What is Chorus Pro? A guide for UK suppliers to French public buyers

For a UK supplier, the platform is how invoices reach French public buyers. Registration needs no French company number. Since September 2026, the reform has also widened the choice of how to send.

What is Chorus Pro and who runs it?

Chorus Pro is the shared invoicing platform for the whole French public sector. The AIFE (Agence pour l'informatique financière de l'État) developed it and makes it available to businesses free of charge. The official business portal, Service Public Entreprendre (entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr), says it "doit être utilisé pour la transmission des factures électroniques aux entités publiques" (must be used to send electronic invoices to public entities).

Its reach is wide. The AIFE says the portal handles invoices for the State and public institutions as well as the local public sector, hospitals included. In 2022 it received nearly 74 million invoices, against 54 million in 2020.

Chorus Pro also archives invoices on behalf of suppliers.

Must invoices to French public bodies be electronic?

Yes, and the public buyer receives them in Chorus Pro. Ordinance 2014-697 of 26 June 2014 set out the move to electronic invoicing for suppliers to the State, local authorities and their public institutions. The State had already been obliged to accept electronic invoices from its suppliers since 1 January 2012.

The obligation on suppliers arrived in four steps:

Since 2020, the rule has applied regardless of the size of your company. The buyer side is fixed too. The DGFiP, the French public finance authority, says public administrations are required to use Chorus Pro to receive and process these invoices, including invoice statuses. What changed in September 2026 is the supplier's side: you can now send through an approved platform as well, covered in the reform section below.

Does a UK supplier have to use Chorus Pro?

It depends on your contract. The DGFiP's 2017 instruction on electronic invoicing names three cases in which the obligation reaches a supplier based outside France:

• the contract was signed in France, whatever the supplier's nationality or location;
• the supplier's registered office is in France;
• a clause in the contract makes it subject to French law.

So not every UK supplier is legally bound. Read your contract, then ask the buyer how it wants to be invoiced. In practice, the buyer itself must receive and process invoices through Chorus Pro, so most French public buyers will ask you to use it. Since September 2026, an approved platform is the other accepted route for most invoices.

How does a UK company register without a SIRET?

You do not need a SIRET, the French establishment number. Chorus Pro calls each legal entity a "structure", identified either by a SIRET or by another identifier type for suppliers. Two of those types cover businesses outside France:

• European structure outside France: an EU company enters its intra-community VAT number.
• Non-EU structure: the company enters its country and corporate name, and Chorus Pro builds the identifier from the two-letter country code plus the first 16 characters of the corporate name, without spaces.

Since Brexit, a UK company registers as a structure outside the EU. The account steps are short. You create your account on the Chorus Pro portal, complete the registration form, activate the account through the emailed link, then create your structure or ask to be attached to an existing one.

How do you send an invoice to Chorus Pro?

There are three access modes: portal, EDI and API. Portal access stays open whichever mode you choose.

• Portal mode. You key in the invoice or upload a file through the website. This suits a handful of invoices a year.
• EDI mode. Your system exchanges files with Chorus Pro and receives return flows with the status of each invoice. The connection can run "directly between your information system and Chorus Pro" or "via a dematerialization operator or a third party for remote transmission".
• API mode. The service mode lets partners build Chorus Pro functions into their own information system or into third-party portals.

When a provider sends in EDI mode for you, it receives the status flows from Chorus Pro and passes them back to you as agreed between you.

Which invoice formats does Chorus Pro accept?

On the portal, you can upload a PDF, with or without an electronic signature, or an XML file, mixed or structured. Factur-X, a PDF/A-3 that carries structured XML, is filed through the same process as XML.

UBL and CII are both pure XML. The DGFiP says public administrations already receive electronic invoices in Factur-X, UBL and CII, formats close to those required for B2B invoices from September 2026. A structured format is the safer choice if you also trade with French businesses.

What will the public buyer need you to quote?

Ask the buyer for its references before you raise the first invoice. Three details matter:

• The recipient's SIRET. State services all share one SIRET in Chorus Pro and are told apart by a service code, which appears on official Chorus purchase orders.
• A service code. Some other public bodies require one too.
• A commitment number. Enter it where the buyer needs one.

Chorus Pro checks that every invoice number is unique. The full directory of public recipients is published, including in Excel format.

How does Chorus Pro relate to France's 2026 B2B reform?

Chorus Pro stays the reference platform for the public sector. The B2B reform runs on a different model. Since 1 September 2026, all French businesses must be able to receive electronic invoices, and large and intermediate-sized firms must issue them. Small, medium-sized and micro firms must issue by 1 September 2027 at the latest.

France chose not to create a single public portal for these business invoices, to avoid concentrating technical risk on one point of passage. Business-to-business invoices travel through approved platforms (plateformes agréées) registered with the DGFiP. Chorus Pro takes on the role of public sector platform, issuing invoices from public entities to VAT-registered businesses.

The reform also opens a second route for public sector suppliers. From September 2026, they can send invoices to public buyers either through an approved platform or through Chorus Pro. The exceptions include works-contract invoices, legal-costs claims and refund requests, which stay specific to Chorus Pro. Chorus Pro's portal, EDI and API services remain open; the DGFiP calls this a transition phase.

Peppol, the network for exchanging eInvoices, has a different standing in France than in Belgium. The DGFiP notes that in Belgium the Peppol network is the official channel for sending and receiving invoices, whereas it is optional in France.

What should a UK supplier do before the first invoice?

1. Check your contract. Look for signature in France, a French registered office or a French-law clause.
2. Ask the buyer how it wants to be invoiced. Confirm the route, the recipient SIRET, any service code and the commitment number.
3. Register your structure. As a UK company, choose the structure outside the EU.
4. Pick an access mode. Portal for low volumes; EDI or API when invoices run through your own system.
5. Choose a structured format. Factur-X, UBL or CII prepare you for French B2B invoicing as well.
6. Watch the statuses. Each invoice's status is how you know it has reached the buyer.

Where does Transalis fit?

Transalis is a managed outcomes provider for B2B integration, EDI and eInvoicing. Transalis Limited appears on the French register of approved eInvoicing platforms held by the DGFiP. That list names operators meeting all conditions, including interoperability tests. Transalis is also an authorised Peppol Access Point using AS4, and in Belgium Peppol is the official invoicing channel.

The France and Belgium eInvoicing page covers the French B2B formats, statuses and deadlines. The European mandates guide shows where each country stands. French public contracts are worth winning, so ask your buyer which route it expects and pick the one that fits your volumes.

Book a call with a Transalis eInvoicing specialist about invoicing your French business customers.