INSEE - French National Statistics Institute - Business Statistics Directorate

Division « Infrastructure et répertoires statistiques » / "Statistical Infrastructure and Business Registers" unit

INSEE

DSE / DRISS/ Division IRS

Timbre E220

88 avenue Verdier - CS 70058

92541 Montrouge cedex

FRANCE

Business demography statistics track the evolution of registrations and bankruptcies in the main sectors of activity. As such, they provide useful information to monitor the business cycle, at national level as well as at regional and departmental level.

Two indicators on business demography are sent to Eurostat under the EBS regulation :

- Business registrations : quarterly numbers of business registrations ;

- Bankruptcies : quarterly numbers of business bankruptcies.

Since mid-2022, monthly numbers of business registrations and of business bankruptcies have also been sent each month to Eurostat, on a volontary basis.

NACE Rev. 2 for both registrations and bankruptcies.

NACE Sections B to N (industry, construction, trade and services), and P to R (education, health) and divisions S95 and S96 (household related and other services).

The aggregates provided to Eurostat are :

- Industry : B+C+D+E ;

- Construction : F ;

- Wholesale and retail trade : G ;

- Transportation and storage : H ;

- Accommodation and food service activities : I ;

- Information and communication : J ;

- Sections K to N ;

- Sections P to S (excluding division 94) ;

- Industry, construction and services : B+C+D+E+F+G+H+I+J+K+L+M+N+P+Q+R+95+96.

Aggregates are disseminated at a more detailed level - both geographically and sectorally - on the INSEE and Banque de France websites.

1-Registrations

The registrations series is based on data from the SIRENE directory, which is the national administrative business register. Any natural or legal person is registered in the directory when it first makes a declaration of starting up a business and receives a unique identification number. Registration data from Sirene are enriched with elements from the SIRUS statistical register, which, inter alia, enables to determine whether the business is a market producer. Given the specificities of the SIRENE directory, the concept of business creation which is taken into account in the series of registrations corresponds to the appearance of an operating legal unit with no predecessor. It covers the following cases:

- Business start-ups corresponding to the creation of new means of production (there is a new registration with SIRENE);

- Cases where the entrepreneur (in general we are dealing with individual entrepreneurs) resumes an activity after a break of more than a year (there is no new registration with SIRENE and he takes the old SIRENE number);

- Cases where the entrepreneur resumes an activity after an interruption of less than one year but with a change of activity;

- When a new business takes over all or part of the activity and means of production of another business (there is a new registration with SIRENE) if there is no continuity of the business which is taken over.

There is considered to be no continuity of the unit if, of the following three elements regarding the headquarters of the unit, two are changed after the takeover: the legal entity controlling the unit, economic activity or location.

Since data relative to January 2009, following the enforcement of “auto-entrepreneur” status (renamed “micro-entrepreneur” since December 19, 2014), business registrations statistics include the registrations recorded in Sirene under this status.

2-Bankruptcies

The failure of a business is characterised by the cessation of payments. In judicial terms, this situation is defined by the impossibility of meeting current liabilities with available assets. In this case, either a company recovery or a compulsory winding up procedure is opened. The enterprise bankruptcy statistics cover all these judgments. The outcome of the company recovery procedure is taken into account as follows: in case of liquidation, there is no change in the state of cessation of payments and this is not considered as a new bankruptcy; in case of settlement by continuation or resumption, if the company is later on again in a state of cessation of payments, a new bankruptcy is counted.

Legal unit for both registrations and bankruptcies.

1-Registrations

The statistical population covered by registrations includes all companies, natural persons or legal entities, which are market producers, i.e. businesses selling goods or services at an economically significant price and producing goods or services. Registrations statistics cover NACE Sections B to N (industry, construction, trade and services), and P to R (education, health) and divisions S95 and S96 (household related and other services).

2-Bankruptcies

Collective proceedings concern legal persons under private law, traders, craftsmen, farmers, but also persons exercising an independent professional activity, "including a liberal profession subject to a legislative or regulatory status or whose title is protected". It is also applied by civil courts to associations.
Collective proceedings are opened by a judgment of the Commercial Court or the High Court, depending on the status of the debtor. Information is collected either automatically from the commercial courts or via the "Bulletin officiel d'annonces civiles et commerciales" (Bodacc).

As registrations statistics, quarterly statistics on bankruptcies cover NACE Sections B to N, P to R and divisions S95 and S96.

The statistics on registrations and bankruptcies cover the French national territory, including Corsica and overseas departments (Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Martinique, Mayotte and Réunion). Ultra-peripheral departments are excluded, although bankruptcies statistics include Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

All registrations statistics cover the period from 2012 onwards and the national series by sector from 2000 onwards. Bankruptcies statistics start in 1990.

