FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Thierry Marembert, Cécile Labarbe and Céline Serpagli, Kiejman & Marembert
assets, tangible or intangible, belonging to the alleged debtor. In order to demonstrate that there is no serious challenge to the debt obligation and that some circumstances are likely to threaten its recov- ery (late or non-payment, unsuccessful formal notice, insolvency of debtors, etc), it is sufficient for the debt obligation to appear grounded in principle (it is not necessary to be certain, of a fixed amount nor due). The measure is enforced upon prior authorisa- tion from the enforcement judge. The requesting party must then bring an action on the merits within a short period, or else the judicial security shall become void. 6.2 Arrangements for Obtaining Urgent Injunctive Relief Claimants may introduce proceedings to obtain interim relief orders ( ordonnances de référé ), which do not have the force of res judicata on the merits but are provisionally enforceable ipso jure (Article 484 et seq of the French Code of Civil Procedure – FCCP). A party can quickly obtain interim relief introduc- ing these provisional proceedings with mention of the hearing date. Such proceedings include the following. • Regular interim relief proceedings ( référé ordinaire ) before the president of the tribunal judiciaire or the president of the commercial court, provided there is some emergency or an existing dispute with no serious challenge to it. • Several specific cases depend on the party’s intended purpose:
(a) the conservatory injunction ( référé conservatoire ), when there is a serious challenge but there is a need to prevent imminent damage or an obviously unlaw- ful disorder; (b) the interim payment injunction ( référé provision ), under which the interim judge can award provisional compensation to a party when a debt cannot be seriously questioned; (c) the injunction order ( référé injonction ), which is useful for consumer protection and in contract law; or (d) the probative injunction ( référé proba- toire ). • Even faster in the case of an extreme emer- gency, “from hour to hour” interim relief proceedings ( référé d’heure à heure ) involve parties appearing before the interim relief judge, even during public holidays or non- working days, either in the hearing room or at the judge’s residence with opened doors. 6.3 Availability of Injunctive Relief on an Ex Parte Basis In France, injunctive relief can also be obtained on an ex parte basis (ie, without notice to the respondent and without the respondent being present). It is an order upon a party’s motion ( ordonnance sur requête ) and is a non-adver- sarial process. The claimant seeks to surprise the respondent by using this method. In practice, however, this type of motion is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. Fur- thermore, in any case, the adversarial debate will be reinstated later during the proceedings on the merits of the case.
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