Claire makes gift boxes of local food near Toulouse. Every autumn, part of her year depends on end-of-year orders from French works councils: when a CSE picks her box, it is one grouped order for every employee of a company. She searches for a free CSE directory and finds three things: list sellers, platforms asking her to pay for a listing, and meeting-minute templates written for council members. Nothing tells her who to write to this week, or how many councils exist around her.
There is no official directory of French works councils with their contact details. Two free public sources still do most of the job. The Insee Sirene register lists the councils that registered themselves: 7,538 are active in the file of 01/10/2026. And the French Labour Code says which companies must have a council, so you can list all the others by headcount band. What remains is finding an email address or a phone number, and that is where the real cost sits, whether the list was free or not.
What a CSE is, and why sellers of gift boxes, trips and tickets care
The CSE (comité social et économique) is the elected staff council that replaced the former French comité d'entreprise. In larger companies it runs a budget for social and cultural activities: leisure, outings, sport, gifts. For a small supplier, it is a buyer that decides collectively for a whole workforce.
The free list already sitting in the Sirene register
A CSE can hold its own SIREN number, like a non-profit. Insee then files it under a dedicated legal category, listed in its nomenclature of legal categories: 8310 for a company-level council, 8311 for a site-level council.
We opened the Sirene stock file published on data.gouv.fr, dated 01/10/2026, and counted the active units in both categories.
- 7,538 active councils have their own SIREN: 5,160 company-level and 2,378 site-level.
- By the address of their head office: 258 in the Rhône (Lyon), 197 in Haute-Garonne (Toulouse), 2,055 in Île-de-France, including 688 in Paris.
- Each row gives the council's name, address (often the company's), SIREN and creation date. No phone, no email: Sirene is a register, not an address book.
It is the most direct free list there is. Its limit is plain: only councils that registered appear in it. The next count shows how many are missing.
Which companies must have a CSE: the Labour Code thresholds
The rest of the list follows from the law. Texts read on Legifrance on 12/10/2026.
- From 11 employees. A CSE is set up in companies with at least eleven employees, once that headcount has been reached for twelve consecutive months (article L2311-2).
- From 50 employees, the council becomes a legal person. It has civil personality and manages its own assets, and its elected members appoint a secretary and a treasurer (article L2315-23, filed among the provisions for companies with at least fifty employees).
- Social and cultural activities sit in that same section. The council runs, oversees or takes part in managing all social and cultural activities in the company (article L2312-78), sport included (article L2312-80).
- No legal percentage sets that budget. The employer's contribution is set by company agreement; without one, its ratio to payroll cannot fall from one year to the next (article L2312-81). The 0.20% figure often quoted belongs to another envelope, the council's operating budget, raised to 0.22% from 2,000 employees (article L2315-61).
- Several sites, several councils. A company with at least fifty employees and two or more distinct establishments has site-level councils plus a central council (article L2313-1).
In practice, if you sell to works councils, the useful door is companies with 50 employees or more.
Counted on 01/10/2026: 48,984 companies with 50 employees or more
The same Sirene file puts each company in a headcount band, computed for 2024 on every row we kept. On 01/10/2026, 48,984 active private-law companies sit in a band of 50 employees or more. We excluded administrative-law public bodies (Insee category 7), which mostly have other staff bodies, and kept employing non-profits, which have a CSE too.
| Headcount band (Insee, 2024) | Active companies |
|---|---|
| 50 to 99 employees | 25,942 |
| 100 to 199 employees | 12,180 |
| 200 to 249 employees | 2,406 |
| 250 to 499 employees | 4,720 |
| 500 to 999 employees | 2,131 |
| 1,000 to 1,999 employees | 942 |
| 2,000 employees or more | 663 |
Counted by establishment, there are 61,967 active sites of 50 employees or more: 2,672 in the Rhône, 1,519 in Haute-Garonne, 14,056 in Île-de-France. Set against the 7,538 registered councils, the gap says it all: the register of councils shows a small share, the list of companies that must have one is complete.
