Modifying French company by-laws
In France, there are certain situations in which it is mandatory to modify the by-laws of your company. These are:
If the corporate purpose of your company changes
The corporate purpose of a company, or “social object” in French, refers to the nature of the activity of the company. If you want your company to practice an activity that isn’t mentioned in the by-laws, it’s mandatory to modify the by-laws to change your corporate purpose.
If the name of the company changes
The name of a company is another piece of information that is present in the company by-laws. As such, of course, you have to modify the by-laws to change the company name.
Moving your head office
If you change your head office, again, you’ll have to modify your company by-laws.
However, it’s worth mentioning that this procedure is slightly more complicated if you move your business address from one department to the next. Indeed, in these cases, you’ll have to make a publication in two Legal Announcement Journals instead of one, for example.
Increasing the social capital of your company
In French, the notion of “social capital” refers to the notion of “equity”.
If you want to increase the amount of equity present in your company, not only will you have to modify the by-laws, but it is sometimes also mandatory to have an auditor oversee the process.
