FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Kyum Lee, Florian Dessault, Hannah Cobbett and Claire Gonzalez, BDGS Associés
Guidelines on Conflicts of Interest in International Arbitration. French lawyers remain subject to their statutory and national professional-conduct rules. 13.3 Third-Party Funding French arbitration law contains no general statutory regime specifically governing third-party funding. On 21 February 2017, the Paris Bar Council adopted a resolution confirming that French law does not pro - hibit third-party funding of international arbitration and recalling that counsel for a funded party owes profes - sional duties to the client, not to the funder. Counsel must preserve independence, professional secrecy and loyalty to the funded client when deal - ing with a funder. Any disclosure of case information must comply with the client’s instructions and coun - sel’s professional duties. Disclosure of the funding arrangement may also be required to identify conflicts of interest. Article 12 (6) of the 2026 ICC Rules requires prompt disclosure of the existence and identity of a non-party funder with an economic interest in the outcome of the arbitration. 13.4 Consolidation French arbitration law contains no general mechanism allowing an arbitral tribunal to consolidate separate proceedings without party consent or an incorporated set of arbitration rules. Consolidation is therefore pri - marily contractual or institutional.
The rules of an arbitral institution may contain pro - visions relating to the consolidation of arbitral pro - ceedings. For example, Article 11 of the ICC Rules of Arbitration (2026) provides that the court may, at the request of a party, consolidate two or more pending arbitrations into a single arbitration, where: • the parties have agreed to consolidation; • all the claims in the arbitrations are made under the same arbitration agreement(s); or • the claims in the arbitrations are not made under the same arbitration agreement(s), but the arbitra - tions are between the same parties, the disputes in the arbitrations arise in connection with the same legal relationship and the court finds the arbitration agreements to be compatible. Article 15 of the 2025 CMAP Arbitration Rules con - tains a separate consolidation mechanism with similar, but not identical, criteria. 13.5 Binding of Third Parties An arbitral award does not have res judicata effect with respect to third parties, except where they are bound by the arbitration agreement under certain cir - cumstances (see 5.6 Jurisdiction Over Third Parties ). Nonetheless, an award may be invoked against third parties, and third parties may rely on the award ( Cour de cassation , Commercial Chamber, 23 January 2007, No 05-19.523; Paris Court of Appeal, 6 February 2014, No 12/14466).
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