On July 11, 2019, the French Parliament adopted the
bill creating a tax on digital services, applicable as from January
1, 2019.
Failed International Attempts
The desire to adjust tax policy in the digital age is not
new.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
("OECD") has addressed the matter for more than 20 years
and recently published a report on "Tax Challenges Raised by
Digitization" (2018). However, the organization has so far
obtained only a tentative agreement from the United States, and the
prospect of an international agreement by 2020, as announced, seems
unlikely.
At the European level, the world's largest market for GAFA
(an acronym for Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon), the European
Commission proposed the concept of a European tax to target the
digital economy's largest actors on March 21, 2018, and the
bill passed on July 11, 2019. However, the legislative procedure
has been paralyzed by the veto of some Member
