Who pays?

[Chrisdubna]

In the UK I was once part of an association which organised an all night festival of jazz.  It was supposed to raise loads of money for a well known charity but instead lost a lot of money which resulted in the members paying quite a lot of money out of their own pockets.

Could the same thing happen in France?  I am told by French friends that I am fussing over matters that are unimportant but for me ,at the moment, paying out several hundred Euros would be very important and at any other time I would still wish to avoid doing so.

The scenario is this.  I am a member of a dance club which wishes to organise a Fest Noz.  There are probably 20 members.  The Fest Noz could cost in the region of 10,000€ to produce with income at the rate of 6€ per person meaning that 2000 people would need to attend to break even.

Frankly on past performace anything approaching 2000 people is merely a dream.

But who pays in the event of a loss?

I think I know the answer and am worried that there seems to be no concern on the part of French friends.

Also do French Associations have constitutions, formal meetings and presentation of accounts and reports in the way that we would do in the UK?

CHRIS

[Jo53]

Yes, the same thing happened to some people who organised a festival in our area last year. It was in the local paper. It was the individuals themselves who were out of pocket and had to take out loans to repay what they owed. Don't remember the legal ins- and out's, but they were badly hit and said afterwards that they had been naive, had expected too many people and hadn't done their homework properly.

Be careful!

Jo

[Will]

I have looked at the statutes of a number of associations, which seem to have pretty much a standard wording. The critical point seems to be that French associations are governed by 'the Law of 1 July 1901 and the Decree of 16 August 1901'. What exactly these entail I am not at all sure. However, some associations include a clause along the lines of 'In accordance with statutory law, the Association shall be liable for its contractual undertakings solely on the basis of its assets. None of the Association's Members shall be personally liable.' The majority of those I looked at have no such clause, and it would seem to be useful to adopt one.

In the absence of any proper legal opinion, the answer would seem to be that the members of an association may well be collectively liable for any debts or losses, unless this was specifically covered by the statutes (but then if the association's members could not be held liable, who would be in law? Those who actually organised the event that made a loss perhaps?).

 

[Tourangelle]

I don't know who would be resposible with an association under la loi 1901, but it basically means that it is a non profit making organisation. I think it is a tax thing and means they can apply for grants.

[Teamedup]

If I were doing this and we have been a part of musical fesitvals in the past we would certainly have an association formed under the 1901 law. And we would have been applying for grants from the local council and councils of the adjoining communes and from the Conseil Generale and anyone else we could think of and getting sponsorship from local businesses.

So my answer is that we wouldn't be putting our own money in if we could help it. Also the association I was treasurer of until recently made a 1franc profit on the last bal they organised which was the year before I got involved. I would never take risks like that. And I left the association in a very healthy state.