Freelance contracts in France: scope, payment and rights.

Choose an agreement both parties can understand.

A freelance service contract organises the relationship between an independent provider and a client. It turns an intention to work together into identifiable commitments: the service, price, schedule and working arrangements. Start by naming the parties correctly and identifying who can commit the client, particularly when your everyday contact is not the person signing.

An accepted quote can already form a contract

Under French law, an offer and its acceptance can form a contract. Validity requires, among other things, the parties’ consent and capacity, and lawful, sufficiently certain content. A sufficiently clear, accepted quote can therefore bind the parties. Writing “contract” on a cover does not, by itself, make a document better suited to the project.

If the engagement includes several phases, use of creative work or important dependencies, add the terms it needs. When choosing how much detail to formalise, compare a quote and a service contract against the actual complexity of the work.

Have the right version accepted

Bring the applicable documents together and explain which takes priority if their provisions conflict: the proposal, project-specific terms, appendices or general terms actually provided to the client. Identify the accepted version and keep the response. A signature helps record agreement; it does not resolve an unclear term or an appendix nobody has read.

In Dealokr, the terms and signature belong to the same project as the later steps. You can return to the accepted basis when discussing feedback or an additional request, instead of trying to discover which version of the proposal was chosen.

Define scope, deliverables and dependencies.

“Redesign the website” could mean designing mock-ups, building pages, migrating content or supporting a full launch. Write the intended result first, then explain what you will produce to achieve it. A service is easier to review when every deliverable has a quantity, format and expected state.

Describe what will actually be handed over

For a visual identity, distinguish the concepts presented, the selected direction, the variations and the final exports. For development work, identify the features, the relevant environment and the documentation. Editable files, administrator access and maintenance are decisions to make, rather than obvious inclusions that both parties can safely assume.

The method for defining freelance deliverables helps expand these points when a brief is too broad. In the agreement itself, keep the list concrete enough for you and the client to recognise the same completed result.

Connect dates to the contributions you need

Explain what the client must supply: text, authorised content, data, access or consolidated feedback. Identify the useful dates, dependencies and how you will reconsider the schedule if something is missing. A production period starting after content is received is a different commitment from a fixed launch date.

Add exclusions that could change the price, such as copywriting, translation, licences, hosting, travel or support after handoff, as relevant to your work. Explain how an option can be accepted. This helps the client decide on a budget and avoids making them discover an important boundary at the end.

Set the price and explain what each payment step means.

The price should match the scope you describe. Specify the currency, applicable taxes, any separate fees and the agreed schedule. For a fixed-price project, state the total and the events associated with payment. For time-based work, define the calculation, time records and arrangements for reviewing the relevant periods instead.

Keep payment timing with the rest of the agreement

A payment date, a condition for starting work and a condition for handing over files answer three different questions. Write each clearly. If external purchases are needed, agree who orders them, who pays and whether advance approval is required. Your production fee should not be confused with an advertising budget or a licence purchased for the client.

A contract can include several work stages without each stage necessarily creating a new charge. Describe events as they will actually happen and check that client messages use the same terms. Your invoicing obligations still need to be handled according to your circumstances.

Explain the fixed-price payment sequence in Dealokr

For Dealokr’s fixed-price workflow, the client pays 100% before production through Stripe Connect. You then present a preview and address feedback within the agreed scope. You request the transfer when the project’s conditions allow it; its confirmation opens access to hosted final files. The payout to your bank account is a separate step.

Present this order before the agreement is accepted. The client understands what they fund at the start and what they can examine before handoff. The agreement should also explain how a change, interruption or dispute will be handled, without treating the initial payment as an automatic answer to every situation.

Set revision boundaries and handle requests that change the work.

A useful agreement leaves room for feedback. It also avoids using “revision” to cover every new idea that appears during production. Distinguish correcting a departure from the agreed requirements, making an adjustment included in a review phase, and handling a request that changes the commissioned result.

Define a review the client can organise

Identify the version under review, the person who consolidates comments, the feedback channel and the number of included rounds where such a limit suits the service. Explain what a round means: a grouped set of comments followed by an updated version, for example. The client should have a practical way to consult colleagues before sending a usable response.

A revision clause suited to the project develops these arrangements. Avoid copying a number of rounds or a response deadline simply because it appears in a template. Consulting work, a video and an application do not all need the same review process.

Confirm a change before producing it

An extra page, another language or a different concept may require a decision on price and timing. Restate the request, compare it with the accepted scope and explain the consequences. The method for managing scope creep helps you discuss an addition without turning every change into a conflict.

When you accept the change together, keep its description, any additional price, the revised schedule and acceptance with the original agreement. You can also choose to include an adjustment without charging more: record precisely what you are covering. That makes it a clear commercial decision rather than a silent expansion of every commitment.

Arrange review, approval and final-file delivery.

The moment you show the work deserves as much clarity as the start. Explain what the client will examine, the criteria they will use and who can confirm the selected version. A general reaction such as “looks good” does not always communicate the same decision as confirmation referring to the agreed deliverables.

