FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Kyum Lee, Florian Dessault, Hannah Cobbett and Claire Gonzalez, BDGS Associés
April 2014, No 12/15479). Ongoing set-aside proceed - ings at the seat do not automatically bar recognition or exequatur in France. That initial screening test must be distinguished from appellate review. On appeal against a decision con - cerning recognition or exequatur of an award rendered abroad, the Court of Appeal may refuse recognition or enforcement on any of the five grounds listed in Article 1520 (Article 1525). Where the exequatur decision concerns a foreign award, it may be appealed within one month of ser - vice of the decision (Article 1525 of the French Civil Procedure Code). By contrast, where the exequatur decision concerns an international arbitration award rendered in France, a distinction is made according to whether the decision grants or refuses exequatur, as follows: • a decision refusing exequatur of an international arbitration award rendered in France may be appealed (Article 1523 of the French Civil Proce - dure Code); and • 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 jurisdic - tion of the arbitral tribunal, irregular constitution, non-compliance with the arbitral tribunal’s terms of reference, breach of the adversarial principle, con - flict with international public policy) (Articles 1524 and 1522 (2) of the French Civil Procedure Code). At the enforcement stage, sovereign states and their emanations benefit from immunity against enforce - ment of arbitral awards under the conditions set forth by the “Sapin 2” law of 9 December 2016, as follows. • First, conservatory or enforcement measures against property belonging to a foreign State require prior authorisation by a judge in an ex parte order (Article L111-1-1 of the Code of Civil Proce - dures). • Second, authorisation requires one of the following: (a) the State’s express consent; (b) earmarking of the property for satisfaction of the claim; or (c) where a judgment or award has been rendered
against the State, property specifically used or intended for use otherwise than for non-com - mercial public-service purposes and connected with the entity against which the proceedings were brought (Article L111-1-2 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures). • Finally, an effective waiver concerning property used or intended for use by a diplomatic mission or consular post must be express and specific (Article L111-1-3 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Proce - dures). 12.3 Approach of the Courts French courts generally adopt an arbitration-friendly approach to recognition and enforcement. At the ini - tial ex parte stage, the test is manifest conflict with international public policy. On appeal concerning an award rendered abroad, however, refusal may be based on any of the five grounds in Article 1520 (see 12.2 Enforcement Procedure ). 13. Miscellaneous 13.1 Class Action or Group Arbitration French law does not provide for group arbitration. French law does, however, provide for class actions ( actions de groupe ): Article 16 of Act No 2025-391 of 30 April 2025 established a single, generally applicable regime, transposing Directive (EU) 2020/1828. Class actions are brought before specially designated tribu- naux judiciaires (Article L211-15 of the French Judicial Organisation Code) and are not, as such, arbitrable. Nevertheless, this legal regime is recent and has not yet been widely applied. The French Civil Procedure Code does, however, refer to multiparty arbitration (Article 1453 of the French French law does not prescribe a single binding ethical code for arbitrators. Statutory requirements include independence, impartiality and disclosure (Article 1456 of the French Civil Procedure Code), supple - mented where applicable by institutional rules and professional duties. Parties and arbitrators may also refer to non-binding instruments such as the IBA Civil Procedure Code). 13.2 Ethical Codes
365 CHAMBERS.COM
Powered by FlippingBook