A professional recovery procedure without liquidation is instituted, open to any debtor, natural person, mentioned in the first paragraph of article L. 640-2, is in suspension of payments and whose recovery is clearly impossible, has not ceased trading for more than one year, has not employed any employees over the last six months and whose declared assets are worth less than an amount set by decree by the Conseil d’Etat. Property that the law declares to be exempt from seizure by operation of law is not taken into account when determining the value of the assets.
The purpose of the professional recovery procedure is to simplify the treatment of the liabilities encumbering the estate or estates of the individual debtor. Where the debtor holds several assets, the threshold mentioned in the first paragraph of this article is determined by taking into account all of his assets.
The procedure may not be opened in the event of ongoing industrial tribunal proceedings involving the debtor in respect of any of his assets.