The Assignation in France: The Writ of Summons and Commercial Court Procedure

The assignation: when a full commercial court action is needed for a disputed debt

France offers a creditor several ways to recover an unpaid invoice, and not all of them require a trial. Where the debt is clear-cut and undisputed, fast-track routes such as the order-for-payment procedure or the summary interim-payment application deliver an enforceable decision quickly and cheaply. Those routes work precisely because the debtor is not expected to mount a real defence. Once the debtor contests the sum, the merits of the claim, or the underlying contract, the shortcuts fall away.

At that point the creditor must bring a full action on the merits before the competent court — for a commercial debt, usually the tribunal de commerce (or tribunal des activités économiques). That action is not opened by a letter or an online form. It is opened by an assignation france: a formal writ of summons drawn up on the creditor's instructions and served on the debtor by a commissaire de justice (the judicial officer who replaced the former huissier de justice).

The assignation does two things at once. It informs the debtor that proceedings have been commenced and sets out exactly what is claimed and why, and it summons the debtor to appear before a named court on a fixed date and time. A creditor who understands what the writ of summons in France must contain, and how the procedure that follows is structured, is far better placed to keep the case on track and avoid the procedural traps that can render a claim inadmissible or, worse, cause the assignation to lapse.

Do you need a lawyer to issue an assignation in France?

Whether representation by an avocat is compulsory turns on the amount claimed. Where the sum sought exceeds 10,000 euros, the involvement of a lawyer is mandatory: the creditor cannot conduct the case alone and must instruct counsel to draft the assignation and represent it before the court (Article 853 of the Code of Civil Procedure). This threshold has applied since the 2020 reform of civil procedure and captures the great majority of substantial commercial debts.

Where the claim does not exceed 10,000 euros, the parties may present themselves before the commercial court in person. They may also be assisted or represented by any person of their choice, provided that a representative who is not a lawyer holds a special written power of attorney (Article 853 of the Code of Civil Procedure). If the creditor is a company, that power must be granted by its legal representative — the gérant of an SARL or the president of an SAS, for example.

For a foreign business, the practical answer is almost always to instruct a French lawyer even below the threshold. The rules on the content of the assignation, on service and on enrolment are unforgiving, and a defect in any of them can defeat an otherwise sound claim. The sections that follow explain the requirements so that, whether you act through counsel or in person, you know what a correctly drawn assignation france looks like.

The content of the writ of summons: parties, claim, grounds and exhibits

An assignation is not free-form. The Code of Civil Procedure prescribes the mandatory particulars a writ must contain, and omitting them can expose the writ to challenge (Articles 54 and 56 of the Code of Civil Procedure). The document must identify the parties precisely. For an individual, that means full name, profession, domicile, nationality and date and place of birth. For a company, it means its legal form, corporate name, registered office and the organ that legally represents it.

The writ must then name the court before which the claim is brought — and, where relevant, the designated chamber — together with the place, day and hour of the hearing at which the case will be called. It must state the object of the claim, that is, exactly what the creditor asks the court to order: payment of the principal, contractual late-payment penalties, any damages, the article 700 indemnity and the costs. Vague or under-quantified demands weaken the case, because the court cannot award more than the sum the claimant has actually requested.

Crucially, the assignation must set out a statement of the grounds in fact and in law — the factual narrative of the unpaid supply and the legal basis for the demand — and must list, in an annexed schedule (the bordereau), the exhibits on which the claim is founded. Those exhibits typically include the purchase order, the general terms and conditions, the delivery note, the unpaid invoice, the reminder emails and the recorded-delivery formal demand. The writ must also record the steps taken toward an amicable resolution before proceedings, without breaching the confidentiality of any mediation or conciliation (Article 54 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

Finally, the writ must explain how the defendant is to appear and warn that, if the defendant fails to appear, a judgment may be given against it on the sole basis of the material supplied by the claimant. These appearance particulars are usually inserted by the commissaire de justice, but the creditor should confirm they are present, because their absence is a defect the debtor can exploit.

Service of the assignation by a commissaire de justice

An assignation france has no effect until it is served. Service is the exclusive province of the commissaire de justice, the judicial officer who delivers the writ to the debtor and formally records having done so. The creditor cannot serve the writ by post or by hand; the officer's act of service is what gives the document its procedural force and starts the clock running toward the hearing.

