Business · French law
French business pledge: seven registration checks
A French business pledge covers specified fonds de commerce assets and becomes effective against third parties through the prescribed registration. It does not automatically cover inventory or real estate. Check the deed, registry, ranking and duration separately. Ordinary contractual registration is different from provisional judicial publicity and does not itself authorise sale of the assets. The seven checks preserve those distinctions.
Informational guide. An independent qualified legal review has not been completed.
What you leave withA registration-and-scope checklist without a fictitious creditor ranking.
Start with the practical sectionJulie by AlphaDeep
Is stock automatically included in the pledged business?
No. Ordinary merchandise is not automatically included among enumerated business-pledge assets. Another security may need examination.
Read the referencesPreparing a business pledge? We can organise covered assets, the deed and registration without predicting every creditor’s rank.
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What are the seven priority pledge checks?
The seven checks follow review order: assets and deed first, then publicity, rank and duration. This editorial ranking does not rank creditors in an individual file.
Identify business assets
Separate potentially covered assets from stock and the building.
Read their designation
Compare deed and annex without assuming every line is covered.
Locate the signed deed
Keep the signed version and grantor information.
Check registration
Find the pledge’s publicity and recorded details.
Read date and rank within scope
The pledged-creditor rule does not rank every competing right.
Distinguish publicity duration
Ordinary registration and provisional judicial publicity have different periods.
Keep subsequent records
Renewals and amendments should connect to the original registration.
References : Code de commerce · L142-2 · Code de commerce · L142-3 · Code de commerce · L142-5 · Code de commerce · R521-1 · Code de commerce · R521-6 · Code de commerce · R521-12
Which business assets are actually covered?
The business pledge covers assets within the statutory framework. Sign, name, goodwill, lease rights and specified assets or rights need reading against the deed and relevant provisions.
Ordinary stock and real estate are not automatically included. ‘Business’ does not turn every company asset into one uniform security perimeter.
| File asset | Scope check |
|---|---|
| Sign, goodwill, lease right | Read statutory assets and designation |
| Equipment or specific rights | Check designation within the framework |
| Ordinary stock | Do not automatically treat it as covered |
| Building | Examine separate real-estate security |
References : Code de commerce · L142-2
What belongs beside the signed deed?
The agreement is recorded in an authentic or privately signed deed under the prescribed framework. Locate the complete instrument and designated business assets.
An accounting inventory does not replace the security deed. References, parties and versions should connect the agreement to registration.
References : Code de commerce · L142-2 · Code de commerce · L142-3
Which registration creates third-party effectiveness?
The preference right becomes opposable to third parties through prescribed registration. Use current movable-security register formalities and required records.
The centralised framework has existed since January 1, 2023. Do not reuse an old automatic ‘thirty days or nullity’ statement without checking current law.
References : Code de commerce · L142-3 · Code de commerce · R521-1 · Code de commerce · R521-6
How should rank be read without ranking every creditor?
Between pledged creditors, registration date determines rank; same-day registrations compete under the text. This is not simply an order of recording times.
The rule does not rank all creditors or promise absolute first priority. Other rights and any collective proceedings need examination.
References : Code de commerce · L142-5
Which duration differs from judicial publicity?
Ordinary business-pledge registration has ten years’ effect within the statutory framework. Provisional judicial-security publicity uses a separate three-year reference.
Identify the precise formality before noting an expiry or renewal. A period found on another register extract does not automatically extend the security.
References : Code de commerce · R521-12
Are stock and a building pledged merely because the annex lists them?
The fictional annex mixes sign, equipment, stock and a building. Listing them together does not establish that all four are validly pledged as business assets.
Connect each item to the deed and statutory perimeter. The review calculates neither realisation value nor recoverable secured money.
Fictional annex: a trading sign, equipment, stock and a building are listed together. The checklist separates statutory scope and express designation; it does not treat all four as automatically pledged or predict creditor ranking.
References : Code de commerce · L142-2
Which questions remain for the professional and registry?
Professional review can examine designation, powers, formality and insolvency effects. Registration does not remove suspect-period rules.
Keep the deed, registration evidence, later extracts and amendments. Ask the registry or professional to identify an ambiguous publicity formality.
References : Code de commerce · L142-3 · Code de commerce · L142-4 · Code de commerce · L142-5 · Code de commerce · R521-1 · Code de commerce · R521-6 · Code de commerce · R521-12 · Service Public · nantissement du fonds de commerce
What else should you check?
Is stock automatically included in the pledged business?
No. Ordinary merchandise is not automatically included among enumerated business-pledge assets. Another security may need examination.
References : Code de commerce · L142-2
Does registration guarantee priority over every creditor?
No. Rank between pledged creditors does not rank every competing right or guarantee first payment in every proceeding.
References : Code de commerce · L142-5
Are same-day registrations simply ranked by clock time?
No. The text makes same-day pledged creditors compete. Do not substitute an hourly ordering rule.
References : Code de commerce · L142-5
Can the old thirty-day rule be reused?
Not without current-law review. Register rules changed from 2023; the old nullity formula should not be repeated as a current general rule.
References : Code de commerce · L142-3 · Code de commerce · L142-4 · Code de commerce · R521-1 · Code de commerce · R521-6 · Service Public · nantissement du fonds de commerce
Do three-year and ten-year periods describe the same mechanism?
No. Ten years concerns ordinary business-pledge registration within this framework; three years concerns provisional judicial publicity. Identify the formality.
References : Code de commerce · R521-12
Which sources support this page?
Official texts remain in French. The explanations above describe French law. A source check records a reading date; it is not qualified legal review.
- Code de commerce · L142-2Source checked : · Version from 2023-01-01
- Code de commerce · L142-3Source checked : · Version from 2023-01-01
- Code de commerce · L142-4Source checked : · Version from 2023-01-01
- Code de commerce · L142-5Source checked : · Version from 2023-01-01
- Code de commerce · R521-1Source checked : · Version from 2023-01-01
- Code de commerce · R521-6Source checked : · Version from 2023-05-17
- Code de commerce · R521-12Source checked : · Version from 2023-05-17
- Service Public · nantissement du fonds de commerceSource checked :
- Service Public · nantissement du fonds de commerce (version anglaise)Source checked :