French Monetary and Financial Code
In forceI. - There is no charge for closing any deposit or passbook account.
II. - Credit institutions shall make documentation relating to banking mobility available to their customers, free of charge and unconditionally, on paper or on another durable medium, at their premises and in electronic form on their website.
III. - The receiving institution, which opens the new deposit account as part of the change of direct debit, offers the customer, free of charge and unconditionally, a banking mobility assistance service enabling an automated change of direct debit to the new account for valid direct debits and recurring credit transfers from the original account.
If the customer wishes to take advantage of this service, the new institution will obtain the customer's formal agreement to carry out the formalities associated with the account change on the customer's behalf, so that regular transfers and direct debits can be made to the new account, together with the bank details of the customer's original institution.
Within two working days of receiving the customer's formal agreement, the receiving institution will ask the sending institution to transfer the information relating to valid direct debit mandates and recurring transfers that have passed through this account over the last thirteen months, as well as cheques that have not been debited from chequebooks used over the last thirteen months.
The sending institution transfers this information to the receiving institution within five working days of receiving the request from the receiving institution.
Within five working days of receiving the information requested from the sending institution, the receiving institution will send the details of the new account to the issuers of valid direct debits and recurring credit transfers.
Direct debit and credit transfer issuers have a period of time in which to take these changes into account and inform the customer. This period is defined by decree in the Conseil d'Etat.
The receiving institution shall provide the customer, on paper or another durable medium, with a list of the transactions for which the change of direct debit has been sent to the customer's creditors and debtors and shall send the customer the list of undebited cheque forms sent by the sending institution. It also informs the customer of the consequences of a payment incident in the event of insufficient funds on the account at the originating institution, if the customer chooses not to close the account.
The receiving institution also informs the customer of the existence of a customer relations and mediation service to deal with any disputes arising from the change of bank address.
IV. - In the event of closure of the account at the original institution, the latter shall provide free of charge, for a period of thirteen months from the date of closure of the account, by any appropriate means and within three working days, to the holder of the closed account who has benefited from the mobility assistance service defined in III any information relating to :
1° The presentation of any transfer or direct debit on the closed account. This information is provided at least once per issuer involved;
2° The presentation of a cheque on a closed account. The former holder of the closed account is also informed by the original institution that he is obliged to refuse payment of the cheque and of the consequences of this refusal, as well as the conditions under which he may regularise his situation.
The outgoing institution transfers any positive balance on the account to the account opened with the incoming institution, on the date indicated in the customer's formal agreement.
V. - If a customer opens an account with an institution located in another Member State of the European Union, the original institution, which holds the deposit account that the customer wishes to close, will offer free of charge, within six working days of the request to close the account, a summary of the automatic and recurring transactions that have been carried out on this account over the last thirteen months.
The transferring institution will transfer any positive balance on the account, provided it has the information needed to identify the receiving institution and the customer's new account. This transfer is carried out on the date requested by the customer, at the earliest six working days after receipt of the request to close the account.
VI. - The incoming or outgoing institution shall immediately compensate the account holder for any loss suffered as a direct result of failure to comply with its obligations under the banking mobility procedure provided for in this article.
The incoming or outgoing institution is exempt from this compensation obligation in the event of abnormal and unforeseeable circumstances beyond its control, the consequences of which would have been unavoidable despite all efforts made, or when it is bound by other specific legal obligations.
VII. - The banking mobility assistance service applies to deposit accounts or payment accounts opened with all payment service providers and held by natural persons not acting for professional purposes.
VIII. - The terms of application of this article are defined by decree in the Conseil d'Etat.
