Glossary — RCS removal
What does removal of a company from the RCS mean?
Entry in the Trade and Companies Register (RCS) that officially establishes the end of a company. It extinguishes the legal entity: the structure ceases to exist in law, and its debts and claims are no longer enforceable against it. Preservation obligations persist in the personal sphere of the former directors.
What it is
Removal is the entry in the Trade and Companies Register that records the end of the legal entity. For an amicable liquidation, it is requested by the former director or the amicable liquidator once closure is pronounced. For a court-ordered liquidation, it occurs at the closure of proceedings — closure for insufficient assets or for extinction of liabilities.
The main effect is legal: ongoing contracts are terminated (unless taken over), unliquidated assets become res nullius, and no further act can bind the company. Any intangible assets — trade marks, domain names, websites — that have not been assigned or expressly preserved fall into a legally murky zone.
Why it matters
The moment of removal is crucial for the digital estate. Before: the company contracts, deposits and transmits. After: it is the former directors or successors who residually carry the obligations — tax preservation (10 years), social-security (5 years), proof of proper contract performance (2 to 5 years). Without a clear framework, those obligations apply to scattered files, orphaned mailboxes, cloud accounts about to be suspended.
How Archivum approaches it
Archivum takes over from the moment of removal and preserves, under a prior contract, what needs to be preserved: accounting, HR, contractual archives, incoming mail, editorial site content. The former directors or successors retain a nominative right of access set out in the contract. The entity no longer exists, but the obligation to preserve remains enforceable.