Registrations and bankruptcies statistics are sent to Eurostat as absolute values. However, monthly and quarterly data on registrations and bankruptcies are presented in dissemination by Eurostat as index series. The base period was 2015 until the end of 2023. As for all short-term business statistics, the base year of monthly and quaterly business demography data was updated from 2015 to 2021, starting with the publication of data for the reference month January 2024. The weights used for quaterly and monthly business demography data are the numbers of active enterprises, per sector, in France in 2021.

Absolute values (“pure number” of registrations or bankruptcies) for both registrations and bankruptcies.

The quarterly registrations and bankruptcies statistics compiled represent the whole calendar quarter. The registration date taken into account is the processing date by the SIRUS register. The date of recording of business bankruptcies is the date of judgment.

A legal basis for the data collection is provided by Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on European business statistics, and by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197 of 30 July 2020 laying down technical specifications and arrangements pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European business statistics.

The SIRENE directory, whose management is entrusted to INSEE, is established by articles R123-220 to R123-234 of the Commercial Code.

Regarding bankruptcies statistics, the main source is the Commercial Courts. However, as regards the Courts of First Instance as well as the cases from Alsace and Moselle, the information is collected from the Official Bulletin of Civil and Commercial Announcements (BODACC).

Registrations statistics are produced entirely by INSEE.

The monthly and quarterly business statistics on bankruptcies are compiled by Banque de France and shared with INSEE, which sends those data to Eurostat along with monthly and quarterly registrations statistics. An agreement governs the sharing of data, including data on bankruptcies, between Banque de France and INSEE, based on Article L. 141-6 IV, paragraph 1 of the Monetary and Financial Code, which stipulates that the Banque de France, INSEE and the ministerial statistical services (SSM) shall transmit to each other, in compliance with the applicable legal provisions, the data they need to carry out their respective missions.

All statistics collected and published by INSEE are governed by the statistical (amended) Law of the 7th June 1951 “concerning the obligation, the coordination and the secrecy as regards statistics”. The protection of private information during data processing is covered by the Law of the 6th January 1978 “concerning data processing, files and freedoms”.

The French administrative business register (SIRENE) is available with public access (open data).

As monthly or quarterly series on registrations and bankruptcies are disseminated at an aggregated level, no particular treatment is required to ensure confidentiality.

Quarterly business demography statistics are sent to Eurostat before the transmission deadline at T+40. Monthly business demography statistics are also sent to Eurostat before M+40. Their publication date is scheduled in consultation with the Banque de France, taking into account national publication calendars. Since 2024, only monthly data have been delivered to Eurostat. Quarterly data are calculated by Eurostat.

Monthly registrations statistics are made available by INSEE around two weeks after the end of the reference month. A release calendar is published for the four following months.

The bankruptcies statistics are also published by Banque de France at t+2 weeks. A release calendar is available on the Banque de France’s website.

The release calendar is available on the INSEE website.
Regarding bankruptcies, the release calendar can be found on the Banque de France’s website : Calendar | Banque de France (banque-france.fr).

Monthly registrations data is disseminated on INSEE’s website, at 8.45 AM on the release date (t+2 weeks).

Data on bankruptcies are also disseminated on Banque de France’s website. Some of this data is republished on the INSEE website, around t+30 days.

Government has no access to data under embargo except as publicly specified in the rules for dissemination of INSEE statistical indicators under embargo.

Transmission of quarterly data on registrations and bankruptcies to Eurostat, under the EBS regulation. Monthly data have also been transmitted to Eurostat since mid-2022. Since 2024, quarterly data have no longer been delivered to Eurostat, as they can be derived from monthly data.

Monthly dissemination for both registrations and bankruptcies on the INSEE and Banque de France website. Weekly bankruptcies statistics are also disseminated by Banque de France.

1-Registrations

Monthly national publication on registrations ("Informations Rapides"), in English and French. For example: Business creations of April 2024.

At the regional level, business registrations statistics are disseminated each month in regional dashboards. For example: Corsica's economic outlook of June 2024.

2-Bankruptcies

Monthly release by Banque de France on bankruptcies statistics (English and French). For example: Business failures of April 2024.

Weekly releases by Banque de France on bankruptcies statistics were also available until mid-January 2024. They have been discontinued.

In addition to the monthly publications, an annual publication is devoted to business registrations. For example: Business creations of 2023.

A section of the annual report on businesses in France is also devoted to business registrations.

In addition, business registrations statistics is included in various regional publications, such as quarterly or annually regional economic reports (for example: Brittany's economic outlook of the 4th quarter of 2023), or in studies.

Registration series can be accessed on the INSEE website.

Bankruptcies series can be accessed on the Banque de France website.

