French Commercial code
In forceIt is initiated by the Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice, the Public Prosecutor at the Court of Appeal within whose jurisdiction the acts were committed, the magistrate of the Public Prosecutor's Office responsible for inspections of the persons mentioned in III of Article L. 812-2 whose professional domicile is located within the jurisdiction of the Court of Appeal for which he has jurisdiction, the representative professional body or the President of the National Council of Judicial Administrators and Judicial Representatives.
II.-The national commission mentioned in article L. 814-1 seats as a disciplinary chamber. The Government Commissioner performs the functions of the Public Prosecutor.
It informs without delay the Minister of Justice, as well as the president of the disciplinary chamber with jurisdiction over the person concerned pursuant to his statute, of any disciplinary action brought before it.
Disciplinary action brought before it against a person designated under the conditions provided for in III of Article L. 812-2 prohibits any action before the disciplinary chamber to which the person concerned is subject pursuant to his statute when the action relates to the same facts.
The Commission nationale d'inscription et de discipline des administrateurs judiciaires et des mandataires judiciaires may impose the following disciplinary penalties:
1° A warning;
2° A reprimand;
3° A temporary ban on carrying out any assignments entrusted pursuant to III of Article L. 812-2 for a period not exceeding five years, this temporary ban may be suspended;
4° A permanent ban on carrying out any assignments entrusted pursuant to III of Article L. 812-2.
The warning and reprimand may be accompanied, for a period of one year, by control measures subjecting the person mentioned in III of article L. 812-2 to specific obligations determined by the commission. These obligations may also be prescribed by the commission when this temporarily banned person resumes his duties.
The penalty of temporary disqualification may be suspended. If, within five years of the penalty being imposed, the person referred to in III of article L. 812-2 has committed an offence or misconduct which has led to the imposition of a new disciplinary penalty, this shall entail, unless a reasoned decision is taken, the enforcement of the first penalty without any possible confusion with the second.
III.-When imposing a disciplinary penalty, the Commission may decide, in view of the seriousness of the acts committed, to charge to the person referred to in III of Article L. 812-2 all or part of the costs incurred by the presence of a statutory auditor or an expert during the audits or inspections leading to the discovery of these acts.
IV.-Any person mentioned in III of Article L. 812-2 who is the subject of criminal or disciplinary proceedings may be temporarily suspended from exercising these functions by the judicial court of the place where he is established.
In urgent cases, provisional suspension may be ordered even before criminal or disciplinary proceedings have been instituted if inspections or checks have revealed risks to the sums received by this person by virtue of their duties.
The court may, at any time, at the request of either the Government Commissioner, the magistrate of the Public Prosecutor's Office appointed for the inspections or the person concerned, terminate the provisional suspension.
The suspension ceases ipso jure as soon as the criminal or disciplinary proceedings are extinguished. It also ceases ipso jure, in the case provided for in the second paragraph, if, on expiry of a period of one month from its pronouncement, no criminal or disciplinary proceedings have been instituted.
V.-Disciplinary proceedings lapse ten years after the acts were committed or, where the acts relate to professional practice, after completion of the assignment during which they were committed.
If the person referred to in III of Article L. 812-2 is the perpetrator of acts that have given rise to a criminal conviction, the action shall be barred after two years from the date on which the conviction became final.
VI.-The person mentioned in III of Article L. 812-2 who has been banned or suspended must refrain from any professional act relating to the missions provided for in this article.
Acts performed in disregard of this prohibition may be declared null and void, at the request of any interested party or the public prosecutor, by the court ruling in chambers. The decision shall be enforceable against any person.
Any breach of the foregoing provisions is punishable by the penalties incurred for the offence of usurpation of title provided for in Article 433-17 of the Penal Code.
VII.-When imposing a disciplinary penalty for a breach of the provisions of Sections 3 to 6 of Chapter I of Title VI of Book V of the Monetary and Financial Code, the provisions of Article L. 561-36-3 of this same code.
