French SEPA B2B Direct Debit Mandate Template

Only a non-consumer debtor may sign a SEPA B2B mandate: companies, self-employed professionals (professions libérales), associations, public bodies, or any other legal entity acting in a commercial capacity. Private individuals are excluded from the B2B scheme entirely and must use SEPA Core Direct Debit instead. If you are uncertain about your counterparty's status, request a copy of their business registration — for French companies, the extrait Kbis — or equivalent documentation before proceeding.

The ICS (Identifiant Créancier SEPA — Creditor Identifier) is obtained free of charge through your bank, which applies to the Banque de France on your behalf. In France, the ICS is a 13-character alphanumeric code beginning with 'FR'. It is assigned once and remains valid for all your B2B and Core mandates. Processing typically takes a few business days. Each individual debtor relationship then requires its own Unique Mandate Reference (RUM — Référence Unique de Mandat), which you generate yourself.

The key distinction is the right to reimbursement. Under SEPA B2B, the debtor irrevocably waives any bank refund once the payment has been executed — disputes must be settled directly between the two companies. Under SEPA Core (designed for consumers or mixed-use contexts), a debtor may claim a full refund within 8 weeks of an authorised collection, or up to 13 months if the collection was entirely unauthorised. This irrevocability is precisely why B2B mandates require formal bank registration before any first direct debit.

The creditor must notify the debtor of the exact amount and collection date before each direct debit. The standard lead time under the SEPA B2B rulebook is 14 calendar days, but this can be shortened by mutual written agreement — often to just a few days — provided the shorter period is explicitly stated in the mandate or the underlying commercial contract.

The mandate document itself is free — it is simply a written agreement between creditor and debtor with no official filing fee. However, your bank may charge for associated services: registering incoming B2B mandates (debtor side), processing and issuing direct debit instructions (creditor side), or handling rejections. These charges vary by institution, so review your bank's conditions générales tarifaires (pricing schedule) or equivalent terms before implementing the scheme at scale.

Once a B2B collection has been executed, no bank-level refund is available — this is a core structural feature of the scheme. You must act before the debit: either instruct your bank to block the specific collection on the basis of the pre-notification received, or revoke the mandate entirely before the payment date. After execution, recourse is limited to direct negotiation with the creditor or formal legal action if an amicable settlement cannot be reached.