A customer in Lyon stops paying. A supplier in Valencia goes quiet. Before you chase, extend credit or send a deposit, you need one answer: is this company in an insolvency proceeding? In both France and Spain, the answer is public and free, if you know where to look and which number to search with.
This guide covers the official sources in each country, how to read what they say, and the deadline that matters most if the company owes you money. In France you have two months to file your claim; in Spain the usual window is one month. Both clocks start with a publication you may not have seen.
The rules quoted come from service-public.fr (France), Spain's consolidated Insolvency Act and the official Spanish registers, all checked on 13 October 2026.
What you'll learn
- The free official sources that publish insolvency proceedings in France and Spain
- What receivership, liquidation and concurso mean for you as a customer or supplier
- How long you have to file a claim, and where to send it
- How to keep an eye on many counterparties without doing it all by hand
- What these sources don't tell you
France: where are insolvency proceedings published?
France has three kinds of collective proceedings: safeguard (sauvegarde), receivership (redressement judiciaire) and liquidation (liquidation judiciaire). Service-public.fr lists three free official places to check whether a company is in one of them.
BODACC
The Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales lists every company in collective proceedings. The opening judgment is published there within 15 days, according to service-public.fr. Search bodacc.fr with the company's SIREN, the 9-digit number every French company has, rather than its name: names can be similar, a SIREN is unique. BODACC also offers a free alert account that emails you new announcements about the companies you follow.
The Annuaire des Entreprises
The French government's company directory, annuaire-entreprises.data.gouv.fr, shows collective proceedings in the "Annonces et observations" tab of each company page, next to its status, registered office and identifiers.
The PPLE
The Portail de la publicité légale des entreprises gives free access to companies' legal information, including the existence of collective proceedings and related filings.
A trap: "active" in Sirene does not mean "not in liquidation"
The administrative status in INSEE's Sirene register (active or ceased) is not updated when proceedings open. A company in liquidation can stay "active" until the proceedings close. Always check the BODACC announcements too. For what "ceased" and "struck off" mean, see your French customer or supplier is radiée or cessée.
Spain: where is a concurso de acreedores published?
Spain's insolvency proceeding is the concurso de acreedores.
The Registro Público Concursal
Spain's public insolvency register, publicidadconcursal.es, is the main publicity tool for insolvency proceedings. It depends on the Ministry of Justice, which entrusts its management to the Spanish Association of Registrars, and it publishes insolvency notices, registered insolvency rulings and out-of-court payment agreements. Consulting it is free.
The BOE
Under article 35 of the consolidated Insolvency Act, on the day the insolvency administrator accepts the appointment, the court sends the notice of the declaration of insolvency to the BOE, Spain's official gazette, and to the public insolvency register. The publication is free. The notice names the debtor with its tax ID, the court and case number, whether the debtor keeps or loses control of its assets, the insolvency administrator, and the deadline and address for creditors' claims.
The BORME
When the Commercial Registry records an insolvency situation on a company's sheet, the BORME (the registry's official gazette) publishes it among the registered acts, as "Situación concursal". It sits next to the company's other acts, which helps you read its history. See how to read the BORME.
Does insolvency mean the company stops trading?
Not necessarily, in either country.
- In France, safeguard and receivership let the business keep trading while a plan is worked out. Liquidation ends it: assets are sold to pay creditors.
- In Spain, a company in concurso often keeps operating. The court decides whether the debtor keeps managing its assets under supervision, or loses that power to the insolvency administrator.
So a supplier in receivership or concurso may still deliver. What changes is who decides about contracts, deposits and payments. Talk to your adviser as soon as you see the publication.
The company owes you money: your deadline to file a claim
| France | Spain | |
|---|---|---|
| Deadline | 2 months from the BODACC publication of the opening judgment | Usually 1 month from the day after the BOE publication of the declaration |
| Longer window | 4 months if you are outside metropolitan France | Set in the court order |
| Send it to | The mandataire judiciaire (safeguard, receivership) or the liquidator (liquidation) | The insolvency administration, at the address in the notice |
| If late | You are barred; you can ask for relief within 6 months of the BODACC publication if the delay was not your fault | A late claim is generally classified as subordinated, paid after the others |
Sources: service-public.fr for France; articles 28, 255 and 281 of Spain's consolidated Insolvency Act for Spain.
In France, creditors holding a published security interest, or bound by a published contract, are notified personally by registered letter; their two months run from that notice.
In both countries, the claim states who you are and what you are owed, with amounts, dates and any security or priority you claim. Attach invoices, contracts and delivery notes.
Build the check into your routine
The best way not to find out too late is to check before you commit, then at regular intervals.
| When | What to check |
|---|---|
| Before signing or granting payment terms | Existence, status, insolvency publications |
| Before a large deposit | The same, on the day |
| During the relationship | New publications for your key counterparties |
For a full pre-contract checklist, see how to check a French company before you sign and how to check a Spanish company before you sign.
Checking many companies without doing it by hand
Five counterparties means five searches. Two hundred customers with open balances, spread across France and Spain, is where checks get skipped.
Fuentio reads the official registers of both countries and answers in one format, with the source and the check date on every answer:
- France: status, registered office and identifiers from the official French registers, plus BODACC collective-proceedings notices linked by SIREN (1 unit per insolvency check).
- Spain: the company record and its registered acts published in the BORME since 2 January 2009, including a "Situación concursal" act when the registry recorded one.
Try it without an account with the free check (3 a day), or check up to 20 companies at once with the free list check, which gives you a CSV file for your records. To automate it, a free API key gives 100 units a month, and AI agents can connect over MCP. Every answer carries a receipt, so you can show what the register said on the day you checked. See what we cover.
Limits. The rules quoted summarise service-public.fr and Spain's consolidated Insolvency Act as checked on 13 October 2026; they don't replace the law and this is not legal advice. Insolvency is only published after a court decision: no public source warns you before. In France, no BODACC notice in the years we have loaded is not proof that there is no proceeding. In Spain, Fuentio does not query the public insolvency register; it shows the acts published in the BORME, and a Spanish company's status is unknown unless an act says otherwise. Fuentio does not assess creditworthiness.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check if a French company is in liquidation for free?
Search its SIREN on bodacc.fr, or open its page on the Annuaire des Entreprises and look at the "Annonces et observations" tab.
How do I check if a Spanish company is in concurso de acreedores?
Search the public insolvency register at publicidadconcursal.es, or the notice of the declaration in the BOE. Both are free.
How long do I have to file a claim against an insolvent French company?
Two months from the BODACC publication of the opening judgment, or four months if you are outside metropolitan France, according to service-public.fr.
How long do I have in Spain?
The usual period is one month from the day after the BOE publication of the declaration. The notice states the exact deadline and the address.
Can a company in receivership or concurso keep trading?
Yes. French receivership and safeguard, and the Spanish concurso, often let the business continue. French liquidation ends it.
Sources
- Service-public.fr, how to know whether a company is in collective proceedings (checked 13 October 2026): entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr
- Service-public.fr, declaring claims against a business partner in collective proceedings: entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr
- BODACC: bodacc.fr
- Annuaire des Entreprises: annuaire-entreprises.data.gouv.fr
- Spain's consolidated Insolvency Act (Real Decreto Legislativo 1/2020), BOE: boe.es
- Registro Público Concursal: publicidadconcursal.es
- BORME: boe.es/diario_borme