The référé –provision is a legal proceeding through which a creditor summons a debtor in front of a judge to be sentenced to pay the amount he owes.

The sentence arise in more or less 30 days, and if then the debtor still don’t pay the invoice, the creditor is enabled to seize his assets without having to wait for an appeal decision.

When is it possible to start a Référé Provision proceeding?

The goal of the proceeding is to get the payment of an overdue amount.

In opposition to other summary proceedings you don’t have to prove an urgency to act.

You cannot use this proceeding if

The customer is bankrupt

The customer has his head office abroad and no firm in France

The unpaid amount is related to an unpaid Scheck

You cannot use this proceeding if there is a documented dispute, the creditor has the obligation to prove the reality of the debt. If not the Judge declares himself as not competent.

A debt is considered as really disputed if

The debtor contacted the creditor explaining that he don’t pay due of damages to the delivered goods, or due to the fact that the mission is not fulfilled.

To make a decision it’s necessary to check the validity of the contractual agreement

A paragraph of the contract gets another interpretation for one of the parties.

The creditor hast to make the debt credible for the judge.

He has to prove that he realized his tasks

What are the differences between référé provision and the injunction procedure?

The injunction procedure is made without the hearing of the debtor. There is a higher influence level on the judge during an injunction proceeding because he hears only the arguments of the creditor.

For this reason the debtor has the possibility to make an opposition toward the injunction.

During the référé provision there is a hearing of the debtor he can present his arguments. If the judge despite of those arguments sentence the debtor there is more or less no way to skip the payment.

If the debtor raises appeal toward the judge’s decision his chances to get a different decision before the appeal Court are very low due to the fact that more or less the appeals judges always confirm the first decision.