Timing matters. The writ must be served on the debtor a clear period before the hearing date — as a rule, at least a fortnight ahead — so that the defendant has time to prepare. Because the creditor must first obtain a hearing date from the court and then leave the officer enough time to effect service, the calendar has to be managed carefully from the outset. Serving too close to the hearing risks the case being adjourned or the writ being challenged.

The manner of service also has consequences down the line. Where the commissaire de justice is able to effect service à personne — that is, by handing a copy of the assignation to the debtor in person — the debtor later loses the ability to set aside a default judgment by way of opposition. Personal service therefore closes off one of the routes a defaulting debtor might otherwise use to reopen the case, which is a real advantage for the creditor.

Enrolment at the registry (placement) — the deadline that can sink your case

Serving the assignation is not enough on its own. The creditor must also enrol the case at the court registry — the step known as placement — so that the court actually opens a file and lists the matter. Enrolment is done by lodging the second original of the assignation with the registry of the commercial court. The second original is the copy of the writ that the commissaire de justice returns to the creditor after serving the first original on the debtor.

This step carries the single most dangerous deadline in the whole procedure. The second original must reach the registry a set number of days before the hearing — as a rule, at least eight days beforehand. Miss that deadline and the assignation lapses (caducité): the writ becomes a dead letter, the case is not heard, and the creditor is left to start again, having incurred the officer's fees for nothing. A defect here defeats even a strong claim on the merits.

Enrolment must be accompanied by the registry's fee. The amount is modest — of the order of a few tens of euros for a single creditor suing a single debtor — but the file will not be opened until it is paid. Some registries, including that of the Paris commercial court, allow a hearing date to be booked and the case to be managed online, which makes it easier to keep the service and enrolment deadlines in view.

The commercial court procedure: largely oral, with exchange of exhibits and pleadings

The procedure before the French commercial court is, by tradition and design, largely oral. Unlike the written procedure before some other courts, the parties are not obliged to draft and file formal written submissions: a defendant may simply appear and put its arguments to the court orally. That said, where the dispute is substantial or complex, written pleadings (conclusions) are strongly advisable, because they organise the argument and give the court a document to work from — and the creditor can then respond in writing in turn.

Whatever form the argument takes, the parties must exchange their exhibits with each other well before the hearing. The rule respecting adversarial debate is strict: a party cannot rely on a document that the other side has not had a fair chance to see and answer. If exhibits have not been properly communicated, the court will adjourn the case to a later hearing so that each side can review the other's material. Building the evidence file — order, terms, delivery note, invoice, reminders, formal demand — is therefore central to the commercial court procedure in France.

The court also has tools to steer the parties toward settlement even after the assignation has been issued. It may convene the parties to an amicable-settlement hearing conducted by a judge who does not sit on the bench that will decide the case, or it may appoint a conciliator or, with the parties' agreement, order a mediation. Everything said or written during an amicable-settlement hearing is in principle confidential, which allows the parties to explore compromise without prejudicing their positions if the case proceeds to judgment.

Judgment, appeal and provisional enforcement

Once the case has been argued and the exhibits examined, the commercial court gives judgment on the debt. If the creditor succeeds, the judgment orders the debtor to pay the principal, any late-payment penalties, any damages awarded, the article 700 indemnity and the costs. The creditor can then move to enforcement and seizures to recover the sums, using the judgment as the enforceable title.

A decisive feature of the current regime is that first-instance judgments are, as a rule, provisionally enforceable by operation of law. Before the 2020 reform, a creditor had to ask the court for provisional enforcement; today it is automatic unless the law or the decision provides otherwise. In practice this means the debtor must pay — or face seizure — even if it appeals, unless it persuades the court to displace provisional enforcement. The burden has shifted onto the debtor to argue against immediate enforcement rather than onto the creditor to secure it.

Whether the judgment can be appealed depends on the amount at stake. For small sums, the commercial court rules in last resort and no appeal lies, for either party. Above that low threshold, an appeal is available and must be lodged within one month, running from service of the judgment by a commissaire de justice. Service of the judgment is compulsory and is arranged by whichever party wishes to act on it — the creditor if satisfied, the debtor if not.

