Lyon, 2017-05-10

By regulation No. 2016-285 of 9 March 2016 (so called Macron law) the French legislator introduced a new opportunity for recovery of small claims which came into force on 1 June 2016.

1. Procedure:

For recovery, creditors with a maximum claim of EUR 4,000 (including interests) can turn to a bailiff at the place of the debtor – who can also be a consumer – even if they do not yet own an enforceable title. The claim must be covered by a contract and verifiable. The contact with the bailiff is made on a public online portal of the French bailiff chamber which is unfortunately currently only available in French (www.petitescreances.fr).

The bailiff has to demand payment from the debtor by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt. In the payment request, the creditor’s name and the claim’s amount are particularly to be mentioned. The request must also include the mandatory information that the debtor can agree or disagree to a simplified recovery by a written explanation – also online – within one month after sending the registered letter. If no reply of the debtor is received within this period, the agreement is considered as refused and the creditor has to initiate legal enforcement.

If the debtor agrees to the simplified procedure, the bailiff prepares a corresponding agreement or repayment schedule within the period of one month which simultaneously is considered as an enforceable title. Hence, the creditor can initiate enforcement measures in the event of non-compliance. To prevent conflicts of interest, another bailiff has to be commissioned for enforcement.

2. Strengths and weaknesses of the new procedure

The positive side is the very clear design of the procedure and that a very fast recovery is possible due to the legal one month period. The fees which have to be paid to the bailiff are also quite clear: EUR 14.92 basic fee and, if necessary, EUR 30 for the preparation of the enforceable title.

A further fee is for recovery: For a claim amount less than EUR 188 the bailiff receives a flat fee in the amount of EUR 21.45. Above that, the compensation is graded according to the amount of the recovered claim:

The new regulation is mainly criticised with regard to the misuse of the debtor’s (co-determination) rights, in particular the undermining of consumer protection laws.

Author: Petra Kuhn, Avocat à la Cour, diploma judicial officer

ZGS Avocats Associés