Tobacco price increases
Under the effect of the tax hike policy aimed at reducing tobacco consumption in France, tobacco prices increased on average by 50 cents on March 1. The package of 20 units of Marlboro Red goes for example from 9.30 euros to 10 euros. Another flagship reference for the Philip Morris group, which has a 40% market share in France, the Winston cars go from 9 euros to 9.60 euros. A second tax hike is scheduled for November 1, 2020. Upon arrival in May 2017, the government ended four years of price stability. These increases dropped sales by 9.32% in 2018 and 7.2% in 2019.
Gender Equality Index
Companies with at least 50 employees are required to publish the note on the gender equality index on March 1. Several criteria are taken into account for this index which gives an overall rating to companies, in particular the pay gap, the promotions gap, or maternity and paternity leave. If the score is higher than 75 out of 100, the company is deemed " compliant ". On the contrary, if the company obtains a score below 75, it will have to comply within three years, under penalty of a financial penalty.
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Companies with at least 1,000 employees had to publish this note on March 1, 2019, followed by companies with more than 250 employees on September 1, 2019. Ultimately, all companies will have to publish their overall score for the gender equality index on their website each year before March 1. Their score and the details of the various indicators must also be communicated to their Social and Economic Committee as well as to the labor inspectorate.
Rise in hospital prices
On February 6, Agnès Buzyn, then Minister of Health, signed with the five hospital federations (FHF, FHP, Fehap, Fnehad and Unicancer) a " first memorandum of understanding on the minimum multi- annual development of resources for the period 2020-2022, "said the Ministry of Health. This document thus provides for minimum increases in “funding” for each major sector of activity: + 0.2% per year in OCM (medicine, surgery, obstetrics), + 1.9% in psychiatry and SRH (follow-up care and rehabilitation), + 1.5% in HAD (hospitalization at home). The increase planned for 2020, which takes place in March, amounts to 0.6% in OLS and 2.2% in psychiatry.
New motorcycle license
A reform of the motorcycle license exam should come into effect on March 1. Until now, candidates had to take a general theoretical test, a so-called " plateau " test, ie out of circulation, then a circulating test. More information about exam changes is coming soon.
Modification of the ecological penalty calculation
After a first modification of the automobile bonus-penalty on January 1, 2020, lowering the trigger threshold of the penalty, it is a new method of measuring emissions which comes into effect on March 1. The calculation thus passes to the WLTP (Wolrdwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedures) standard, which is intended to be closer to reality, replacing the correlated NEDC cycle then in force. This new scale has the consequence of lowering the threshold for triggering the penalty to 138 g / km, but does not move the amounts. However, some relatively spared vehicles will be greatly impacted by this reform because the WLTP cycle increases vehicle emissions by 25% on average.
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End of unsecured VTC driver cards
As of the first day of March, unsecured VTC driver cards are prohibited, as part of the fight against fraud. Thus, only secure cards issued since September 1, 2017 are valid for drivers. Last June, the Ministry of Transport launched an operation to renew VTC driver cards. By January 2020, 18,000 drivers had already renewed their cards. In order to facilitate the control of these new cards, the number of which amounted to 58,000 on January 1, 2020, the ministry has set up a website entitled " VTC card control ".
Read also: VTC: illegal drivers are still active
Lower regulated gas prices
On March 1, the regulated prices excluding sales taxes of natural gas from the supplier Engie fell by 4.6% on average compared to the scale in force applicable since January 1, 2020. In detail, the drop is 1.2% for customers who use gas for cooking, 4.8% for those who heat with gas and 2.7% for customers with dual use (cooking and hot water). Regulated sales prices thus recorded a cumulative drop of 18.6% since January 1, 2019.
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