FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Kyum Lee, Florian Dessault, Hannah Cobbett and Claire Gonzalez, BDGS Associés
since the setting aside of an award is not a ground for refusing it ( Cour de cassation , First Civil Chamber, 23 March 1994, No 92-15.137; Cour de cassation , First Civil Chamber, 29 June 2007, No 05-18.053; Paris Court of Appeal, 1 April 2014, No 12/15479). Similarly, the existence of ongoing set-aside proceedings has no impact on the exequatur of the award. When the exequatur decision relates to a foreign award, it may be appealed within one month of service of the decision (Article 1525 of the French Civil Proce - dure Code). In contrast, when the exequatur decision concerns an international arbitration award issued in France, a distinction is made according to whether the decision grants or refuses exequatur, as follows. • A decision refusing exequatur of an interna - tional arbitration award rendered in France can be appealed (Article 1523 of the French Civil Proce - dure Code). • A decision granting exequatur may not be appealed except in the cases provided for in Article 1520 of the French Civil Procedure Code (lack of jurisdiction of the arbitral tribunal, irregular con - stitution, non-compliance with the arbitral tribu - nal’s terms of reference, breach of the adversarial principle, conflict with international public policy) (Articles 1524 and 1522 (2) of the French Civil Pro - cedure Code). Regarding the enforcement stage, sovereign states and their emanations benefit from immunity against enforcement of arbitral awards under the conditions set forth by the “Sapin 2” law of 9 December 2016, as follows. • Firstly, under French law, enforcement measures with respect to property belonging to a foreign state must be authorised by a judge as a result of an ex parte order (Article L. 111-1-1 of the Code of Civil Procedures of Enforcement). • Secondly, for the judge to authorise the proceed - ings, these enforcement measures must either (i) be expressly consented to by the relevant state, (ii) concern property reserved by the state for the sat - isfaction of the claim subject to the proceedings, or (iii) concern property used or intended to be used by the relevant state other than for non-commercial
public service purposes (Article L. 111-1-2 of the Code of Civil Procedures of Enforcement). • Finally, with regard to property used or intended to be used as part of a diplomatic mission of a foreign state or of its consular post, the waiver of sover - eign immunity must be express and specific for it to be effective (Article L. 111-1-3 of the Code of In general, French courts adopt a liberal approach regarding the enforcement of arbitral awards. As men - tioned in the foregoing, the existence of a conflict with French international public policy is the only ground for refusal of exequatur (see 12.2 Enforcement Pro- cedure ). Civil Procedures of Enforcement). 12.3 Approach of the Courts 13. Miscellaneous 13.1 Class Action or Group Arbitration French law does not provide for class action or group arbitration. However, the French Civil Procedure Code refers to multiparty arbitration (Article 1453 of the French Civil Procedure Code). 13.2 Ethical Codes French law does not provide any binding ethical codes or professional standards applicable to arbitrators. The only requirements are the independence and impartiality of arbitrators (Article 1456 of the French Civil Procedure Code). Nonetheless, parties and arbi - trators may refer to non-binding ethical codes such as the IBA Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in Interna - tional Arbitration. Moreover, French lawyers conduct - ing arbitral proceedings must respect ethical princi - ples, notably those set out in the Rules of Professional Conduct of the French Bar Association. 13.3 Third-Party Funding French law does not provide specific rules governing or restricting third-party funding. However, it should be noted that, on 21 February 2017, the Paris Bar Coun - cil issued a resolution regarding third-party funding in arbitration proceedings. This resolution in essence provides the following recommendations:
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