FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Diane Bandon-Tourret and Agathe Clarac, LexCase
A unified system for group actions is available in all the fields concerned (consumer affairs, environment, personal data, discrimination and labour law), with the exception of group actions in the field of pub - lic health, which remain subject to a special system. Indeed, while other actions may be brought against “a person acting in the exercise or on the occasion of his professional activity, by a legal person governed by public law or by a body governed by private law entrusted with the management of a public service”, healthcare group actions may only be brought against a producer or supplier of a healthcare product. The court with territorial jurisdiction is that of the place where the defendant lives. The Paris court has juris - diction if the defendant lives abroad or has no known domicile or residence. The procedure is divided into two phases – the admissibility and liability phase – fol - lowed by the compensation phase. Group action must meet a number of conditions: • at least two people must consider that they have suffered damage as a result of the same breach of duty by the professional; and • the reform has broadened the categories of per - sons entitled to initiate a group action – the indi - viduals must have recourse to trade unions, and qualified cross-border entities and the public pros - ecutor’s office can now bring group actions, along - side the approved associations already authorised. The legislator has abolished the limitations relating to the nature of the losses that can be compensated. It is therefore no longer compulsory to restrict the action to compensation for personal injury in the health sector, or to property damage in the consumer sector. From now on, any type of damages may be compensated. One of the major innovations of this new system is the creation of a specific civil penalty applicable in the event of fraudulent misconduct causing damage. Finally, the 2025 reform introduced the European cross-border group action in France, in application of Directive (EU) 2020/1828. This action enables qualified entities from one EU member state to bring a group action in another member state, notably in the event
of infringement of certain European texts, mainly in the consumer field. According to available information, 32 group actions have been initiated in France since 2014, including 20 in the consumer field. With the reform, a public register of pending group actions has been created. Consolidated Action In France, certain actions are brought in the form of consolidated actions, in which the plaintiffs join together and act in a single action brought by a single lawyer, claiming identical damages for all the plaintiffs. New Civil Penalty The aforementioned DDADUE law also established a new civil penalty for professionals who cause serial damage by committing a lucrative fault in the course of their business (new Article 1254 of the Civil Code). The amount of this “punitive” penalty is proportionate to the seriousness of the fault and the benefit that the perpetrator has derived from it. This penalty for serial damage may therefore be applicable in the context of class actions based on product liability. 2.17 Summary of Significant Recent Product Liability Claims Court of Cassation, Civil Division 1, 15 November 2023, 22-21.179 This decision deals with the principle that the victim may bring an action on the basis of product liability or on other grounds with a different basis, in particular fault. In a press release dated 15 November 2023, the Court of Cassation supported this decision by stating that the Court had made it easier for the victim of a defec - tive medicinal product to bring an action before the courts, since the victim can ask the manufacturer for compensation for the damage suffered by choosing to invoke either the product’s defect or a fault committed by the manufacturer, which gives the victim more time to bring an action. The Court of Cassation noted that the CJEU had ruled that the reference in Article 13 of the Directive to the rights that the victim of damage may rely on under contractual or non-contractual liability must be
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