A foreign creditor searching for a bailiff in France is in fact looking for a commissaire de justice (formerly huissier de justice). The huissiers de justice and the judicial auctioneers merged under this title on 1 July 2022. Every former office converted on that date, so the officer to instruct in France now bears the new name.
The commissaire de justice replaced the huissier de justice on 1 July 2022
The commissaire de justice is the French public and ministerial officer who enforces judgments and serves legal documents. Since 1 July 2022, the profession has brought together the former huissiers de justice and the commissaires-priseurs judiciaires, the judicial auctioneers. The commissaire de justice is one of the actors in how enforcement works in France.
Ordinance No. 2016-728 of 2 June 2016 generally entered into force on 1 July 2022 (Article 25 I). From that date, the two professions “are brought together within the profession of commissaire de justice” (Article 25 IV, our translation). Practitioners in office took the new title without a fresh appointment by the Minister of Justice, provided they met the specific training conditions. The provisions on the national chamber of the profession applied earlier, from 1 January 2019 (Article 25 II).
French statutes that still say “huissier de justice” are not wrong. Under Article 23 IX of the ordinance, a reference to huissiers de justice in legislative texts designates the commissaire de justice. The Cour de cassation likewise refers to “the huissier de justice, now commissaire de justice” (our translation; Cass. 1st civ., 28 February 2024, No. 22-18.744).
In English, “bailiff” was the word used for the huissier de justice. The European e-Justice Portal now speaks of “judicial commissioners”, the “new name given to bailiffs as of 1 July 2022”.
Each court of appeal district has a regional chamber, and interregional chambers may be set up. The national chamber, the Chambre nationale des commissaires de justice (CNCJ), sits alongside the Minister of Justice. These chambers are établissements d’utilité publique, bodies of public utility (Article 14). The CNCJ represents the profession before public authorities and brings disciplinary action (Ordinance No. 2016-728, Article 16). That action follows Ordinance No. 2022-544 of 13 April 2022.
The commissaire de justice holds the monopoly of enforcement and service of documents in France
Three tasks reserved to the commissaire de justice concern a creditor. They are enforcing judgments and enforceable instruments, conducting judicial auctions of movable property, and serving documents. Article L. 122-1 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures (Code des procédures civiles d’exécution, CPCE) goes further. That article reserves forced enforcement and protective attachments to this officer alone.
Article 1 of Ordinance No. 2016-728 grants the monopoly under the laws and regulations in force. The grant applies without prejudice to other public officers and persons authorised by law. The Conseil d’État narrowed the monopoly further (28 December 2017, No. 401947 and others). Valuations and inventories unconnected with a judicial sale of movable property fall outside it. Before enforcing, the officer tries, where appropriate, to bring the parties to agreement.
Article L. 122-1 still says huissier de justice, which Article 23 IX of the 2016 ordinance reads as commissaire de justice. Under Article L. 122-1, the officer must lend his or her services, unless:
- the measure requested appears unlawful to the officer;
- the costs appear manifestly likely to exceed the claim, except where the claim results from a symbolic award that the debtor refuses to pay.
Article L. 122-2 addresses a different point. The commissaire de justice in charge of enforcement is responsible for conducting the enforcement operations. Where the law requires it, the officer may ask the enforcement judge (juge de l’exécution, JEX) for the necessary authorisations or measures. The public prosecutor may be asked likewise.
A saisie-attribution is the measure used to garnish a bank account. Before carrying it out, the officer must check that the underlying title is enforceable on the day of the attachment (Cass. 1st civ., 17 May 2023, No. 21-23.773). Our guide sets out which documents count as an enforceable title.
Outside the monopoly: amicable recovery, factual reports and mediation
The commissaire de justice may also recover any debt, amicably or through the courts, and draw up factual reports known as constats. Both activities lie outside the list reserved to the profession. Mediation is only an accessory activity, subject to conditions set by decree.
Amicable debt recovery
A creditor who wants to recover a debt in France amicably may hand the file to a commissaire de justice. Under Decree No. 2021-1625 of 10 December 2021, handing over the documents counts as a mandate to collect payment (Article 28).
Any person in charge of amicable recovery, commissaire de justice or not, sends the debtor a letter (Article R. 124-4 CPCE). The letter gives the collector’s name and address and states that the collector carries out amicable recovery. The letter then identifies the creditor and its address. The letter sets out the basis and amount of the debt, separating principal, interest and other charges, and excludes costs left to the creditor. The letter asks for payment, states how to pay, and reproduces Article L. 111-8, paragraphs 2 and 3. Any later step towards the debtor recalls the letter’s references and date of dispatch.
The constat: a factual report that holds until proven otherwise, outside criminal matters
A constat records purely material findings, excluding any opinion on their factual or legal consequences (Ordinance No. 2016-728, Article 1 II 2°). The officer draws it up when appointed by a court or instructed by a private party. These findings stand as evidence until proven otherwise, except in criminal matters, where they count as mere information.
Mediation is a side activity, barred in enforcement disputes
A commissaire de justice may act as a court-appointed or contractual mediator, as an accessory activity (Decree No. 2021-1625, Article 29). The officer must first inform the regional chamber and the procureur général (chief public prosecutor) of the court of appeal where the office sits.
Article 30 bars mediation that questions acts of other commissaires de justice or concerns an enforcement procedure. A commissaire de justice already involved in the dispute cannot mediate it either, and cannot act in the case after mediating.
