The CNC informs stakeholders interested in accounting information that the draft bill of law No. 7541 extending the deadlines for filing and publishing annual accounts, consolidated accounts and related reports during the state of crisis was submitted to the Chamber of Deputies on 27 March 2020.

In view of the difficulties caused by the Covid-19 health crisis and the impossibility for economic life to continue as normal, this draft bill of law aims at extending by three months the deadlines for filing annual accounts, consolidated accounts and related reports with the RCS and for publication in the RESA.

As a result, a company whose financial year is based on the calendar year and whose annual accounts as at 31 December 2019 should in principle be filed with the RCS by 31 July 2020 will in practice have an additional period of three months, i.e. an extended deadline of 31 October 2020.

However, these extension measures do not apply to accounts and related reports for which the filing deadlines had already expired on 18 March 2020, the date on which the state of crisis was declared. On the other hand, these extension measures do apply to all accounts and related reports relating to a financial year ending no later than the end of the state of crisis, i.e. in practice a financial year ending between 18 August 2019 (filing deadline not yet expired on 18 March 2020) and 24 June 2020 (expected end date of the state of crisis).

It should also be noted that, in parallel with the submission of draft bill of law No. 7541, a separate draft bill of law (Bill No. 7540) deals with the extension of deadlines applicable to certain companies in the financial sector covered by sector-specific laws (e.g. credit institutions, insurance companies, etc.).