Some bankruptcies series can also be found on the INSEE website.

Some public data sets on registrations are available on the INSEE website.

Individual microdata is only available through a secure access data center. The access is granted by the Committee on Statistical Confidentiality ("Comité du secret statistique") after making a motivated demand and a declaration of data processing to the French Data Protection Authority ("Commission Nationale Informatique et Libertés").

For further information, see the website of the Comité du secret.

Within the framework of the EBS regulation, monthly (and previously, also quarterly) registrations and bankruptcies statistics are sent to Eurostat in the SDMX format.

The methodology on registrations compilation can be accessed on the Documentation tab of the monthly Informations Rapides on business creations.

A specific methodological document is also devoted to a overhaul of the system for calculating business registrations achieved in 2022.

A detailed methodology on bankruptcies statistics is available on the Banque de France website (in French).

Documentation on the quality management of the Official Statistical Service (SSP), which includes INSEE, can be found on the INSEE website.

A general framework on quality in the Official Statistical Service (SSP) is set up in order to promote the implementation of quality.

Rules, methods and means for the development, production and dissemination of statistics meet the quality standards of the European Statistics Code of Practice.

The characteristics of the sources, for both registrations (the SIRENE directory which provides a compulsory identification number) and bankruptcies (Commercial Courts in particular), guarantee a good robustness for the indicators.

Registration data is processed through a dedicated application, which ensures the robustness of the calculations.

Both registrations and bankruptcies statistics are widely used to track the evolution of business cycles in the main sectors of activity, at national level, but also at regional or departmental level.

The many users of business registrations and bankruptcies statistics include:

- At INSEE: regional directorates and units in charge of sectorial follow-up of the activity;

- Other statistical services;

- Other institutional actors in charge of promoting business development or business creation.

As described above, many publications use registrations and bankruptcies statistics. These publications are often an opportunity to exchange with users.

Registrations and bankruptcies statistics have the advantage that they can be calculated at a very detailed level, both from a sectoral and geographical point of view. Moreover, data on business registrations are supplemented by the SINE programme (New Enterprises Information System). This programme, which consists of a panel survey, serves to analyse the profile of the creator and the start-up, development conditions of new enterprises, the problems young enterprises encounter over the first five years of their existence and the effects on employment of business start-ups.

Registrations and bankruptcies statistics rely on administrative records. Those records are deemed exhaustive. Inaccuracy can therefore come from:

- Errors in records (in the SIRENE directory for instance);

- Inadequate statistical treatments (for instance to determine if the business is a market producer or not).

Since 1st January 2023, formalities for registering a business in France must be carried out on the electronic “one-stop shop” for business formalities. This major change weakened the monthly monitoring of business births in 2023. However, the effect of this change on the measurement of the amount of business births in 2023 is limited overall. Further information about this change is available on Insee’s website.

Not applicable.

The administrative records on which are based registrations and bankruptcies statistics are assumed to be exhaustive and of good quality (few missing data). Therefore, coverage is good. The main risk is therefore processing error. It is mitigated, with regards to registrations, by an application dedicated to the compilation of registrations statistics.

Monthly business demography statistics at M+40. Quaterly business demography statistics were sent to Eurostat at T+40.

The first statistics on registrations and bankruptcies are released monthly, by INSEE and Banque de France, about two weeks after the reference month. Thus, these statistics are among the most early economic cycle monitoring indicators.

National publication deadlines have always been met, as well as the deadlines to provide Eurostat with monthly or quarterly business statistics.

The definition is the same for the whole national territory (France, including overseas departments).

1-Registrations

Since the beginning of 2022, business registrations have been calculated according to a new scheme. All the series (including departmental and regional series) have been backcast since 2012 and the national series by sector since 2000. Therefore, there should not be any breaks, due to this new scheme, in the series, including in the monthly and quarterly business registrations series sent to Eurostat.

Since 1st January 2023, formalities for registering a business must be carried out on the electronic “one-stop shop” for business formalities. This major change weakened the monthly monitoring of business births in 2023. Therefore, the variations in business registrations compared to 2023 should be interpreted with great caution.

2-Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies series start from 1990. However the Law n°2005-845 of 26 July 2005 on business protection extended all collective proceedings to natural persons exercising an independent professional activity, including a liberal profession subject to a legislative or regulatory status or whose title is protected. Collective proceedings in favour of or against such persons fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of First Instance.

Regarding business registrations, some analysis of coherence with annual business demography statistics, mainly with enterprises’ births, have been carried out. The main difference between business registrations and enterprise births stems from the fact that business registrations do not always result in the start-up of an economic activity in the year of registration. For example, some business registrations in year Y may result in an enterprise birth in year Y+1. If no actual economic activity ever starts up, the registration will not result in an enterprise birth. In particular, this can happen in the case of small sole proprietorships.