Separate the preview from the final package

The agreement can distinguish a review video from its final export, a mock-up from editable sources, or a demonstration from production access. Explain the formats and contents of each handoff. Also agree how reported corrections will be handled and when you will follow up if the client has not responded.

In Dealokr, a preview gives the client something to review and a way to request the agreed revisions. Approval and transfer remain separate events: a positive response or the passage of time does not automatically trigger the transfer. You request it under the project’s conditions, and hosted final files become accessible after confirmation.

Plan for using the work after handoff

Identify the files being delivered, the information needed to use them and any agreed support period. Check who supplies licences and who manages permissions for a code repository, a Figma workspace or another external service. Those permissions are controlled in the relevant service.

Handing over a file and authorising its use are also separate questions. The agreement should make their relationship clear, particularly where editable sources, third-party components or copyright are involved. This gives the client a usable package rather than files whose permitted use still needs to be negotiated.

Prepare for an early end before you need to negotiate one.

A project may stop because a need disappears, a budget changes or a commitment is not met. These situations call for different responses. Discuss pauses, postponements and an early end while the relationship is working: whom to contact, what information to provide and how to establish the state of the work.

Distinguish an agreed exit from non-performance

If you agree together to stop, record the end date, the work already completed, any files to be handed over and the financial settlement you accept. Amounts payable or refundable depend on the agreement and circumstances. Upfront payment means neither that the entire sum is always retained nor that it must always be refunded.

To prepare that discussion, separate completed work, costs already incurred, work still to do and the exit terms agreed beforehand. Any cancellation payment needs to be considered in context. Do not present “100% of the fee is due in every case” as a French legal rule applying to every interruption.

Use the right process for termination following a breach

Under French law, Civil Code article 1217 provides several responses to non-performance, each subject to its own conditions. Termination for non-performance, called résolution, may follow a termination clause, notification in the event of a sufficiently serious breach, or a court decision. These are regulated mechanisms; dissatisfaction alone does not make them interchangeable.

Termination by notification is undertaken at the creditor’s own risk. In principle, it requires a prior formal demand, except in urgent circumstances, followed by a reasoned notification if the breach continues. Article 1229 makes the treatment of restitution depend in particular on whether the performances already exchanged were useful as they occurred.

The word “cancellation” in an email does not replace that assessment. French concepts such as nullité, résolution and résiliation have different meanings and effects. Keep the facts, communications and agreed terms, and seek advice before sending a termination notice in a contested or significant case. In a business-to-business relationship, do not assume a fourteen-day withdrawal period applies to every engagement.

Clarify copyright and the uses the client needs.

The client may need to display creative work, reproduce it across several media or have it adapted. Describe those uses before pricing. For an original work protected by French copyright, commissioning it, paying for it and receiving the file do not, by themselves, transfer the author’s economic rights, subject to applicable statutory exceptions.

Define each right being assigned

Article L131-3 of the French Intellectual Property Code requires each assigned right to be specified separately and the authorised exploitation to be defined by its extent, purpose, place and duration. Prepare precise wording covering the work, uses and media, territory, duration, remuneration and any exclusivity. “All rights included” does not answer these questions on its own.

For an illustration, ask whether the intended use concerns a website, a print campaign, packaging or an animated adaptation. Those needs can differ and later change. Have the assignment and its conditions, including remuneration and when it takes effect, reviewed against the actual creation and project.

Distinguish economic rights, moral rights and files

Economic rights govern exploitation of the work. Moral rights remain attached to the author and cannot be assigned under French law: adding a line to the contract does not transfer them. Providing editable source files is not a general assignment of every right either. State separately what is delivered and what the client is authorised to do with it.

Pre-existing components and third-party assets require their own checks: fonts, photographs, music, software or resources supplied by the client. You cannot promise to assign rights you do not hold. Identify applicable licences, usage restrictions and any purchases the client needs to make to use the intended result.

Dealokr connects the agreed terms with the project’s handoff; it does not choose the content of an assignment for you. Before final confirmation, check that the announced files, written uses and necessary licences all describe a consistent arrangement the client can understand.

Prepare a complete agreement before filling in a template.

Start with the commercial decisions, then turn them into a document. If something is still unknown, identify it and settle it with the client before production. Filling a field with vague wording hides a question without resolving it. A short list of decisions still needed can make the conversation much more productive.

Review the project in the order it will happen

Use the freelance deal checklist to check that the journey makes sense from the initial agreement to closing the project. It complements reading the document by asking you to look at the actions expected from each party.

• The parties, decision-maker and accepted version are identified.
• Deliverables, exclusions and client contributions match the price.
• Dates account for dependencies and necessary feedback.
• Payment, revisions and changes follow an understood sequence.
• Review, delivered files, permitted uses and a possible interruption are covered.

Adapt the structure and keep agreed changes

You can then prepare the document using the service contract template, adapting it to your work and the relevant French context. Confidentiality, personal data, subcontracting or particular rights issues need consideration specific to the project rather than a generic addition.

Before acceptance, have the sensitive points restated and check the appendices. After work starts, keep each accepted change with the original version. The aim remains straightforward: you should be able to explain what was commissioned, what changed and what each party needs to do to finish the engagement.