When a claimant is not a “commerçant” (trader), he/she may decide to bring his/her action against the trader or commercial company either before civil or commercial jurisdictions.
However when the defendant is not a “commerçant”, the claimant (even if he is a “commerçant”) must initiate proceedings before civil jurisdictions.
The “Tribunal de Commerce” is therefore the jurisdiction which specialises in commercial litigation but it does not deal with all commercial disputes.
However there is one area where it will be exclusively competent: insolvency proceedings.
The “Tribunal de Commerce” decides as to whether to initiate Court insolvency protection, administration, liquidation proceedings against a company in financial difficulty.
One of the specificities of this Court is that judges are non-professionals called “juges consulaires”.
They are usually volunteer traders or company directors appointed by their peers.
The competent appellate jurisdiction is the Court of Appeal territorially competent.
All the advocates within Triplet are fully entitled to practice (and to appear in Court if necessary) throughout the whole of French territory and regularly do so on a daily basis.
For a specific enquiry relating to commercial litigation please click here
