France Legal interest rate (taux de l'intérêt légal)
France Legal interest rate (taux de l'intérêt légal) is 2.75 percent, in force since 1 Jul 2026. Last checked against the official source on 10 Aug 2026.
France's legal interest rate under Code monétaire et financier art. L. 313-2: two rates fixed by arrêté each half-year according to the creditor's status — 2.75% where the creditor is a professional and 6.84% where the creditor is an individual acting outside a professional capacity, both from 1 July 2026.
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| Current value | 2.75 percent |
|---|---|
| In force from | 2026-07-01 |
| Official source | Arrêté du 26 juin 2026 relatif à la fixation du taux de l'intérêt légal (JORF n° 0151 du 30 juin 2026), art. 1: le taux de l'intérêt légal est fixé 'pour les créances des personnes physiques n'agissant pas pour des besoins professionnels : à 6,84 %' et 'pour tous les autres cas : à 2,75 %', applicable au second semestre 2026; pris pour l'application des articles L. 313-2 et D. 313-1-A du code monétaire et financier |
| Last verified | 2026-08-10 |
| Verification | primary — No verification limitation recorded — read from the official source cited. |
| Provenance | source fingerprint |
What this value means
France has run TWO legal interest rates since 1 January 2015: a rate for creditors who are individuals not acting for professional purposes (6.84% for H2 2026) and a rate for every other case (2.75% for H2 2026). The headline value served here is the 2.75% general/professional rate. WHICH RATE APPLIES TURNS ON THE CREDITOR, NOT THE DEBTOR: a company owing money to a private individual pays the 6.84% rate; a private individual owing money to a company pays 2.75%. Setter: the ministre chargé de l'économie by arrêté published in the Journal officiel before each half-year; the Banque de France computes the figures under CMF art. D. 313-1-A as the ECB main refinancing rate in force two months before the half-year plus 60% of the 24-month average spread between that rate and, respectively, new consumer-credit rates (individuals) or rates on new loans to resident non-financial companies excluding overdrafts (all other cases). The rate applies to civil and commercial money debts alike and is the default rate for judgment debts. TRAP: CMF art. L. 313-3 raises the legal rate BY FIVE POINTS automatically two months after a court decision becomes enforceable — 7.75% on the professional rate, 11.84% on the individual rate, unless the enforcement judge orders otherwise. Commercial invoices are a separate product: Code de commerce art. L. 441-10 sets late-payment penalties between businesses at the ECB refinancing rate plus 10 points by default, and a contractual rate may not fall below three times the legal rate (8.25% for H2 2026) — that regime is served in our late-payment-interest product. NEXT FIXING: arrêté published in late December 2026, effective 1 January 2027.
Get it programmatically
curl https://euroref.dev/v1/fr/statutory-interest
# $0.005 per call — x402 on Base (USDC). No key, no signup.
# History: curl https://euroref.dev/v1/fr/statutory-interest/history?from=2020-01-01
# Provenance: curl https://euroref.dev/provenance/fr/statutory-interestOther France series: Policy interest rate (ECB deposit facility rate) · Value added tax (TVA) · VAT registration threshold · Statutory minimum wage (SMIC horaire brut) · Public holidays (jours fériés) · Consumer price inflation (IPC, year-on-year) · Corporate income tax (impôt sur les sociétés) · Withholding tax rates · Personal income tax (impôt sur le revenu) · Statutory social-insurance contributions · ECB main refinancing operations rate (fixed rate) · Late-payment interest (EU Late Payment Directive)
The same figure elsewhere: Germany · Greece · Hungary · Iceland · Ireland · all 34