In order to streamline civil and commercial proceedings, the new code of civil procedure (Nouveau Code de procedure civile - NCPC) has undergone significant changes. The new provisions come into force on 16 September, among which:

• the jurisdictional limit of the magistrate's court which is increased from EUR 10,000 to 15,000. Thus, a dispute whose value does not exceed EUR 15,000 can be judged by the magistrate's court, without the obligation to be represented by a lawyer;
• appeals against decisions by court magistrates, which are now brought before the district court, without the obligation to be represented by a lawyer;
• the procedure for conditional payment orders, which has been strengthened and simplified: in particular, the time limit for lodging an objection has been increased from 15 to 30 days and it is no longer possible to lodge an objection against the enforcement order;
• lawyers must now draw up summary conclusions before the close of the hearing in written procedure cases not subject to the simplified pre-trial procedure, which represents a gain in efficiency for the judge and in time for the litigant.

In this context, several information pages concerning civil and commercial matters have been updated on our website:

• Recovering debts of under EUR 15,000
• Recovering debts of over EUR 15,000
• Recovering debts abroad
• Attachment of earnings
• Magistrate's Court
• Reporting construction/renovation defects and seeking reparation
• Actions that debtors can take to counter a European Account Preservation Order on their bank accounts
• European Account Preservation Order by a creditor on the bank accounts of a debtor