Generally, enforcement costs fall on the debtor and recovery costs without an enforceable title on the creditor
Under Article L. 111-8 CPCE, the debtor bears the costs of forced enforcement, unless they were manifestly unnecessary when incurred. The judge settles any dispute over them. Recovery costs incurred without an enforceable title remain with the creditor, subject to narrow exceptions.
Proportional recovery or collection fees are the exception on the enforcement side. They may be charged partly to creditors, under conditions set by a Conseil d’État decree.
The rule on costs incurred without a title gives way where the law itself requires the creditor to take the step concerned. Contrary contract terms are deemed unwritten, save where a statute provides otherwise. A creditor proving its steps necessary may still ask the enforcement judge to leave all or part of these costs with a bad-faith debtor.
Article A. 444-31 of the Commercial Code sets the fee for service No. 128 of table 3-1: recovery or collection in forced debt recovery. The fee is €4.30 fixed for a claim of €44 or less. For claims above €44, a proportional fee applies, within a limit of €550 set by the same article. The base is the sums collected or recovered on the principal or the award, excluding dépens (procedural costs). Bands apply: 9.77% up to €125, 6.35% up to €610, 3.41% up to €1,525, 0.29% beyond. Rates double when the enforceable title records a maintenance claim.
A commissaire de justice is liable for errors and answers to disciplinary courts
A commissaire de justice answers for errors under two separate regimes. Civil liability is guaranteed by the profession’s national chamber (Ordinance No. 2016-728, Article 21). Discipline is exercised by dedicated courts, with penalties up to removal from office (Ordinance No. 2022-544, Articles 11 and 16).
Civil liability towards the creditor and the debtor
The CNCJ guarantees the professional liability of commissaires de justice for acts performed in that capacity, accessory activities included. A two-year limitation period applies to claims for lost or destroyed documents entrusted to them to carry out a commission or serve a document (Article 21).
Towards the debtor, the officer is the “guarantor of the lawfulness of the proceedings” (our translation). The Cour de cassation drew that duty from Article 1240 of the Civil Code and Article L. 122-2 CPCE. The decision is published in the Bulletin (Cass. 1st civ., 17 May 2023, No. 21-23.773). In that case, a foreign bank’s assets were attached on judgments not yet notified or served on it at the time. The Cour de cassation quashed the ruling that had rejected the bank’s damages claim. Our lawyers can advise a debtor who needs to challenge a wrongful seizure.
Towards the creditor, the officer acts as agent and “answers for the faults committed” in enforcement (our translation). In one case, a non-professional client’s informed insistence did not exonerate the officer (Cass. 1st civ., 28 February 2024, No. 22-18.744). The creditor’s claim goes to the tribunal judiciaire, not to the enforcement judge (Cass. 2nd civ., 21 February 2019, No. 18-10.205).
Disciplinary proceedings, up to removal from office
The procureur général brings disciplinary action, concurrently with the profession’s authorities (Ordinance No. 2022-544, Article 8). At first instance, a disciplinary chamber rules, set up alongside a regional or interregional professional body designated by the Minister of Justice. The disciplinary chamber is chaired by a judge of the court of appeal, sitting with two members of the profession. Appeals are heard by the national disciplinary court attached to the CNCJ. Its judgments may be challenged by a pourvoi before the Cour de cassation (Article 11).
The penalties are a warning, a reprimand, a temporary ban of up to ten years, removal from office or withdrawal of honorary status. The disciplinary court may also impose a fine, as a principal or additional penalty. The ceiling is €10,000 or 5% of pre-tax turnover for the last closed financial year, calculated over a twelve-month period, whichever is higher. The fine does not apply to salaried professionals (Article 16).
On 3 June 2026, the Cour de cassation quashed a removal from office ordered for accounting irregularities (Cass. 1st civ., No. 25-15.050). The appeal decision did not state whether the officer had received the procureur général’s written submissions in conditions allowing a useful reply. The Cour de cassation relied on Article 6 § 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The ruling also cites Article 16 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Code de procédure civile), on adversarial debate. The Cour de cassation did not rule on the merits.
Documents and judgments from abroad: where the commissaire de justice steps in
For a civil or commercial document sent from another EU Member State under Regulation (EU) 2020/1784, France designated the commissaires de justice as receiving agencies. Under the Hague Convention of 15 November 1965 on service abroad in civil or commercial matters, the French central authority is the Ministry of Justice.
The Regulation, applicable since 1 July 2022, requires each Member State to designate its transmitting and receiving agencies. Documents then travel directly between designated agencies, without a central authority. The European e-Justice Portal publishes the French designations, in which court registries join the commissaires de justice only on the transmitting side.
Requests sent through the Hague Convention’s central-authority channel go to the Ministry of Justice. The office concerned is DEDIPE, within the Direction des affaires civiles et du sceau. The commissaire de justice holds a narrower role there, alongside court clerks, as a forwarding authority for French documents served abroad.
In civil and commercial matters, Regulation (EU) No. 1215/2012, known as Brussels I bis, covers judgments within its scope. Such a judgment, if enforceable in its Member State of origin, is enforceable across the Union (Article 39). No declaration of enforceability is needed. Outside that framework, Article 509 of the Code of Civil Procedure sets the rule. Foreign judgments are enforceable only “in the manner and in the cases provided by law” (our translation). Either way, the commissaire de justice acts only at the enforcement stage. Our guide explains how to enforce a foreign judgment in France.