Introduction

Existence of a claim

Issuance of enforcement order (writs of execution)

Existence of seizable assets or claims

Conditions of enforcement

Judicial authority

Other authorities

Competent authorities and persons

Operations

Difficulties in enforcement

Implementation of compulsory enforcement

General regime of enforcement procedures

Concept of penalty

Scope ratione personae

Material scope

Determination of penalty

Competence of judge

Powers of court

Effects of ruling ordering or rejecting penalty

Pronouncement of penalty

Substantive conditions

Procedural conditions

Role and powers of the judge

Effects of liquidation judgment

Liquidation of the penalty

Penalty

Conditions of implementation

Contesting the measures

Ordinary law on protective measures

Protective seizures

Judicial security interests (sûretés judiciaires)

Specific regimes

Interim protective measures (mesures conservatoires)

Seizure of claims for sums of money

Seizure of tangible movable property

Seizure of intangible rights

Enforcement measures on movable property

Real estate seizures

Evictions

Enforcement measures on real estate

Enforcement measures

5. Civil Enforcement Procedures

Pursuant to Article R. 131-1, para. 1, of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures, “the penalty payment takes effect on the date set by the court, which cannot be earlier than the day the decision imposing the obligation becomes enforceable.” In the absence of a specific date mentioned by the court, the penalty payment runs from the day of the notification or regular service of the decision that  …

Effective date of penalty payment

Pursuant to Article R. 131-1, para. 1, of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures, “the penalty payment takes effect on the date set by the court, which cannot be earlier than the day the decision imposing the obligation becomes enforceable.” In the absence of a specific date mentioned by the court, the penalty payment runs from the day of the notification or regular service of the decision that ordered it . When the penalty payment ancillary to the conviction is expressly subject, by the judgment's operative part, to the specific formality of service by a judicial commissioner, it cannot begin to run in the absence of such service, even if the judgment is enforceable for the payment of sums and the delivery of corporate documents upon notification by the court registry . However, the fact that the service document contains errors regarding the indication of the available remedy does not prevent the penalty payment from running, provided no prejudice results . In the event that a judgment benefits several parties jointly or indivisibly, Article 529 of the Code of Civil Procedure specifies that each of them may rely on the notification made by the other .

In the event of reversal of the decision, enforceable as of right by provision, which had removed a previously ordered penalty payment, it only resumes from the notification of the judgment . Similarly, when the Court of Appeal, while upholding the enforceable judgment on the obligation to which the penalty payment is attached, modifies its amount, the starting point of this new penalty payment cannot be set from the service of the judgment . The same applies in the case of a simple confirmation of a non-enforceable judgment . However, the penalty payment runs from the service of the judgment with provisional enforcement, even if the first president of the Court of Appeal subsequently makes the provisional enforcement subject to a new condition . In the case of a withdrawal of the appeal filed against a judgment that attached a penalty payment to an obligation, the starting point of the penalty payment begins to run from the unconditional withdrawal, which alone constitutes acquiescence to the judgment and immediately produces its extinguishing effect . Finally, since the absence of referral to the Court of Appeal after cassation confers the authority of res judicata on the judgment rendered at first instance, the penalty payment pronounced by the first judge takes effect upon the expiration of the referral period to the referral court .

Article R. 131-1, para. 2, of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures provides an exception to the rule set out in para. 1, specifying that the penalty payment “may take effect from the day it is pronounced if it accompanies a decision that is already enforceable” .

Cass. 2e civ., 8 April 2004, LawLex202400002195JBJ; 23 June 2005, LawLex202300009747JBJ; 6 October 2022, LawLex202300003236JBJ. See also Cass. 2e civ., 22 March 2001, LawLex202400002245JBJ, considering that the Court of Appeal, which intends to grant a grace period before imposing the penalty payment, can only start this period from the service of its judgment and not from its pronouncement.

Cass. 2e civ., 1 February 2018, LawLex202400002242JBJ.

See Cass. 2e civ., 14 September 2006, LawLex202400002429JBJ, refusing to confer such scope to the order of the pre-trial judge.

Cass. 2e civ., 20 January 2022, LawLex202400002683JBJ.

See, for an application of this principle to the request for liquidation of a penalty payment, Cass. 2e civ., 7 July 2005, LawLex202300007827JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 21 February 2019, LawLex202400002194JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 8 July 2004, LawLex202400002236JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 11 June 1997, LawLex202400002396JBJ; 13 October 2021, LawLex202400001702JBJ. - Also see Cass. 3e civ., 9 March 2017, LawLex202400001701JBJ, highlighting that since the penalty payment only begins to accrue, in the event of confirmation of the non-enforceable judgment to which it is attached, from the day the judgment becomes enforceable, it cannot set a starting point from the service of the “judgment to be rendered.” Similarly, Cass. 2e civ., 2 March 2023, LawLex202300004909JBJ, specifying that the penalty payment attached to the obligation to release a protective measure only begins or resumes, as the case may be, from the notification of the order of the first president of the court of appeal, which rejects the request for a stay, or, if the appeal judgment confirming the judgment is rendered beforehand, from the day it becomes enforceable, unless the appellate judges set a later starting point.

Cass. 2e civ., 8 April 1999, LawLex202400002235JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 8 July 2004, LawLex202400002398JBJ.

Cass. 2e civ., 16 March 2000, LawLex202400002248JBJ.

5. Civil Enforcement Procedures

74. Effective date of penalty payment

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

74. Effective date of penalty payment

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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