Accelerated backup procedure

Verified 01 January 2025 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Where the conciliation procedure has failed as a result of the refusal of certain creditors to participate in a conciliation agreement, the company may apply to the court for the opening of an accelerated safeguard procedure. The duration of this procedure is up to 4 months.

An accelerated safeguard procedure may be requested only by the head of company or legal representative business (for example, manager of a SARL, President of a LOCK).

This request for initiation must be made to the commercial court or the court of justice according to the activity carried out:

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Commercial or craft activity

Once the conditions are met, the company must complete the following application form:

Request to open an accelerated safeguard procedure

The documents to be attached to the request for initiation are as follows:

  • Annual accounts for the last financial year
  • Extract K-bis or certificate of registration in the National Register of companies (RNE)
  • Cash flow situation
  • Projected profit and loss account
  • Number of employees employed at the date of the opening request
  • Quantified statement of claims and liabilities
  • Statement of assets and liabilities of collateral and statement of off-balance-sheet liabilities
  • Summary inventory of company assets
  • Name and address of the representatives of the staff delegation of the Social and Economic Committee (ESC) if they have already been appointed
  • Copy of the decision to initiate the procedure reconciliation
  • Financing statement and, where the debtor prepares consolidated accounts, cash flow statement
  • Cash flow budget for the next 3 months
  • Forecast financing plan
  • Draft backup plan

This request for opening must be filed or sent in 2 copies to Commercial Court or Economic Activities Court (TAE)).

Indeed, since the 1er january 2025, the commercial courts of 12 cities are replaced by Economic Activities Tribunals (EATs) for the processing of ad hoc, conciliation and collective proceedings. The courts of the following cities are concerned: Avignon, Auxerre, Le Havre, Le Mans, Limoges, Lyon, Marseille, Nancy, Nanterre, Paris, Saint-Brieuc and Versailles.

The Ministry of Justice provides a simulator to know the competent court:

Know the court competent for procedures for the prevention or treatment of difficulties

Please note

For more information on EATs, please visit:

Companies in difficulty: designation and establishment of economic activity tribunals

Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Dila) - Prime Minister

Pour en savoir plus

Liberal activity

Once the conditions are met, the company must complete the following application form:

Request to open an accelerated safeguard procedure

The documents to be attached to the request for initiation are as follows:

  • Annual accounts for the last financial year
  • Extract K-bis or certificate of registration in the National Register of companies (RNE)
  • Cash flow situation
  • Projected profit and loss account
  • Number of employees employed at the date of the request
  • Quantified statement of claims and liabilities
  • Statement of assets and liabilities of collateral and statement of off-balance-sheet liabilities
  • Summary inventory of company assets
  • Name and address of the representatives of the staff delegation of the Social and Economic Committee (ESC) if they have already been appointed
  • Designation of the professional body or authority of the company exercising a regulated liberal profession
  • Copy of the decision to initiate the procedure reconciliation
  • Financing statement and, where the debtor prepares consolidated accounts, cash flow statement
  • Cash flow budget for the next 3 months
  • Forecast financing plan
  • Draft backup plan

The request for initiation must be lodged at the court or economic activities tribunal (TAE).

Indeed, since the 1er january 2025, the judicial courts in 12 cities are replaced by Economic Activities Tribunals (EATs) for the processing of ad hoc, conciliation and collective proceedings. The courts of the following cities are concerned: Avignon, Auxerre, Le Havre, Le Mans, Limoges, Lyon, Marseille, Nancy, Nanterre, Paris, Saint-Brieuc and Versailles.

The Ministry of Justice provides a simulator to know the competent court:

Know the court competent for procedures for the prevention or treatment of difficulties

Warning  

The court has jurisdiction over the following regulated professions of law: lawyers, notaries, commissioners of justice, registrars of commercial courts, court administrators and judicial agents.

For more information on EATs, please visit:

Companies in difficulty: designation and establishment of economic activity tribunals

Directorate of Legal and Administrative Information (Dila) - Prime Minister

Pour en savoir plus

The court shall rule on the opening of proceedings after a report by the conciliator on the conduct of the proceedings reconciliation and the prospects for adoption of the draft plan. He shall have the possibility of obtaining all documents and instruments relating to the conciliation procedure.

The judgment initiating the accelerated safeguard procedure appoints the parties to the procedure and establishes a short period of observation.

Appointment of interveners to the proceedings

In the judgment initiating the accelerated safeguard procedure, the court shall designate the different speakers to the proceedings:

  • Judicial agent
  • Judicial administrator
  • Judge-Commissioner

The court shall invite the social and economic committee (CSE) where it exists, to appoint a representative from among the employees of the company.

Judicial agent

The judicial representative shall be responsible for the verification of the indebted. In this capacity, he receives the statements of creditors and the statement of wage claims for verification.

He shall then draw up a list of the claims declared and make proposals for admission or rejection. The judge-commissioner decides the fate of the claim.

Please note

The judicial agent is paid by the company. This remuneration is fixed by a decree for each of its tasks (e.g. verification of claims). It depends on the number of employees and the turnover of the company.

Judicial administrator

The court shall designate one or more court administrators. It is compulsory when the company has more than 20 employees and a turnover that exceeds €3 million HT: titleContent.

The court shall assign him one of the following tasks:

  • Supervision of the company in difficulty in its management
  • Assistance with all or some management acts

The judgment initiating the accelerated safeguard procedure also allows affected party classes. The formation of affected party classes is mandatory in the following cases:

  • The company has more than 250 employees and a net annual turnover that exceeds €20 million.
  • Net annual turnover exceeds €40 million.

Please note

The court administrator is paid by the company. This remuneration is fixed by a decree for each of its tasks (e.g. assistance tasks, preparation of the social and economic assessment). It depends on the number of employees and the turnover of the company.

Establishment of an observation period

The purpose of the observation period is to arrive at a safeguard plan, under the control of the court and, in most cases, with the help of a court administrator.

Payment periods may be imposed on creditors.

The observation period lasts 2 months. However, at the request of the company in difficulty and the court administrator, the court may extend this period up to 4 months.

The Chief Executive and the Judicial Administrator shall submit the draft safeguard plan to the affected party classes which must be established under the accelerated safeguard procedure.

FYI  

the draft plan presented by the company in difficulty is the one prepared under the conciliation procedure.

Each affected party class must vote on the plan. For the plan to be accepted, the decision must be taken by each class of assigned parties by a 2/3 majority of the votes held by the members.

For creditors that are included in the accelerated backup plan, the indebted is frozen. This means that they cannot sue the company in difficulty to get their claims settled.

Creditors who did not participate in the draft plan drawn up during the conciliation procedure must to declare their claims within two months of the initiation of the procedure.

Warning  

Employees and maintenance creditors are not affected by the accelerated safeguard plan.

At the end of the observation period, there are 2 possibilities:

  • Accelerated Backup Plan Adoption
  • Lack of an accelerated safeguard plan: the court ends the accelerated safeguard procedure.

FYI  

Accelerated backup cannot be converted to recovery or judicial liquidation.

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