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Justice
Companies in difficulty: designation and establishment of economic activity tribunals
Publié le 16 juillet 2024 - Mise à jour le 09 janvier 2025 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)
An order of 5 July 2024 designates the 12 commercial courts that will become courts of economic activities from 1er January 2025. Explanations.
As part of the Ministry of Justice’s Policy and Programming Act 2023-2027, Economic Activity Courts (EATs) will be tested for 4 years starting in 2025.
The establishment of these courts is intended to extend the jurisdiction of the present commercial courts to amicable and collective proceedings.
What will be the competences of the economic activity courts?
From 1er January 2025, regardless of the status and activity of the debtor, EATs will have jurisdiction to decide on:
- the alerting procedures and amicable proceedings ;
- the appointment of a conciliator (only for agricultural holdings in difficulty);
- the collective proceedings ;
- the actions and challenges relating to commercial leases arising from the safeguard, reorganization or winding-up proceedings of the debtor presenting with it sufficient connectivity links. Other actions relating to commercial leases will remain with the courts;
- the procedures what is known to the specially designated commercial court.
FYI
The provisions on the powers of the TAEs in mutual and collective proceedings do not concern debtors engaged in a regulated legal profession (lawyer, notary, bailiff, judicial auctioneer, registrar of TAE or commercial court, court administrator and judicial agent).
Please note
Before the Economic Activities Tribunal, the parties are exempted from the obligation to have a lawyer in the following cases:
- the claim shall be for an amount not exceeding € 10 000;
- the claim arises from the performance of an obligation which does not exceed € 10 000.
This exemption concerns procedures relating to companies' difficulties (prevention, safeguard, judicial redress, judicial winding-up), disputes relating to the conduct of the SCR: titleContent and the agricultural amicable settlement procedure.
It is nevertheless possible to be assisted or represented by any person of your choice.
Which courts will be responsible for economic activities?
The following commercial courts have been designated to become tribunals of economic activities from 1er january 2025 :
Commercial courts | Court of Appeal |
|---|---|
Paris Commercial Court | Paris Court of Appeal |
Commercial Court of Marseille | Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence |
Commercial Court of Lyon | Lyon Court of Appeal |
Commercial Court of Nanterre | Versailles Court of Appeal |
Commercial Court of Limoges | Limoges Court of Appeal |
Tribunal de commerce d'Avignon | Court of Appeal of Nîmes |
Tribunal de commerce d'Auxerre | Paris Court of Appeal |
Saint-Brieuc Commercial Court | Court of Appeal of Rennes |
Tribunal de commerce du Havre | Rouen Court of Appeal |
Tribunal de Commerce de Nancy | Court of Appeal of Nancy |
Versailles Commercial Court | Versailles Court of Appeal |
Tribunal de commerce du Mans | Angers Court of Appeal |
Please note
One simulator from the Department of Justice lets you know which court you should apply to.
Payment of a financial contribution
Who is involved?
The companies with more than 250 employees must pay a financial contribution for proceedings brought before the tribunal for economic activities (excluding collective proceedings).
This contribution, referred to as the "contribution for economic justice", is payable by the original applicant when the total value of the claims is more than €50,000. If the initial application is made by more than one applicant, the contribution will be payable by each of them and the total value of the claims will be assessed separately for each of them.
The contribution is not due for the following applications:
- opening of amicable or collective proceedings (and applications made in connection with such proceedings);
- approval of an agreement resulting from an amicable dispute resolution procedure or a settlement;
- application which gave rise to a previous proceeding which was extinguished principally by reason of the expiry or lapse of the summons;
- challenging, before the president of the court or the judge by delegation, the verification by the secretariat of the court of the costs due under a proceeding.
What is the amount of this contribution?
For a legal person, the amount of the contribution varies according to the amount of the average annual turnover over the last 3 years and the amount of the average annual profit over the last 3 years:
Amount of average annual turnover over the last 3 years (million euro) | Amount of average annual profit over the last 3 years | Amount of contribution |
|---|---|---|
Greater than 50 and less than or equal to 1500 | More than EUR 3 million | 3 % of the total value of claims included in the document instituting the proceedings (up to a maximum amount of € 50 000) |
Greater than 1500 | Greater than 0 | 5 % of the total value of claims included in the document instituting the proceedings (up to a maximum amount of € 100 000) |
For a natural person, the amount of the contribution varies according to the reference tax income per unit:
Reference tax income per unit | Amount of contribution |
|---|---|
Over € 250 000 and up to € 500 000 | 1 % of the total value of claims in the document instituting the proceedings and up to a maximum amount of EUR 17 000 |
Over € 500 000 and up to € 1 000 000 | 2 % of the total value of claims in the document instituting the proceedings and up to a maximum amount of EUR 33 000 |
More than €1 000 000 | 3 % of the total value of claims in the document instituting the proceedings and up to a maximum amount of EUR 50 000 |
The applicant must attach to the document instituting the proceedings the documents justifying his situation so that the Registrar can determine whether or not he is subject to payment of the contribution.
The Registrar shall then calculate the amount of the contribution and inform the applicant by any means of the amount to be paid.
Please note
The application may be declared inadmissible in the event of non-payment of the contribution.
How is the contribution paid?
It is done at the transplant counter or on site tribunaldigital.fr.
Is the contribution repaid?
The contribution shall be repaid in the following cases:
- a decision declaring the proceedings to have ended as a result of a withdrawal;
- a transaction concluded as a result of the use of an amicable method of dispute resolution (where the dispute is brought to an end).