What is a legal notice ?

Having a business requires the compliance with certain legal obligations that come into play as soon as the company is created. Thus, the legal announcements also called legal and judicial announcements are a legal obligation which report publicly on any changes to the statutes of the said company in a dedicated journal. In this article, you will find all you need to know about legal announcements of a company.

Legal notice : definition

A legal announcement is a notice inserted in an official newspaper or a newspaper of legal announcements (JAL) benefiting from the authorization of the prefect of department. The said notice is published in order to warn third parties (competitors, prospects, customers, investors, administrative services…) of the various events marking the life of the company. The announcement is open to the public and should cover the entire department in which the head office is located. It is thus a real must for all companies and the absence of publication could block the steps taken at the court clerk’s office or the Centre de Formalités des Entreprises (CFE). Indeed, the legal announcement is a formality imposed by the Commercial Code and is part of the general principles of French law.

Therefore, it is imperative that company directors publish information concerning certain aspects of their company in an official newspaper.

For which events publish a legal announcement?

When it is a legal announcement, the creation of the company A legal notice is the first important event that must be published in a legal notice newspaper. In this case, it is called constitution notice. Thus, throughout the operation of the said company, various other important events will deserve to be known by the public (see the site to know more). This is the case of the disappearance of the company which will automatically be notified, the dissolution or the liquidation. In the same way, a legal announcement is necessary at the time of a statutory change, a change of corporate name, an increase in capital or simply a new legal representative.

In addition, the purchase of a business, a right to a lease, etc., The fact that a company is being formed is one of the many situations that require the public to be informed about it by means of a legal announcement.

À What are legal announcements really for??

In the economic life of a country, a legal announcement constitutes a key element of the company’s activity An essential communication tool within the framework of the legal publicity. Therefore, it is essential to make available to the public all the important information that may be of interest to third parties such as public authorities, local residents, partners, etc. Indeed, information concerning the dissolution of a company, in particular the name of the liquidator appointed by the partners, can be useful to potential creditors. This is why the legal announcement must be published in an authorized newspaper located in the geographical area of the company.

This way, the different actors of the local economic fabric will be directly informed of the entrepreneurial evolutions of their sector. This is why it is essential that the information contained in the legal notice is accurate, otherwise the file filed with the clerk’s office will be rejected. The legal and financial consequences can also be very serious.

What is the content of a legal notice ?

To be valid, the legal announcement must respect very precise standards. To do so, it is imperative to read the information concerning the company name, the legal form or the acronym when it exists. This announcement must also mention the complete coordinates of the company’s head office, the amount of the share capital. It is also important to be able to present the company’s activity in a few words.

The reader must be able to read the identities and addresses of the company’s directors as well as the name and contact information of the RCS that registered your company. Once all this information has been recorded, it is essential to reread the legal notice as many times as possible. Indeed, the slightest error, even if it is minimal, will result in a rejection by the Clerk of the Commercial Court.

In this case, it will be necessary to publish as soon as possible a correction, an addendum or even a new legal announcement when the error is too important.

Where to publish a legal announcement ?

The publication of a legal announcement cannot be done in a randomly chosen newspaper, it is essential that it be a newspaper of the region where the company is located Journal d’Annonce Légale (JAL). Indeed, a legal announcement must absolutely be published in a newspaper authorized by prefectural decree and for a specific department. Companies are thus free to choose the newspaper that suits them as long as its official newspapers are distributed in the region where the company’s head office is located. Thus, it is essential to succeed in identifying the ideal medium for your legal announcement such as the BODACC (Official Bulletin of Civil and Commercial Announcements), or the BALO (Bulletin of Compulsory Legal Announcements).. It is up to you to make a request to the prefecture in order to consult the list of legal announcement newspapers recognized and approved by the departmental prefect.

The legal announcement can also be done online through specialized sites, you just have to inform yourself and to sort out. In any case, you will save precious time while benefiting from assisted drafting if necessary.

Succeeding in making the best choice of medium for the publication of your legal announcement allows you to avoid possible errors when writing the announcement. These specialized newspapers have all the competence and know-how to optimize your announcement as well as possible and allow you to make savings by limiting the costs. In the same way, letting them take care of your legal announcement from A to Z allows you to focus on the development of your business.

How much does a legal notice cost? ?

The price of a legal announcement varies according to the legal form of the company and the department where it is located. Indeed, the legal notices differ depending on whether it is a SARL, EURL, SAS, SASU or SCI. You should know that SARL and EURL are less expensive while SAS, SASU and SCI are more expensive because of the more numerous indications to be published. However, each department sets up a pricing system and the rules of application. Thus, the rates can be expressed per character, per line, per millimeter, etc.

The price may also vary according to the legal notice newspaper chosen. In any case, it is obvious that the more important the legal announcement is, the higher the rate for the publication will be. But you should not focus only on the price of the legal notice.

The most important thing is that the publication medium is in accordance with the rules and the announcement is perfectly written.

Generally speaking, a legal announcement is essential for various important stages in the life of a company, starting with the creation of a company. However, it is not a matter of publishing a notice in any newspaper. You must make sure that the chosen medium is one of the newspapers authorized by a prefectural decree.

The procedures and publication of a legal announcement can also be done online. Here again, you will have to make sure you make the best choice. Do not hesitate to consult different media and ask for quotes in order to make a comparison and find the best option for your needs.