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Handicraft
Definition
According to the law of 5 July 1996 relating to the development and promotion of trade and handicrafts, "the following must be registered with the register of trades: natural persons and corporate bodies that do not have more than 10 employees and that exercise as their principal or secondary activity an independent professional activity involving the production, transformation, repair of handicrafts or handicraft service provisions appearing on a list established by decree in Council of State".
Under certain conditions, companies that so desire may remain registered on the register of trades beyond the threshold of 10 employees (this is called "droit de suite"). Only those persons having the required qualification can claim to be a craftsman or a master craftsman among their customers. The number of handicraft companies does not correspond to the number of craftsmen, because several craftsmen can be associated in the same company.
Note
There is no European definition of crafts companies; in its recommendation of 3 April 1996 on the definition of SMEs (96280/EC), the European Commission specifies that crafts companies "shall continue to be defined at national level because of their specific nature".