Two caveats. The Insee bands do not split at 11 (they jump from "10 to 19" to "20 to 49"), hence our cut at 50, which matches a band edge. And a company with no band on file is left out, so this is a floor, not a total.
Buying a CSE list or building one: where the real cost lies
- A list sold per contact. What it does well: it is ready, often with a council member's name, in spreadsheet format. How it bills: per row or per volume. What to check: the last update date, because members are elected for four years (article L2314-33) and a secretary's name ages with the term.
- A marketplace where councils pick suppliers. What it does well: council members already go there to buy. How it bills: a paid listing or a commission on sales. What to check: how many councils in your region actually use it.
- A list built from public sources. What it does well: you know where each row comes from and how old it is. What it costs: your time, to filter, deduplicate and find a contact.
Whichever you pick, the final bill depends on the same things: duplicates (a central council plus its site councils for one company), email addresses that bounce, and the hours spent cleaning the file.
With Outsend: from headcount band to an address you can write to
Outsend helps you list the companies that have a works council, from the official register and the companies' own websites. Claire's route in Haute-Garonne:
- The "Companies by activity" source reads the official Insee register: pick an area (a département, a city with a radius) and a minimum headcount band such as "50 to 99 employees" and above, optionally narrowed to some sectors. Each row comes out with SIREN, SIRET, address, activity code and headcount band.
- A step finds each company's official website from its name and city, since the register holds none.
- On that website, you can find the email address the company publishes instead of guessing it: front desk, HR, general contact.
You can run these steps one by one or chain them into one automated workflow, with a CSV export at the end. Before a batch send, check that your emails land in the inbox: a message filed as spam is never read. The account is free, with no subscription, on the sign-up page.
For the 7,538 registered councils, the route is shorter: download the Sirene stock file, filter the legal category column on 8310 and 8311, then on your département. We explain how to read the Insee files in our page on French company databases in open data.
Reaching a council through the right door
Purchases for staff are decided among elected members, and the secretary or treasurer are the natural contacts. When all you have is the company's general address, ask to be put in touch with the CSE secretary, or post a letter addressed to the "Comité social et économique, à l'attention du secrétaire" at the establishment's address.
On the rules, the French data protection authority, the CNIL, states that between professionals you may write without prior consent when the message relates to the recipient's job, provided you inform them and offer a simple way to opt out, in line with the GDPR. A short message, personalised with the company's name and city, with one concrete offer, beats a brochure sent to everyone.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a free directory of French works councils?
Not one with phones and emails. The Insee Sirene register, free on data.gouv.fr, lists 7,538 active councils registered under their own SIREN (file of 01/10/2026), with their address.
How do I get a list of works councils in Toulouse, Lyon or the Paris region?
Filter the Sirene file on your département. On 01/10/2026 it holds 197 registered councils in Haute-Garonne, 258 in the Rhône and 2,055 in Île-de-France. To go further, list establishments of 50 employees or more in the same area: 1,519, 2,672 and 14,056 respectively.
Does a company with 30 employees have a CSE?
Yes, if it has had at least eleven employees for twelve consecutive months (article L2311-2). Below 50, though, the council has no civil personality, and managing social and cultural activities is listed among the powers of councils in companies with at least fifty employees.
Should I buy a CSE list?
It can save time. Ask where the data comes from and when it was last updated: members are elected for four years, and the secretary's name can change at each election.
Does a works council have a SIREN number?
It can. Insee then files it under legal category 8310 (company-level) or 8311 (site-level). Many councils have none and use the company's address.
How do I contact a company's CSE?
Through the company: a letter to the council secretary at the establishment's address, or an email to the general contact asking to be put in touch. The secretary and treasurer are appointed from among the full elected members (article L2315-23).
For the full picture, see all our guides to building a targeted list without buying one.