Costs: the article 700 indemnity and the recoverable dépens

French litigation distinguishes two kinds of recoverable cost. The dépens are the defined court costs — chiefly the commissaire de justice's fees for service and the registry charges — which the losing party is normally ordered to bear. Separately, the court may order the losing party to reimburse part of the other side's irrecoverable expenses, such as lawyers' fees, under the article 700 indemnity (Article 700 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

The article 700 indemnity is discretionary and rarely covers the full cost of the litigation, but it is well worth claiming. A point often missed by creditors acting in person is that you can seek an article 700 award even if you did not instruct a lawyer, by putting a figure on the time you had to devote to chasing the unpaid debt. As with every head of claim, you must quantify the amount, because the court will not award more than you ask for (Article 700 of the Code of Civil Procedure).

For a foreign creditor weighing whether to litigate, the costs regime matters to the commercial calculus. A successful claimant can expect the dépens and a contribution toward its legal costs to be shifted onto the defaulting debtor, which softens the overall expense of enforcement. The table below sets out how the two categories differ in scope and treatment.

A step-by-step guide to the assignation and commercial court procedure

The mechanics of an assignation france follow a fixed sequence, and each step has its own deadline. Getting the order and the timing right is what keeps the case alive; a slip at any stage can cause the writ to lapse or the claim to be adjourned. The following steps trace the procedure from booking a hearing date through to judgment.

Frequently asked questions about the assignation and commercial court procedure in France

What is an assignation in France?

An assignation is the formal writ of summons that opens a full action on the merits before a French court. For a commercial debt it is drawn up on the creditor's instructions and served on the debtor by a commissaire de justice, informing the debtor of the claim and summoning it to appear before a named court on a fixed date.

When do I need a full court action rather than a fast-track route?

You need a full action, opened by an assignation, when the debtor contests the debt, the amount, or the contract. Where the debt is clear and undisputed, the faster order-for-payment or interim-payment procedures are usually more appropriate, although they do not let you claim separate damages.

What must the writ of summons contain?

It must identify the parties precisely, name the court and hearing date, state the object of the claim, set out the grounds in fact and in law, and list the exhibits in an annexed schedule (Articles 54 and 56 of the Code of Civil Procedure). It must also record the steps taken toward an amicable resolution and warn the debtor of the consequences of not appearing.

Do I need a lawyer to issue an assignation?

A lawyer is compulsory where the sum claimed exceeds 10,000 euros (Article 853 of the Code of Civil Procedure). Below that figure the parties may appear in person or be represented by any person holding a special written power of attorney, though instructing a French lawyer is usually the safer course for a foreign business.

Can I recover my legal costs?

Yes, in part. The losing party is normally ordered to pay the dépens (defined court costs) and, at the court's discretion, a contribution toward your other expenses under the article 700 indemnity (Article 700 of the Code of Civil Procedure). You can claim an article 700 award even without a lawyer, based on the time spent chasing the debt, but you must quantify the amount.

Is the commercial court procedure written or oral?

It is largely oral. Written pleadings are not compulsory, and a defendant may put its arguments orally, but written conclusions are advisable in substantial or complex cases. Whatever the format, the parties must exchange their exhibits before the hearing, failing which the case is adjourned.

Can I enforce the judgment if the debtor appeals?

In most cases yes. First-instance judgments are provisionally enforceable by operation of law, so the debtor must pay or face seizure even while appealing, unless the court orders otherwise. Enforcement of a provisionally enforceable judgment is carried out at the creditor's risk if the judgment is later overturned.

How our French lawyers help with the assignation and commercial court procedure

Petroff Avocats acts for both creditors pursuing unpaid commercial debts in France and debtors defending claims brought against them. For creditors, we assess whether a full action on the merits is the right route or whether a faster procedure fits better, draft the assignation with all the mandatory particulars, instruct the commissaire de justice, manage the service and enrolment deadlines that so often trip up unrepresented parties, and represent you at the hearing through to judgment and enforcement. For debtors, we scrutinise the writ for defects, build the defence, exchange exhibits, file conclusions where the stakes warrant it, and, where appropriate, use the court's amicable-settlement tools to resolve the dispute on acceptable terms.

This article is for general information only. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create a lawyer-client relationship. French procedural rules and thresholds change and apply differently to each set of facts. Contact our French lawyers for advice on your situation.