register letters exploit, writing to your home within days of registration to demand payment for an entry in an official-sounding register.
Frequently asked questions
How do I obtain my RNE registration extract?
By downloading it from data.inpi.fr, free of charge and without an account, after searching by SIREN number, by surname or by business name.
This document replaced the old extrait D1 issued to craftspeople and serves as proof of existence for every activity that falls outside the trade and companies register.
Am I in the RNE if I am a micro-entrepreneur in a liberal profession?
Yes, and that is the sharpest change the register brought.
Before 2023 a liberal activity was entered in no register at all: it received a number from INSEE and had no registration document to produce.
It now appears in the RNE like everyone else, with a downloadable extract that clients can check for themselves.
Does the RNE replace my SIRET number?
No, the two are distinct and complementary. INSEE issues the SIREN and SIRET numbers, which identify the business and each of its premises.
The RNE records the legal situation of the business and makes it searchable. The number is the search key into the register, not something the register produces.
What happens to my entry if I stop trading?
It does not clear itself.
Deregistration is requested through a cessation filing made at the one-stop shop, and until that is done the business stays registered and the authorities keep treating it as active.
If you cease trading mid-year, the reduction in business property tax for the remaining months must be claimed from your business tax office.