France: New Faster Out-of-Court Procedure for Collecting Uncontested Commercial Debts

Paris, France, 29 September 2026

Late payments are a leading cause of business failure among SMEs in France. The law of April 23, 2026 introduces a simplified procedure that lets creditors recover uncontested invoices between merchants through a judicial officer, without going to court and with no amount cap. Costs are borne by the debtor.

Law No. 2026-307 of April 23, 2026 (published in the Official Journal on April 24, 2026) establishes a simplified procedure for collecting uncontested commercial debts between merchants.

Late Payments: A Major Risk for SMEs

Late payments are one of the main causes of business failure among microbusinesses and small and medium-sized enterprises (see also our article on European insolvency law harmonisation). According to the Banque de France, late payments increase the probability of a business failure by 25 percent. This probability rises to 40 percent when the payment is more than one month overdue.

Nonpayment and late payment are widespread economic problems. According to the Banque de France’s Payment Delays Observatory, nearly one-third of companies pay their suppliers more than 60 days after the contractual due date. Companies affected by unpaid invoices generally find the available procedures time-consuming and costly. At EU level, the Late Payment Directive 2011/7/EU sets payment deadlines for commercial transactions.

The law of April 23, 2026 responds to this by creating a procedure for faster collection of commercial debts that the debtor does not dispute.

What the New Procedure Aims to Achieve

The simplified procedure protects businesses’ cash flow. It speeds up debt collection and requires no judicial intervention. Its purposes are:

to safeguard economic transactions between businesses;
to respond quickly to late payments;
to supplement the existing simplified collection procedure under Article L. 125-1, which is limited to debts under €5,000;
to enable the collection of uncontested commercial debts between businesses, regardless of the amount.

Legal Basis: Article L. 126-1 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures

Under Article L. 126-1 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures, a judicial officer may initiate a simplified procedure at the creditor’s request to collect a debt arising from an invoice issued between merchants. The debt must be certain, liquid and due.

This provision mirrors Article L. 125-1. That article allows a simplified procedure for claims arising from a contractual or statutory cause, but only below an amount set by decree (€5,000), and it excludes claims between merchants.

How the Simplified Collection Procedure Works, Step by Step

The judicial officer initiates the procedure at the creditor’s request. It has three steps:

Demand for payment: The judicial officer sends the debtor a demand for payment. The demand must include:
- a description of the obligation giving rise to the debt;
- a description of the amounts claimed;
- a demand to pay within one month of the demand’s issuance, with instructions on how payment can be made.

If the debtor contests the debt with the judicial officer within this one-month period, the procedure ends. The creditor must then use the ordinary legal remedies.

Statement of non-contestation: If the debt is neither paid nor contested, the judicial officer draws up a statement of non-contestation. This happens at least 8 days after the one-month deadline has expired. The clerk of the commercial court then makes this statement enforceable, and the judicial officer can collect the debt directly.
Service of the enforceable record: The enforceable record must be served on the debtor within six months. Otherwise it becomes void. The debtor can still challenge it in court.

Costs and Key Takeaways for Creditors

The debtor bears the costs of the procedure.

The new rules are codified in Articles L. 126-1 et seq. of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures. Note that an implementing decree is still needed under Article L. 126-6. It will set, among other things, the judicial officers’ fees and the mandatory content of the payment demand. At the time of writing, this decree had not yet been published, so the procedure may not yet be usable in practice. Creditors should check its status before starting a collection.

Author: Marc-Oliver Martin, Jeanne de Sailly, Room Avocats, Paris, France