Opinions issued

 

The Autorité regularly issues opinions on the regulated fees applicable to the services provided by commissioners of justice (formerly judicial auctioneers and court bailiffs), commercial court registrars, court-appointed administrators, court-appointed liquidators, notaries and lawyers in matters of property seizures, court-ordered sales of co-owned property (licitation), divisions of co-owned property (partage) and court-ordered guarantees (sûretés judiciaires).

The Autorité is consulted:

  • on a mandatory basis, pursuant to Article L. 444-7 of the French Commercial Code, on the fee structure and the methodology used to determine fees for six regulated legal professions; 
  • on a non-mandatory basis, pursuant to Article L. 462-2-1 of the French Commercial Code, on the regulated prices and fees referred to, respectively, in paragraph 2 of Article L. 410-2 and in Article L. 444-1.

Opinion 24-A-07 of 23 July 2024

At the request of the French government, the Autorité issued an opinion on 23 July 2024 on a draft decree (supplemented by a draft ministerial order) on the inclusion of lawyers in a system for collecting economic data from certain legal professions for the purpose of setting their regulated fees.

For further information, please see:

 

Opinion 23-A-13 of 27 July 2023

In July 2023, the Autorité issued an opinion to the French government on a draft decree on various services provided by commercial court registrars in connection with the management of the register of security interests over movable property, noting that the proposed reforms were unlikely to undermine the profession’s overall profitability.

Adopted in October 2023, the decree takes into account three of the four recommendations made by the Autorité to improve the clarity of commercial court registrars’ fees.

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Opinion 20-A-03 of 14 February 2020

In February 2020, the Autorité issued an opinion to the French government on a draft decree on the methodology for setting the regulated fees of legal professions. Legislative amendments introduced by French law 2019-222 of 23 March 2019 (2018–2022 Programming and Justice Reform Act) had made it necessary to review the methodology used to set these fees and amend the rules governing the discounts that professionals are permitted to grant. The draft text also incorporated the recommendations made by the Autorité in Opinion 19-A-09 of 11 April 2019 on the fees of regulated legal professions in the French overseas territories. The fees applicable to judicial auctioneers, commercial court registrars, court bailiffs, court-appointed administrators, court-appointed liquidators and notaries were subsequently set by decrees dated 28 February 2020 in accordance with this methodology.

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Opinion 17-A-15 of 15 December 2017

Opinion 17-A-15 of 15 December 2017 sets out proposals to improve the draft decree, which notably aims to replace the provisions of Article R. 444-21 of the French Commercial Code, annulled by the French Administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d’État) in May 2017, concerning the collection of economic data required to set the regulated fees of certain legal professions (Decree 2018-200 of 23 March 2018).

In particular, the Autorité recommends defining more precisely the information to be submitted by professionals and clarifying the role of national bodies in processing raw data.

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Opinion 17-A-06 of 27 March 2017

Opinion 17-A-06 of 27 March 2017 broadly supports the provisions of the draft decree on the regulated fees for lawyers’ representation services in matters of property seizures, court-ordered sales of co-owned property (licitation), divisions of co-owned property (partage) and court-ordered guarantees (sûretés judiciaires) (Decree 2017-862 of 9 May 2017).

Moreover, the Autorité recommends continuing the simplification process initiated by the draft decree.

For more information, please see:

  • Opinion 17-A-06 of 27 March 2017
  • Decree 2017-862 of 9 May 2017 on the regulated fees for lawyers’ representation services in matters of property seizures, court-ordered sales of co-owned property (licitation), divisions of co-owned property (partage) and court-ordered guarantees (sûretés judiciaires)

 

Opinions 16-A-03 of 29 January 2016 and 16-A-06 of 22 February 2016

Opinions 16-A-03 of 29 January 2016 and 16-A-06 of 22 February 2016 set out proposals to improve the draft decree which, in accordance with Article 50 of the Growth and Activity Law, defines the methodology for setting the regulated fees of certain legal professions (Decree 2016-230 of 26 February 2016).

In particular, the Autorité supports a global approach to fee-setting.

For more information, please see:

Opinion 19-A-09 of 11 April 2019

Opinion 19-A-09 of 11 April 2019 on the fees of certain regulated legal professions in the French overseas territories supported (i) maintaining the principle of fee surcharges applicable in the French overseas territories, and (ii) revising the method used to determine those surcharges in order to ensure reasonable remuneration and align fees more closely with the cost of providing services.

The Autorité found that the level of the fee surcharges appeared disproportionate and was not justified by equivalent additional costs.

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Opinion 16-A-16 of 16 September 2016

Opinion 16-A-16 of 16 September 2016, concerning draft Decree 2016-1369 of 15 October 2016, was broadly favourable to the proposed adjustments to the specific rules governing the setting of notaries’ fees in relation to certain of the services they provide (including gifts and bequests to public bodies involving assets intended for the movable and immovable public domain, and gifts or bequests to entities exempt from transfer duties).

The Autorité considered that the measure was justified on grounds of public interest and was unlikely to undermine the fee equalisation mechanism established by the legislator.

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