Little cross domain analysis is performed regarding bankruptcies statistics, as bankruptcies cannot be easily compared with enterprises' deaths for example.

The aggregates are always consistent with their main sub-aggregates, both for registrations and bankruptcies statistics.

As registrations and bankruptcies statistics rely on administrative data, the process involves no respondent burden.

The policy of revision is strictly identical both for national release and for data transmitted to Eurostat.

1-Registrations

Raw (i.e. non-seasonally adjusted) data, which are disseminated on Insee’s Website and sent to Eurostat each month, are usually revised up to two months after their initial publication and are considered "definitive" when published for the third time. Seasonally-adjusted data are revised over longer periods, due to the update of the seasonal adjustement parameters.

2-Bankruptcies

Each publication of a new observation comes together with updates of the previous months, on the basis of data from Commercial Courts.

Routine revisions are explained in the national publication. There is a dedicated paragraph entitled “revision of variations”, in the national release on business registrations.

Warnings are published in the national publication "Informations Rapides" and on the INSEE web site in case of major changes (like, for instance, in 2022, for the overhaul of the system for calculating business registrations).

1-Registrations

Business registrations derive from the SIRENE directory, which is supplemented by elements (scope, …) from the SIRUS statistical register.

2-Bankruptcies

The main source for bankruptcies statistics is the Commercial Courts. However, as regards the Courts of First Instance as well as the cases from Alsace and Moselle, the information is collected from the "Bulletin officiel d'annonces civiles et commerciales" (BODACC).

Registrations and other demographic events are uploaded on a weekly basis from the business registers (SIRENE directory and the SIRUS statistical register) into the IT application dedicated to business demography statistics.

Data on bankruptcies are collected on a daily basis from the Commercial Courts and from the BODACC.

1-Registrations

The data collection process for registrations is the following:

- Business registrations are first recorded in the SIRENE directory (which in particular provides the businesses with their compulsory identification number);

- Business registrations are then integrated into the SIRUS statistical register, which supplements this administrative data with a number of statistical variables, such as the belonging to the target scope (market producer in particular);

- The IT application dedicated to business demography then receives this data from SIRUS and determines the corresponding demographic events, such as registrations.

2-Bankruptcies

The data collection process of commercial courts follow the steps described below:

- Banque de France collects data from several French administrative sources of commercial courts;

- Data are controlled through a dedicated process of data quality control before to be integrated into the database FIBEN;

- The controls include an automatic process and a monitoring process.

The data collection process for Bankruptcies statistics is the following :

- A specific process determines Bankruptcies through the information of court ruling and descriptive information of FIBEN;

- A specific process aggregates data using dedicated computer applications.

1-Registrations

Several checks are performed throughout the process:

- Monitoring of the IT application dedicated to business demography;

- Checks for gaps in data collection;

- Consistency checks between series;

- Close monitoring of revisions.

2-Bankruptcies

The Banque de France has a dedicated process of data quality control from commercial courts. There is a dedicated process to include each data into our database FIBEN.

A specific process controls automatically the quality of data (like consistency of the date, the chronology of commercial courts occurred for one enterprise, the Id of corresponding company…).

Each data rejected is directed towards specific monitoring process. During this step, an analyst checks the data to establish a diagnostic about the data and decides its status (invalid or valid).

Then the monitoring process is closed.

1-Registrations

The compilation process includes:

- Determining if the business registrations belongs to the target field (for example if it is a market producer);

- Determining the corresponding demographic event;

- Computing the aggregates, per sector, region/department or legal form.

2-Bankruptcies

In Banque de France, the data collection process for Bankruptcies statistics is the following:

- A specific process determines Bankruptcies through the information of court ruling and corresponding descriptive information

- A filter is applied to identify only the non-financial companies

- A specific process aggregates data using dedicated computer applications per sector, region/department or legal form

Seasonal and working-days adjustement is performed on French data disseminated on Insee's website. However data sent to Eurostat is raw numbers that are not seasonally adjusted.

1-Registrations

Series are seasonally adjusted – SA – and working-days adjusted – WDA. The computation is performed with the X13-Arima program available in JDemetra+ software- supplied by Eurostat – Business registrations series (series excluding micro-entrepreneurs on one side and micro-entrepreneurs registration series on the other) are seasonally adjusted independently, for each sector. The SA-WDA “total” series is the sum of SA-WDA sectoral series.

2-Bankruptcies

Series are seasonally adjusted using the Census-X12 process. The "aggregate" and "SME" series are seasonally adjusted individually: the seasonally adjusted series are not the sum of the seasonally adjusted components.

no comment.