Chorus Pro: France's Government E-Invoicing Platform Explained

Chorus Pro is the French government's centralised e-invoicing portal for public sector procurement. It has been mandatory for invoices to French government bodies since 2017, making France one of the EU's earliest adopters of mandatory B2G e-invoicing.

If you are a supplier to any French public entity — a ministry, municipality, hospital, university, or state-owned enterprise — you are required to submit invoices through Chorus Pro. This guide explains exactly how it works, how to register, and how it relates to the upcoming B2B mandate.

What Is Chorus Pro?

Chorus Pro is operated by AIFE (Agence pour l'Informatique Financière de l'État), the French government's IT finance agency. It serves as a single entry point for all invoices sent to public bodies and routes them to the correct paying entity within the government.

Key facts:

Launch: January 2017 (large enterprises); progressively extended to all businesses
Mandatory for: All businesses invoicing a French public entity, regardless of size
Cost: Free for suppliers
Volume: Tens of millions of invoices processed annually
Official website: chorus-pro.gouv.fr

Who Must Use Chorus Pro?

The obligation to use Chorus Pro applies to any supplier that invoices a French public sector entity. This includes:

French government ministries and central administration bodies
French local and regional authorities (communes, départements, régions)
French public hospitals and healthcare establishments
French public universities and research institutions
State-owned companies (établissements publics, entreprises publiques)

The rollout was phased by company size:

January 2017: Large enterprises (>5,000 employees or >€1.5B turnover)
January 2018: Mid-size businesses (ETI)
January 2020: All other businesses, including micro-enterprises and sole traders (auto-entrepreneurs)

Since January 2020, no exceptions remain. If you invoice a French public body, you must use Chorus Pro.

How Chorus Pro Works

The workflow is straightforward:

Supplier registration: Create a free account at chorus-pro.gouv.fr. You will need your SIRET number (14-digit business identifier).
Create or upload your invoice: You can either create an invoice directly in the Chorus Pro portal, or upload a structured invoice file (UBL, CII, or Factur-X) generated by your accounting software.
Identify the paying entity: Every French public body has a unique identifier in Chorus Pro called the code service. You must correctly identify the right service to ensure your invoice reaches the correct department.
Submit: Chorus Pro validates the invoice and routes it to the buyer entity. You receive a confirmation with a Chorus Pro reference number.
Track status: Chorus Pro provides real-time status updates — "received", "validated", "being processed", "paid". You can track your invoice at any point.
Payment: Once the public body approves the invoice, payment is typically required within 30 days under French public procurement rules.

Supported Invoice Formats in Chorus Pro

Chorus Pro accepts invoices in several structured formats:

Format	Description
UBL 2.1	Universal Business Language — XML format widely used across EU
CII (UN/CEFACT)	Cross-Industry Invoice — XML format used in XRechnung
Factur-X	French/German hybrid PDF+XML format
EDI	Traditional EDI for large enterprises with existing EDI infrastructure

All formats must conform to EN 16931, the European e-invoice standard.

Note: A standard PDF invoice cannot be submitted to Chorus Pro. The structured XML data is required so the public body can process it automatically.

Chorus Pro API Integration

For businesses that generate more than a few dozen public sector invoices per month, manual portal submission is inefficient. Chorus Pro provides a SOAP/REST API for automated integration.

Your accounting software may already include a Chorus Pro integration. Major French software vendors (Cegid, Sage, Pennylane) offer Chorus Pro connectivity as a built-in feature. Check your software's documentation or contact your vendor.

For custom integrations, AIFE publishes full API documentation at developer.aife.economie.gouv.fr.

Chorus Pro vs the New B2B Mandate

A common source of confusion is how Chorus Pro relates to the new B2B e-invoicing mandate starting September 2026.

They are separate systems for separate purposes:

	Chorus Pro	B2B Mandate (PDP/PPF)
Purpose	B2G invoicing (to government)	B2B invoicing (between private companies)
Mandatory since	2017–2020 (phased)	September 2026 (phased)
Platform	Chorus Pro portal	PPF or certified PDP
Cost	Free	Free (PPF) or paid (PDP)

If you already use Chorus Pro for government clients, you do not need to change anything for your B2G invoicing. But for invoices to private sector clients, you will need to use a PDP or the PPF under the new B2B mandate.

Common Chorus Pro Issues and How to Resolve Them

Invoice rejected: "Destinataire introuvable" (Recipient not found)

This means Chorus Pro could not match the recipient identifier you entered to a known public body. Solution: Contact your public sector client to obtain the correct service code or SIRET number for their paying department.

Invoice stuck in "En attente de traitement" (Awaiting processing) for a long time

This is usually normal. Public bodies have 30 days to process invoices. If it exceeds 30 days without movement, contact the buyer directly with your Chorus Pro reference number.

SIRET rejected during registration

Ensure you are using your SIRET (14 digits), not your SIREN (9 digits). If your SIRET is very new, there may be a lag before AIFE's database is updated.

Getting Support

Chorus Pro help centre: communaute.chorus-pro.gouv.fr
AIFE documentation: aife.economie.gouv.fr
Technical API documentation: developer.aife.economie.gouv.fr

Summary

Chorus Pro is France's established, free, mandatory platform for business-to-government e-invoicing. It has been in production since 2017 and processes tens of millions of invoices per year. If you supply French public bodies, you must use it. For B2B (private sector) invoicing, a separate platform — a certified PDP or the PPF — is required under the mandate starting September 2026.

The two systems operate independently. Being compliant with Chorus Pro does not mean you are compliant with the B2B mandate, and vice versa.