Section I: General provisions.

I.-Sums due under life insurance contracts and capitalisation bonds or contracts which are not the subject of a request for payment of benefits or capital are deposited with the Caisse des dépôts et consignations at the end of a period of ten years from the date on which the insurer becomes aware of the death of the insured or the expiry of the contract. The deposit is made in the month following expiry of this period. If the contract does not expire or the insurer becomes aware of the death of the insured, if the insured's date of birth is more than one hundred and twenty years old and no transaction has been carried out on the insured's initiative in the last two years, the insurer is obliged to seek out the beneficiary and, if this search is successful, to notify the beneficiary of the stipulation made in his favour. If this search is unsuccessful, the sums due under these contracts are transferred to the Caisse des dépôts et consignations at the end of a period of ten years from the date of the insured's one hundred and twentieth birthday, after verification of the insured's date of birth by the insurer. The sums due under a temporary insurance contract in the event of death are not subject to this deposit when the death of the insured occurred prior to 1 January 2015.

The sums due under the contracts mentioned in the first paragraph of this I and comprising, in whole or in part, commitments expressed in units of account mentioned in the second paragraph of article L. 131-1 or allocated to the acquisition of rights giving rise to the constitution of a diversification provision are deposited in cash at the Caisse des dépôts et consignations. The value of these commitments or rights is that reached on expiry of the ten-year period mentioned in the first paragraph of this I, unless the contractual stipulations provide for an earlier date.

The subscriber of the contract or the beneficiaries of the sums deposited with Caisse des dépôts et consignations may only obtain payment in cash, notwithstanding any stipulation to the contrary. Caisse des dépôts et consignations will return the sums in the form of a capital sum.

Insurance undertakings, provident institutions and associations shall provide Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations with the information required, where applicable, to pay the sums referred to in the third paragraph to the policyholder or his beneficiaries.

Until the expiry of the period referred to in III, they shall keep the information and documents relating to the outstanding amount of the contracts on the date of the deposit referred to in the second paragraph of this I, to the calculation of the period referred to in the first paragraph and to the applicable taxation system, as well as the information and documents making it possible to identify the subscribers and beneficiaries of these contracts. This information and documents are sent to the Caisse des dépôts et consignations at its request. They shall also retain the information and documents needed to assess whether they have fulfilled their obligations with regard to unpaid contracts.

The deposit of sums with Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations in application of this I discharges the insurer and the policyholder from all obligations, with the exception of the obligations to retain information and documents set out in the penultimate paragraph. However, this discharge does not exonerate the insurer or the policyholder from liability for breaches committed prior to the filing.

II - Six months before the expiry of the period mentioned in the first paragraph of I of this article, the insurance companies, provident institutions and associations mentioned in I of article L. 132-9-3 inform the policyholder or beneficiaries of the contract, by any means available to them, of the implementation of this article.

Caisse des dépôts et consignations organises, in compliance with law no. 78-17 of 6 January 1978 relating to information technology, files and civil liberties, the appropriate publicity of the identity of the subscribers of contracts whose guaranteed sums have been the subject of the deposit mentioned in I of this article, in order to enable the subscribers or beneficiaries of the contracts to receive the sums due to them. The latter shall provide Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations with the information required to verify their identity and determine the amount of the sums due to them.

The notary responsible for establishing the assets of the estate with a view to settling the succession for which he has been appointed obtains, at his request from the Caisse des dépôts et consignations, payment of the sums deposited in application of I and due to the beneficiaries of the deceased, where these sums form part of the assets of the estate. The notary returns these sums to the beneficiaries.

The notary shall attach to his request the power of attorney authorising him to act on behalf of the beneficiaries.

III - By way of derogation from the first paragraph of Article L. 518-24 of the Monetary and Financial Code, sums deposited with the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations in application of the present article and which have not been claimed by the subscriber or their beneficiaries are acquired by the State at the end of a period of twenty years from the date of their deposit with the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations.

Until the expiry of this period, the Caisse des dépôts et consignations holds the sums deposited with it on behalf of the subscribers or their beneficiaries.

For each deposit corresponding to a life insurance contract or a capitalisation bond or contract, the amount of the sums paid by Caisse des dépôts et consignations to the subscriber or their beneficiaries or acquired by the State may not be less than the amount of the sums deposited with Caisse des dépôts et consignations, less, where applicable, the partial payments made by Caisse des dépôts et consignations in application of this article.

IV - A decree in the Conseil d'Etat will specify the terms and conditions for the application of this article.