FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Kyum Lee, Florian Dessault, Hannah Cobbett and Claire Gonzalez, BDGS Associés
ings may be conducted in English without translation, and documents may be disclosed in English without translation. Furthermore, Article 25 of the Act of 13 June 2024 ( loi n° 2024-537 du 13 juin 2024 visant à accroître le financement des entreprises et l’attractivité de la France ) introduced a new Article L. 311-16-1 into the French Judicial Organisation Code, supplemented by a new Article 1519 of the French Civil Procedure Code, which came into force on 1 June 2025. These new articles grant the Paris Court of Appeal exclusive jurisdiction in international arbitration to hear set-aside requests against awards and appeal against decisions ruling on requests for exequatur of awards. French arbitration law is mainly codified in Articles 1442 to 1527 of the French Civil Procedure Code and Articles 2059 to 2061 of the French Civil Code. The French Civil Procedure Code distinguishes between international arbitration (Articles 1504 to 1527 of the French Civil Procedure Code) and domestic arbitration (Articles 1442 to 1503 of the French Civil Procedure Code, as well as Articles 2059 to 2061 of the French Civil Code). Certain articles of the French Civil Pro - cedure Code applicable to domestic arbitration are equally applicable to international arbitration, except if the parties agree otherwise (Article 1506 of the French Civil Procedure Code). Arbitration is international if it involves “international trade interests” (Article 1504 of the French Civil Proce - dure Code). An arbitration is therefore deemed inter - national when the underlying economic transaction does not unwind in one country only, regardless of the parties’ nationality, the applicable laws or the arbitra - tion seat ( Cour de cassation , First Civil Chamber, 26 January 2011, No 09-10.198; Paris Court of Appeal, 7 February 2023, No 20/08604). 2. Governing Legislation 2.1 Governing Law French courts, notably the French Cour de cassation and the Paris Court of Appeal, also play a vital role in interpreting arbitration-related legislation in France.
French arbitration law is not based on the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. It largely pre-dates the UNCITRAL Model Law and dif - fers from it in several aspects, such as the following. • The criteria for what constitutes international arbi - tration: while Article 1 (3) of the UNCITRAL Model Law recognises an approach based on the place of business of the parties or on the parties’ will, French law adopts a purely economic approach centred on the cross-border flow of capital, ser - vices or assets (see the foregoing). • The method to be followed by the arbitral tribunal in cases where the parties do not choose the sub - stantive law applicable to their dispute: French law does not impose the application of conflict of law rules (Article 1511 of the French Civil Procedure Code), while Article 28 of the UNICTRAL Model Law does. • The grounds for refusing the recognition and enforcement of an award: unlike the UNCITRAL Model Law (Article 36 (i)(a)(v)), French law does not recognise the setting aside of an award by a court of the country in which it was made as a ground for refusing its recognition and enforcement in France (see 12.2 Enforcement Procedure ). Nevertheless, there are important common principles contained in French Arbitration Law and in the UNCI - TRAL Model Law, such as the principles of “compe - tence-competence” and the separability or autonomy of the arbitration clause from the main contract. 2.2 Changes to National Law There have been no significant changes to French national arbitration law over the past year. However, significant legislative reform is currently underway in France with the drafting of a dedicated Arbitration Code. The Ministry of Justice’s working group delivered its draft proposals in April 2025. While not yet adopted, some elements have been made public and discussed in academic circles. This project seeks to consolidate and clarify the legal framework applicable to both domestic and interna - tional arbitration, which is currently dispersed across various legislative instruments.
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