All publications by Soulier Avocats

While many company managers fail to comply with their obligation to file annual accounts, the Cour de cassation (French Supreme Court) has decided to reinforce the applicable sanction mechanism in an unprecedented decision issued on March 3, 2021.

Recognizing for the first time the non-exclusive nature of the special provisions of the French Commercial Code allowing a third party to obtain the forced filing of a company’s annual accounts, the Cour de Cassation held that the failure to file annual accounts constituted a manifestly unlawful disturbance that justified the initiation of summary proceedings with a view to putting an end to such disturbance.

Seeking to ensure the survival of companies that could become insolvent in the coming months due to the phasing-out of the support measures that have been put in place, the French legislator has adopted a Law introducing a new procedure, i.e., the judicial crisis recovery management procedure.

This temporary procedure is of particular interest to debtors who may be experiencing short-term difficulties caused by the COVID-19 health crisis and who wish to benefit from a simple and rapid mechanism for spreading out their current liabilities over a long period of time.

The 2021 Legal Guide published by Tribune de Lyon offers precise and pragmatic answers to concrete issues faced by business owners/managers.

Catherine Nommick contributed to this Guide through an article entitled “Merger by acquisition transactions: What is the impact of the recent decision on the transfer of criminal liability?”.

The 2021 Legal Guide published by Tribune de Lyon offers precise and pragmatic answers to the concrete questions that business leaders ask themselves.

An article entitled “How to justify the non-payment of commercial rents during the health crisis?” authored by Catherine Nommick is featured in this Guide.

2021 is already shaping up to be a year of new developments on such exciting topics as the principle of equality of the parties in the constitution of the arbitral tribunal and the arbitrators’ duty to disclose.

Indeed, in five rulings handed down between the end of December 2020 and mid-February 2021, the Paris Court of Appeals has ruled on the arbitrator’s duty to disclosure, either by reiterating conventional solutions or by adopting, in the case of the International Commercial Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals, a more innovative approach.

Since April 2021, some information relating to the beneficial owner(s) of unlisted companies and legal entities incorporated in France is now freely accessible via the website “DATA INPI” managed by the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (French National Institute of Industrial Property).

This information includes: The identity, month and year of birth, country of residence and nationality of the beneficial owners, as well as the nature and extent of the beneficial interests they hold in the relevant company or legal entity.