French term
United Kingdom
Professional, qualified and accomplished
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English, Spanish to English
au plus tôt au (in this context)
Hello
I am translating a text about a new requirement in France for all taxable invoices to be submitted electronically with effect from 1 Jul 2024.
In the sentence above I am not sure of the meaning of "au plus tôt au 1er juillet 2024" - if "anticiper la réforme" means "pre-empt the reform" it suggests that the company can start using electronic invoices before the mandatory date, so "no earlier than 1st July 2024" for "au plus tôt au 1er juillet 2024" doesn't seem to follow on from that.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Mark
| 4 +10 | no earlier than |
AllegroTrans
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Nov 3, 2021 09:11: Rachel Fell changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"
Non-PRO (3): AllegroTrans, Rob Grayson, Rachel Fell
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Proposed translations
United Kingdom
Sensible solutions
Native in: English (Variant: Wessexois)
Works in: French to English, English, English to French
no earlier than
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Note added at 1 day 59 mins (2021-11-03 21:16:57 GMT)
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https://www.proz.com/siterules/kudoz_general/1.4#1.4
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Tony M
: Presumably 'anticiper' here means get ready, so they are in a position to start e-invoicing as soon as they are allowed to.
1 min
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Thanks, yes, "get ready/prepare" would be the obvious meaning of "anticiper" here
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philgoddard
: The final deadline is 2026, not 2024. The changes are phased in over a two-year period, so the French makes perfect sense. http://www.legifiscal.fr/actualites-fiscales/2927-facturatio...
23 mins
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Thanks Phil. Interesting, but I don't see 2026 in Asker's text
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SafeTex
2 hrs
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Thanks ST
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Samuël Buysschaert
3 hrs
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thanks
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Verginia Ophof
4 hrs
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thanks!
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Michael Davies
11 hrs
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thanks!
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Emmanuella
13 hrs
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thanks!
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Nikki Scott-Despaigne
: Phil's source is helpful.
15 hrs
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thanks
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James A. Walsh
16 hrs
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thanks
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ph-b (X)
: "I don't think you can do other than translate what is there."
17 hrs
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thanks
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Daryo
: strictly speaking it would be "as early as" - a bit like "pushing from the inside" vs "pulling from the outside" - the end result is the same, but "as early as" has a more positive connotation - same as the FR version!
3 days 50 mins
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I completely disagree: "as early as" is just "neutral" whereas "no earlier than" is firm and unambiguous
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Discussion
The clue to me is Dès qu’une entreprise sera en capacité It doesn’t say “as soon as the law provides so”, but “as soon as companies can”, which is hardly legally binding. My reading is that while the the law makes e-invoicing compulsory from a certain date depending on the size of the company, e-invoicing is also possible before the mandatory date, and as early as 1st July 2014, if companies are able and willing to. This is reinforced by the positive form of the sentence, when au plus tôt sounds restrictive and negative.
“No earlier than” must probably be used here, if only because we’re supposed to translate what the text says – warts and all, as it were. Is there a chance, however, that the French used in your text might be sloppy? I would for instance question the use of domestique here.
Checking with the client woud be a good idea.