Glossary — Cessation of activity
What is a cessation of activity?
The definitive end of the exploitation of a company or self-employed activity. It may be voluntary (decided by the shareholders or the entrepreneur), amicable (out-of-court dissolution and liquidation) or court-ordered (opened by the commercial court). In every form, it triggers preservation and erasure obligations that should be anticipated.
What it is
Under French law, a company's cessation of activity falls under three main scenarios. Voluntary cessation happens when the shareholders decide at an extraordinary general meeting to stop the business; it opens a dissolution phase followed by an amicable liquidation, at the end of which the company is removed from the Trade and Companies Register (RCS).
Court-ordered liquidation is opened by a judgment of the commercial court when the company is in suspension of payments and its recovery is plainly impossible. It is conducted by a court-appointed liquidator. Cessation of a sole-trader business (EI, EIRL, micro-entrepreneur) follows a similar, simplified logic: filing with the one-stop shop, removal from the register, preservation of records.
Why it matters
Cessation is the exact moment when a company's digital estate risks being lost, scattered, or recovered by people who have no right to it. Shareholders and directors remain liable for the data held — past correspondence, HR files, accounting records, client access, source code — both during and after the cessation. Failing to plan ahead exposes the structure to legal (GDPR, professional secrecy, contract law), commercial (reputation, lost relationships) and asset (loss of intangible value) risks.
How Archivum approaches it
Archivum takes over a company's digital estate from the moment cessation is decided, regardless of legal form. The contract sets out the assets concerned, the people authorised to request access during the conservation period, the archiving duration, and the end-of-period scenarios — extend, delete or transfer rights to the archive trustee. Site continuity and inbound-only email continuity can be added when the case calls for it.