Bankruptcy and insolvency registers

What does the French insolvency register offer?

France has no register specifically dedicated to insolvency. It has several registers containing decisions concerning the insolvency of debtors. These include decisions on the opening or extension of insolvency proceedings, the extension of the observation period, the conversion of proceedings, the termination or amendment of a restructuring plan or the closure of proceedings, or decisions declaring a person bankrupt or disqualified from managing a company. The names of the judicial officers are also given.

The existing registers are:

• The trade and companies register (registre du commerce et des sociétés), for traders who are natural persons and for commercial companies;
• The register of trades (répertoire des métiers) for craft/trade professionals who are natural or legal persons;
• The business register (répertoire des entreprises) in the departments of Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin and Moselle, for craft undertakings located there;
• The farming register (registre de l’agriculture) for agricultural undertakings.

Moreover, some of the decisions referred to above are published in the Official Bulletin of civil and commercial announcements (Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales) and in a journal of legal notices.

How to search the French insolvency register

The information in journals of legal notices, the Official Bulletin of civil and commercial announcements and the trade and companies register is centralised by the ‘Publicité Légale des Entreprises’, a public portal giving access to companies' legal information accessible via: https://www.bodacc.fr/

Is the French insolvency register free?

The above-mentioned information is free.

What is the period covered by the French insolvency registers?

The portal can be used to access legal notices published since 1 January 2010 and items published in the Official Bulletin of civil and commercial announcements since 1 January 2008.

The website of the trade and companies register can be found here: https://www.infogreffe.fr/

Most of the information it contains can be accessed in return for a fee.