Book V: Service providers

I. – An intermediary in various goods is 1° Any person who, directly or indirectly, by means of promotional communication or canvassing, offers on a regular basis to one or more clients or potential clients to subscribe to life annuities or to acquire rights over movable or immovable property where the purchasers do not manage the property themselves or where the contract offers them the option of repossession or exchange…

Only joint stock companies may, in connection with the transactions referred to in article L. 551-1, receive sums corresponding to subscriptions by purchasers or payments of the proceeds of their investments. These companies must provide proof, prior to any advertising or canvassing, that they have fully paid-up capital in an amount at least equal to that required by article L. 224-2 of the French Commercial Code.

Prior to any promotional communication or canvassing, a document must be drawn up, in accordance with the conditions laid down by decree, to provide the public with all relevant information about the proposed transaction, the person who initiated it and the manager. Where the customer or potential customer has not received the disclosure document prior to entering into the contract, or where the terms of the contract do not comply…

At the end of each financial year, in addition to drawing up its own accounts, the manager shall draw up an inventory of the assets under its management and a statement of the sums collected during the financial year on behalf of the rights holders. It draws up a report on its activities and on the management of its assets. It draws up the balance sheet, profit and loss account…

The statutory auditor shall be appointed for a period of six financial years at the request of the manager by a court decision taken after obtaining the opinion of the Autorité des marchés financiers. The provisions of article L. 823-3-1 of the Commercial Code are applicable to intermediaries in miscellaneous goods covered by the provisions of III of article L. 820-1 of the same code. In the event of misconduct…