Appeal period and service abroad: when the clock starts

The appeal period runs from the date the document is sent to the foreign authorities only on one condition: the party pursuing service must prove that it took steps with those authorities. Those steps must predate the addressee's appeal, under Article 687-2, third paragraph, of the French Code of Civil Procedure. Follow-ups sent after the notice of appeal (déclaration d'appel) cannot render the appeal inadmissible.

Key points

• Where the foreign authority issues no certificate of delivery, service is deemed to have been effected on the date the document was sent to that authority, provided that the claimant proves that it took steps with it.
• Those steps must have been taken before the addressee brings its appeal: a follow-up sent after the notice of appeal is ineffective.
• In the absence of steps established by the party which initiated service, the appeal period does not run.
• So construed, Article 687-2, third paragraph, of the French Code of Civil Procedure complies with the right of access to a court guaranteed by Article 6, § 1, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
• Service at the addressee's residence cannot rest on confirmation of the address by neighbours alone, without further steps by the bailiff (huissier de justice).

An exequatur order served outside France

A foreign bank saw its enforceable title weakened for want of chasing the authorities of the destination country in time. In the case under review (Civ. 2e, 26 March 2026, No. 23-10.788), the president of a tribunal de grande instance had declared enforceable in France notarial deeds drawn up abroad between a bank, a company incorporated under foreign law and two individuals resident outside France. The bank had that order served on the parquet (public prosecutor's office). The document was transmitted to the foreign authority on 28 June 2019. No certificate of delivery was returned.

The company and one of the individuals, having neither appeared nor been represented at first instance, appealed on 20 November 2020. The other individual joined by way of cross-appeal (appel incident) on 28 June 2021. The requesting French authority chased the foreign authorities on 21 July 2021, that is, after those appeals. The decision under appeal (CA Paris, 8 November 2022, No. 22/00145) held all the appeals inadmissible, treating the date of that follow-up as irrelevant.

The second civil chamber quashes that decision in all its provisions: the appeal period could not run from the date the document was sent to the requested authority, since no step had been taken before the notice of appeal. It rejects, however, the ground based on the alleged incompatibility of the provision itself with the Convention, subject to that construction. The case is remitted to the Paris court of appeal, differently composed. The key passage reads as follows (free translation).

Service may be deemed to have been effected on the date on which the document was sent by the French authority to the requested authorities only if the applicant proves that it took steps with that authority before the addressee of the document brought any challenge.

What consequences for the party serving abroad?

The party pursuing service bears the burden of proving its steps, and of having taken them before the addressee's appeal. The mechanism of the last paragraph of Article 687-2 applies only in the alternative. It presupposes, first, an attempt at personal service on the addressee, then, failing that, a certificate from the requested State describing how the request was carried out. The silence of the requested State opens the benefit of the date of dispatch only if the creditor documents its follow-ups.

• Starting point adopted: the date the document was sent to the requested foreign authority.
• Condition: the party which initiated service proves that it took steps with that authority.
• Timing of those steps: before the addressee of the document brings any challenge.
• Sanction: in the absence of established steps, the appeal period does not run.

The practical consequence is immediate for a creditor holding an enforceable title to be relied on against a debtor established abroad. An appeal brought long after the document was transmitted remains admissible if the file contains no earlier follow-up. A time bar (forclusion) is not built after the event: it is prepared by dated steps, addressed to the competent authorities and kept on file.

What the starting point of the appeal period changes

The decision upholds the provision while making it conditional: compliance with the right to a fair trial rests precisely on the requirement of prior steps. The second civil chamber recalls that the reform of Articles 684 et seq. of the French Code of Civil Procedure put an end to the fiction of service on the parquet, which artificially started a period for challenge running against the addressee of the document. The decision cited (Civ. 2e, 2 June 2016, No. 14-11.576) had already required the court to satisfy itself that the transmission procedure was valid.

The chamber comments on its own evidential requirement as the point of balance of the scheme: "Where the party fails to establish those steps, the appeal period cannot run." The decision adds that the validity of service may always be contested by the addressees, and that the court's role is reinforced where the appellants did not appear at first instance. It also recalls the possibility, provided for by Article 540 of the French Code of Civil Procedure, of relieving the defendant from the time bar.

Two questions remain open. The last paragraph of Article 687-2 applies here for want of any specific provision on the date of service in the bilateral convention between the two States: a more precise convention would lead to different reasoning. Moreover, the quashing does not determine the fate of the appeals: the court of appeal to which the case is remitted will assess their admissibility afresh.

Proof of steps taken and validity of service

Two fronts emerge: traceability of follow-ups abroad and the quality of the bailiff's steps in France. On the second front, the decision also quashes the approval of service at the addressee's residence based on a mere statement. The lower court judges had held that the residence was certain because it had been confirmed by neighbours, personal service having proved impossible owing to a temporary absence.

whereas confirmation of the residence by neighbours alone, with no further detail, was not capable of establishing, in the absence of other steps, that the addressee of the document actually lived there

It follows, on the basis of Articles 655 and 656 of the French Code of Civil Procedure, that the document must record the steps taken to effect personal service, the circumstances which prevented it, and the checks carried out to ensure that the addressee does indeed live at the stated address. A stereotyped formula exposes the creditor to having service set aside.

Checks to carry out before serving abroad

• Check whether a bilateral convention or a European regulation itself fixes the date of service before relying on Article 687-2, third paragraph, of the French Code of Civil Procedure.
• Keep a dated record of every step taken with the requested authorities, and take those steps without waiting for the supposed expiry of the appeal period.
• Ensure that any useful follow-up predates the addressee's appeal: a later step does not consolidate inadmissibility.
• For service effected in France, check that the document details the steps taken and the address checks, going beyond confirmation by neighbours.
• Where the addressee did not appear at first instance, anticipate closer scrutiny by the court of the validity of service.