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Service of Process in France from Abroad.

When a corporation or physical person located outside or within Western Europe (the "Non-French Plaintiff") contemplates bring a legal action again a corporation or physical person located in France (the "French Defendant"), legal counsel of the Non-French Plaintiff will need to advise his client as the relative advantages and disadvantages of bringing the action outside France or in France.

Assuming that the decision is made to commence the proceeding before a court located outside France, it is important that service of process be effected in France a timely manner to avoid an issue of litis pendence.

The purpose of this note is to assist non-French legal counsel for a Non-French Plaintiff in avoiding certain common pitfalls with respect to service of process in France.

The November 15, 1965 Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extra-Judicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters should be reviewed with care. Article 5 of the convention sets forth the non-exhaustive options for service of process:


Even if service is to be effected through a "Central Authority", the summary referred to in the last paragraph of Article 5 should not be overlooked. Attached is bi-lingual (English/French) summary to be completed in both English and French when using the Central Authority for service in France (click here). An example of a completed bi-lingual (English/French) summary used when serving a defendant in the United States is also available (click here).

While the Hague Convention permits service by government-to-government, Article 5 (b) permits service of process in the manner proscribed in the the laws of the country where service is to be effected. As any Central Authority (government-to-government) services are generally slow and and the feedback even slower, it is may be prudent to effect service of the papers in France using a French huissier (a French bailiff).

Unless legal counsel of the Non-French Plaintiff is accustomed to selecting and working with French huissiers (French bailiffs), the use of local French counsel may be a justified added expense.

Second Service of Process Option:

Article 10 of the November 15, 1965 Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extra-Judicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters provides a second, non-exclusive option for service of process:
Article 10

Provided the State of destination does not object, the present Convention shall not interfere with –

(a) the freedom to send judicial documents, by postal channels, directly to persons abroad,

(b) the freedom of judicial officers, officials or other competent persons of the State of origin to effect service of judicial documents directly through the judicial officers, officials or other competent persons of the State of destination,

(c) the freedom of any person interested in a judicial proceeding to effect service of judicial documents directly through the judicial officers, officials or other competent persons of the State of destination. [emphasis added].

Thus, it is possible to use a French process server without using the services of the Central Authority. This second alternative permits off-shore lead counsel and such counsel's local French counsel to avoid a number of potential defects in service of process in France which may otherwise go unidentified until exequatur is sought may years and thousands of dollars later.http://www.france-process-service.com

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