Section 1: Organisation and operation

Private individual over-indebtedness commissions are set up by prefectoral orders. These orders determine the territorial jurisdiction of the commissions and their headquarters.The commission secretariats are located in premises designated by the Banque de France.

Each commission comprises the prefect, as chairman, and the departmental director of public finance, as vice-chairman. Each of these persons may be represented by a delegate in accordance with the procedures set out in article R. 712-3. Article R. 712-3 also sets out the procedures for replacing the commissioner if he or she is unable to attend. The commission also includes: 1° The local representative of the Banque de France,…

The Prefect and the Departmental Director of Public Finance may each be represented on each committee by a single delegate. If the latter is unable to attend, he may be replaced by one of the two representatives designated for this purpose in the commission’s rules of procedure.The prefect chooses his delegate from among the members of the prefectoral corps, the heads of the decentralised State services or their deputies or…

For the application of the provisions of 1° of Article R. 712-2, the Governor of the Banque de France appoints the local representatives of this institution to the commissions and the persons authorised to represent them.

For the application of the provisions of 2° of article R. 712-2, the prefect appoints by decree, for a renewable period of two years, a person and his alternate whom he chooses from a departmental list, comprising four names, sent to him by the French Association of Credit Institutions and Investment Firms, as well as a person and his alternate proposed, under the same conditions, by family or consumer associations….

For the application of the provisions of 3° of article R. 712-2, the Prefect appoints by decree, for a renewable period of two years, a person with experience in the field of social and family economics and his/her alternate from among persons with at least three years’ experience. They may be chosen from among employees of the department, the family allowance fund or the agricultural social welfare fund.

The list of commission members is displayed at the commission secretariat and is accessible on the Banque de France website.

The committee may only validly meet if at least four of its seven members are present or represented. In the event of a tied vote, the Chairman has the casting vote.

In the absence of the prefect and the departmental director of public finance, the commission is chaired by the prefect’s delegate. In the absence of the latter, it is chaired by the delegate of the departmental director of public finance.

The commission shall adopt rules of procedure.These rules shall determine the documents which must be sent to the members of the commission prior to its meeting. They also set out the operating rules, except for those covered by specific provisions in this section.