European e-Justice Portal

FINDING COMPETENT COURTS

The search tool below will help you to identify court(s)/authority(ies) competent for a specific European legal instrument. Please note that although every effort has been made to ascertain the accuracy of the results, there may be some exceptional cases concerning the determination of competence that are not necessarily covered.

Article 2 – Requested courts

In France, the judicial courts have sole competence for executing requests for the taking of evidence in civil and commercial matters.

The judicial court with territorial competence is the court in whose jurisdiction the request for the taking of evidence must be executed.

The competent court and its contact details can be identified with the help of the European Judicial Atlas on the e-justice website.

Click on the below link to view all competent authorities related to this Article.
List of competent authorities

Article 3 – Central body

France has opted for a single body to be competent at national level, namely the Department for mutual assistance, private international law and EU law (Département de l’entraide, du droit international privé et européen – DEDIPE) of the Ministry of Justice:

Address:

Ministry of Justice

Direction des Affaires Civiles et du Sceau (Civil Affairs and Seals Directorate)

Département de l’entraide, du droit international privé et européen (DEDIPE)

13 Place Vendôme

75042, PARIS Cedex 01

Tel.: 00 33 (0)1 44 77 61 05

Fax: 00 33 (0)1 44 77 61 22

E-mail address: Entraide-civile-internationale@justice.gouv.fr

Article 5 – Languages accepted for completion of the forms

Forms sent to the judicial courts and the French central body must be written in or translated into French.

Article 6 – Means accepted for transmission of requests and other communications

Requests can be sent to the French courts and the French central body by post, fax or e-mail.

Article 17 – Central body or competent authority(ies) responsible for decisions on requests for direct taking of evidence

Ministry for Justice

Direction des Affaires Civiles et du Sceau (Civil Affairs and Seals Directorate)

Département de l’entraide, du droit international privé et européen (DEDIPE)

13 Place Vendôme

75042, PARIS Cedex 01

Tel.: 00 33 (0)1 44 77 61 05

Fax: 00 33 (0)1 44 77 61 22

E-mail address: Entraide-civile-internationale@justice.gouv.fr

Article 21 – Agreements or arrangements to which Member States are parties and which comply with the conditions in Article 21(2)

None

Last update: 12/04/2021

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Taking evidence

FINDING COMPETENT COURTS

Article 2 – Requested courts

Article 3 – Central body

Article 5 – Languages accepted for completion of the forms

Article 6 – Means accepted for transmission of requests and other communications

Article 17 – Central body or competent authority(ies) responsible for decisions on requests for direct taking of evidence

Article 21 – Agreements or arrangements to which Member States are parties and which comply with the conditions in Article 21(2)