The quotation consists of numbering pages a register in a continuous order, to prevent them from being deleted or added after the fact.

The initialing consists in affix an abbreviated signatureon a certain date, on a register by an authorized authority (clerk of the competent court, mayor or deputy mayor). In particular, it makes it possible to prevent falsifications.

These two formalities aim to guarantee the integrity of the social registers in which minutes and social decisions are recorded.

It is then said that the registers are sides and initialed (or numbered and signed).

The registers of social decisions may be held on paper or in electronic form. The rules to be followed depend on the medium chosen and the legal form of the business:

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The register shall be kept on paper

When the business opts for a paper register, the listing and initialing obligations vary according to its legal form. The following table summarizes the registers concerned and whether these formalities are mandatory or optional:

Tableau - Paper records concerned according to the legal form of the business

Shape of business	Register concerned	Dimensioning and initialing
SARL	Register of minutes of decisions taken at general meetings	Mandatory
EURL	Register of decisions of the sole shareholder	Mandatory
SAS	Register of minutes of decisions of partners	Optional
SASU	Register of decisions of the sole shareholder	Optional
SNC	Register of the minutes of the proceedings of the members	Mandatory
SCS	Register of the minutes of the proceedings of the members	Mandatory
SA to Board of Directors	Register of minutes of the Board of Directors Register of minutes of shareholders' meetings	Mandatory
SA to the Executive Board and Supervisory Board	Register of minutes of the Supervisory Board Register of minutes of shareholders' meetings	Mandatory
Civil business (SCI, SCM)	Register of minutes of meetings of shareholders	Mandatory

FYI  

The minutes can be set up on loose sheets rather than in a linked register. These sheets must be numbered without discontinuity, initialed and stamped with the seal of the competent authority. Once filled, even partially, they are combined with the previous ones and kept in order.

For more information on the records of minutes, see our fact sheet on the mandatory records of a business.

The register shall be kept in electronic form

Businesses may keep their records of social decisions in electronic format.

The minutes must then be drawn up and kept in electronic form. They must be signed by means of advanced electronic signature and be the subject of a timestamp to guarantee their date.

Warning  

For the SAS: titleContent and the SASU: titleContent, the statutes must provide for the keeping of the register of decisions and the preparation of minutes in electronic form. If they do not specify the signature and date, the minutes must be signed by means of an electronic signature meeting at least the requirements of an advanced electronic signature and be dated by a time-stamping process offering any guarantee of proof.

Learn more about the electronic signature :

Electronic signature

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When these conditions are met, the electronic register does not have to be presented to an authority to be listed and initialed.

The merchants must also keep accounting records (ledger and ledger). Unlike the registers of corporate decisions (registers of meetings of shareholders or shareholders and registers of meetings of the boards of directors or supervisory boards), these books are not subject to a listing and initialing obligation. The trader may, however, ask the registrar of the competent court, free of charge, to quote and initial them.

These books may also be kept in electronic form. In this case, they must be identified, numbered and dated as soon as they are established.

To have a register of meetings listed and initialed, it must be presented, before its first use, to a competent authority.

The cost varies depending on the authority that marks and initials the document: