You delivered the goods or performed the service, you sent the invoice from London, New York, Dubai or Singapore, and the French customer simply does not pay. Emails go unanswered, the finance department promises payment next month, then stops answering altogether. Because you live abroad, you assume that recovering a French debt means flying to Paris, hiring expensive local counsel for a full trial, and waiting two years. In most business-to-business cases, that assumption is wrong. French law gives an unpaid supplier a fast, largely written procedure called the injonction de payer (order for payment), handled on paper by the commercial court, followed by seizure of the debtor’s bank account through a commissaire de justice (the court enforcement officer, formerly known as huissier de justice). Every step can be prepared from abroad with a French lawyer acting under a written authority, and the penalties for late payment run automatically in your favour from the day after the payment date shown on the invoice. This article explains the full chain: how to make your invoice carry automatic penalties, how to send a demand that starts interest running, how to obtain the payment order from the Paris commercial court without travelling, and how to turn that order into cash in the debtor’s bank account.

I. Make Your Invoice Enforceable and Demand Payment From Abroad

Before any judge looks at your file, your leverage comes from two documents: a compliant invoice and a formal demand. French commercial law attaches automatic financial consequences to these papers, and a foreign creditor who prepares them correctly often gets paid without ever filing in court.

A. How a Foreign Supplier Issues an Invoice That Carries Automatic Late Penalties

French law treats invoicing as a strict obligation, not a courtesy. Article L441-9 of the Commercial Code (Code de commerce) provides that any purchase of products or provision of services for a professional activity must be invoiced, and it lists the mandatory contents: the invoice must state the names and addresses of both parties, the date of the sale or service, the quantity, the precise description and the unit price excluding VAT (value added tax) of the goods sold and services rendered, together with any price reduction acquired at the date of the sale or service and directly linked to that transaction. Two sentences of that article decide most late-payment disputes. First, the invoice must state the date on which payment falls due: “La facture mentionne la date à laquelle le règlement doit intervenir”. Second, payment is deemed made when the funds are placed at the disposal of the creditor: “Le règlement est réputé réalisé à la date à laquelle les fonds sont mis, par le client, à la disposition du bénéficiaire ou de son subrogé”. A vague promise to pay within a reasonable time therefore has no legal value on a French invoice: either your general terms set a date, or the statutory default applies.

That default is set by Article L441-10 of the Commercial Code. Unless the sales conditions or the agreement between the parties say otherwise, “le délai de règlement des sommes dues ne peut dépasser trente jours après la date de réception des marchandises ou d’exécution de la prestation demandée”. The parties may agree a longer period, but “Le délai convenu entre les parties pour régler les sommes dues ne peut dépasser soixante jours après la date d’émission de la facture”, with a narrow derogation allowing forty-five days end of month where that period is expressly stipulated in the contract and is not manifestly abusive toward the creditor. In practice, a foreign supplier should print a payment term of thirty days on the invoice and in its general terms of sale (conditions générales de vente), because any clause pushing payment beyond sixty days from issue is unenforceable and exposes the drafter, not the creditor.

The same article creates the penalty machinery that makes French late-payment law unusually creditor-friendly. Your invoice and your general terms must state the applicable late-penalty rate and the fixed recovery indemnity. If they do not, the statute supplies both. “Sauf disposition contraire qui ne peut toutefois fixer un taux inférieur à trois fois le taux d’intérêt légal, ce taux est égal au taux d’intérêt appliqué par la Banque centrale européenne à son opération de refinancement la plus récente majoré de 10 points de pourcentage”. In plain English: unless your contract sets a different rate (never below three times the French legal interest rate), late penalties accrue at the European Central Bank refinancing rate plus ten percentage points. With the ECB rate around 2 percent in recent years, that means a penalty rate near 12 percent per year, running day by day on the unpaid principal. And the decisive sentence for a busy founder reads: “Les pénalités de retard sont exigibles sans qu’un rappel soit nécessaire”. No reminder, no warning letter, no phone call is needed: penalties are due automatically from the day after the payment date on the invoice. On top of the penalties, “Tout professionnel en situation de retard de paiement est de plein droit débiteur, à l’égard du créancier, d’une indemnité forfaitaire pour frais de recouvrement, dont le montant est fixé par décret”, and the implementing decree sets that fixed sum plainly: “Le montant de l’indemnité forfaitaire pour frais de recouvrement prévue au II de l’article L. 441-10 est fixé à 40 euros” under Article D441-5 of the Commercial Code. Forty euros per unpaid invoice is modest, but it is automatic, it applies per invoice, and where your proven recovery costs exceed it you may claim a supplementary indemnity on proof. When you chose the vehicle for your French business, you already weighed enforceability and cost; if you have not read it, our guide on how a foreign founder chooses between a SAS, a SARL and a branch in France explains which structure invoices and sues most cleanly.

Two practical consequences follow for a creditor based abroad. First, reissue nothing: if your original invoice omitted the penalty rate, the statutory ECB-plus-ten rate still applies, so compute it and add it to your claim rather than sending a corrected invoice that could restart arguments about the payment date. Second, keep proof of delivery of the goods or performance of the service, because the thirty-day default runs from receipt or performance, and a debtor who disputes delivery disputes the starting point of the penalties. Delivery slips, reception reports, time sheets, email acceptances and transport documents are the exhibits the commercial court will want to see attached to your payment-order application.

B. How a Formal Demand From Abroad Starts Interest Running and Protects the Claim

Once the payment date has passed, send a mise en demeure (formal demand for payment) before doing anything else. Under Article 1344 of the Civil Code (Code civil), “Le débiteur est mis en demeure de payer soit par une sommation ou un acte portant interpellation suffisante, soit, si le contrat le prévoit, par la seule exigibilité de l’obligation”. A letter that clearly orders the debtor to pay a stated sum within a stated time, sent by registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt (lettre recommandée avec accusé de réception) or served by a commissaire de justice, satisfies the requirement of an act carrying sufficient formal demand. From abroad, the registered letter with international acknowledgment works, but service through a French commissaire de justice instructed by your lawyer carries greater weight: it proves the date of receipt beyond dispute and signals that enforcement will follow.

The demand matters for interest as well. Article 1231-6 of the Civil Code provides that “Les dommages et intérêts dus à raison du retard dans le paiement d’une obligation de somme d’argent consistent dans l’intérêt au taux légal, à compter de la mise en demeure”, adding that “Ces dommages et intérêts sont dus sans que le créancier soit tenu de justifier d’aucune perte”. In a commercial sale between professionals, the L441-10 penalties described above normally exceed the civil legal-interest rate, and you claim the higher commercial penalties; the civil interest rule remains your safety net where the commercial provisions do not apply, for instance against a non-professional debtor. Either way, the creditor never has to prove that the delay caused a loss: the statute presumes it.

Calendar discipline is equally important. Commercial claims prescribe in five years: “Les obligations nées à l’occasion de leur commerce entre commerçants ou entre commerçants et non-commerçants se prescrivent par cinq ans si elles ne sont pas soumises à des prescriptions spéciales plus courtes” under Article L110-4 of the Commercial Code. Five years looks generous, but foreign founders discover stale claims when they tidy the accounts before approving the annual financial statements; our companion guide on the annual legal calendar of a French company run from abroad shows where an unpaid-receivables review fits each year. A demand letter sent by itself does not interrupt prescription; only a court application, a seizure measure, or an acknowledgment of the debt by the debtor restarts the clock. So set your internal deadline at ninety days after due date: demand at once, file the payment-order application if the demand fails within a month, and never let an invoice age past its first anniversary without a court step or a written acknowledgment from the debtor. If the debtor answers the demand with a partial payment, keep it and sue for the balance; a partial payment counts as an acknowledgment that interrupts prescription for the remainder.

What if the debtor replies that the goods were defective or the service incomplete? Do not let that reply freeze you. French courts distinguish a genuine substantive dispute from a pretext raised to escape the fast-track procedure. A detailed complaint sent at delivery, with photographs and a prompt request for remedy, looks genuine; a one-line quality objection raised for the first time six months later, after two demands, looks tactical. Answer in writing, offer inspection or cure where reasonable, and file anyway: the payment-order judge will either grant the order or decline it, and a decline simply routes you to the ordinary commercial track with your evidence already organised. Never sign a waiver of penalties or a long rescheduling without consideration; a debtor who obtains twelve monthly instalments for nothing has no reason to pay the first one.

II. Get a Court Order and Seize Assets Without Flying to France

If the demand fails, France offers a creditor a procedure tailor-made for unpaid invoices: quick, written, inexpensive, and fully accessible through a local lawyer holding your authority. The order it produces becomes, after service and expiry of the objection period, a title you can enforce against bank accounts and other assets.

A. How the Injonction de Payer Before the Paris Commercial Court Works for a Creditor Abroad

The injonction de payer is available where “Le recouvrement d’une créance peut être demandé suivant la procédure d’injonction de payer lorsque : 1° La créance a une cause contractuelle ou résulte d’une obligation de caractère statutaire et s’élève à un montant déterminé” under Article 1405 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Code de procédure civile). An unpaid invoice for delivered goods or performed services is the textbook case: a contractual claim for a fixed sum. The application (requête) is filed with the court registry (greffe) by the creditor or any authorised representative, and Article 1407 requires that “la requête contient l’indication précise du montant de la somme réclamée avec le décompte des différents éléments de la créance, le fondement de celle-ci ainsi que le bordereau des documents justificatifs produits à l’appui de la requête. Elle est accompagnée de ces documents”. Concretely, your lawyer files the contract or order form, the delivery or performance proofs, the invoice showing the payment date, the penalty computation at the ECB-plus-ten rate, the 40-euro indemnity per invoice, and the demand letter with its proof of receipt. The official service-public.fr procedure sheet confirms the practical filing details: before the commercial court, registry fees of 33.47 euros must be paid within fifteen days of lodging the application, and the order is served on the debtor by a commissaire de justice, whose service triggers the objection period.

Jurisdiction follows the debtor, not the creditor. For a commercial debtor, the competent court is the tribunal des activités économiques (TAE, the court that replaced the tribunal de commerce for business disputes in 2025) of the debtor’s registered seat; a debtor domiciled in Paris falls under the TAE de Paris, whose registry publishes its own payment-order filing guide. Your contract may contain a jurisdiction clause, but verify it before relying on it: clauses conferring jurisdiction must be in writing and, in international sales, must satisfy the European rules on jurisdiction as well as French domestic requirements. Where no valid clause exists, sue at the debtor’s seat. A foreign creditor needs no residence in France and no court appearance: the lawyer files, the president of the court rules on the papers without a hearing, and the resulting ordonnance portant injonction de payer (payment order) is then served on the debtor. The debtor has one month from service to file an opposition (objection). Article 1415 of the Code of Civil Procedure states that “L’opposition est portée, selon le cas, devant la juridiction dont le juge ou le président a rendu l’ordonnance portant injonction de payer. Elle est formée au greffe, par le débiteur ou tout mandataire, soit par déclaration contre récépissé, soit par lettre recommandée”. The service-public.fr guidance adds the two points founders most often miss: the one-month objection period suspends enforcement, so you cannot seize while it runs, and where service was not made personally on the debtor, the period runs from the first enforcement measure. If no opposition is filed within the month, your lawyer asks the registry to affix the formule exécutoire (the enforcement formula) to the order, which converts it into a titre exécutoire (enforceable title) equivalent to a judgment for collection purposes.

If the debtor does file an opposition, the case is not lost; it simply continues as an ordinary commercial lawsuit before the same court, with a hearing at which both sides argue. The service-public.fr sheet notes that the creditor may ask, already in the application, for the case to be sent directly to the court considered competent if the debtor objects, which avoids a second filing. At the hearing your lawyer appears; you do not need to attend in person, though you must supply a clear witness statement of the facts and make your operational staff available for questions in writing. Many oppositions collapse at this stage because the debtor has no delivery complaint to show. Where the debtor raises a serious dispute, for instance a documented non-conformity notified at once, the court decides on the merits, and you keep the ordinary remedies of appeal. Budget for this second stage from the start: provision the lawyer’s hearing fee when you file, so an opposition never catches you without funds to continue.

Two European variants deserve a mention for cross-border founders. If your customer is seated in another European Union member state rather than in France, the European order for payment under Regulation 1896/2006 or the European small claims procedure under Regulation 861/2007 may be faster than suing in France, depending on where the debtor’s assets sit. Conversely, a payment order obtained in France circulates within the Union under the recast Brussels I Regulation, so a French order can be enforced against the debtor’s assets in another member state without a separate trial there. Discuss the asset map with your lawyer before choosing the forum: sue where the money is, not where the anger is. And if your non-payment problem coincides with doubts about whether your French structure should survive at all, read our guide on closing a French company from abroad before spending enforcement costs through an entity you intend to wind down.

B. How a Commissaire de Justice Turns the Order Into Cash in the Debtor’s Bank Account

An enforceable title is not cash; execution makes it cash. French law reserves forced execution to titles defined by statute: “Seuls constituent des titres exécutoires : 1° Les décisions des juridictions de l’ordre judiciaire ou de l’ordre administratif lorsqu’elles ont force exécutoire” under Article L111-3 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures (Code des procédures civiles d’exécution). A payment order bearing the enforcement formula qualifies. Once you hold it, “Le créancier muni d’un titre exécutoire constatant une créance liquide et exigible peut en poursuivre l’exécution forcée sur les biens de son débiteur dans les conditions propres à chaque mesure d’exécution” under Article L111-2 of the same code: liquid (fixed in amount), due, and enforceable are the three adjectives every seizure requires, and your file now satisfies all three.

The workhorse measure is the saisie-attribution (attachment of a debt owed to your debtor, typically a bank balance). Article L211-1 of the Code of Civil Enforcement Procedures provides that “Tout créancier muni d’un titre exécutoire constatant une créance liquide et exigible peut, pour en obtenir le paiement, saisir entre les mains d’un tiers les créances de son débiteur portant sur une somme d’argent”. Your commissaire de justice serves the attachment on the debtor’s bank, which must freeze the sums available on the accounts on the day of service, within the limit of your claim plus costs, and disclose them. If the debtor does not challenge the attachment within one month before the enforcement judge (juge de l’exécution), the bank pays you directly. The whole sequence is handled between your lawyer and the commissaire de justice: you sign the authority, advance the regulated enforcement fees, and receive the funds by transfer. No travel, no hearing, no confrontation.

Where the bank attachment returns empty, the commissaire de justice has further tools: attachment of receivables owed to the debtor by its own customers, seizure and sale of tangible business assets, and, for certain titles, direct payment procedures. Each measure has its own cost tariff and its own challenge period, so instruct the officer in stages: bank attachment first, then a solvency report (which the officer can enrich through regulated searches for the debtor’s accounts and assets), then tangible seizure only where identified assets cover the costs. If the report reveals collective insolvency proceedings (sauvegarde, redressement or liquidation judiciaire) opened against the debtor, stop individual enforcement at once and declare your claim with the court-appointed representative (mandataire judiciaire) within the statutory time limit; continuing to seize after the opening judgment exposes you to nullity and costs. A debtor that is merely slow pays under pressure; a debtor under court protection must be handled inside the collective procedure, where your compliant invoice and registered claim decide your rank.

Costs discipline closes the loop. The 33.47-euro registry fee, the commissaire de justice service fees, and your lawyer’s fees for the application are recoverable in principle: the court may charge the procedural costs to the debtor in the order, and enforcement costs of measures taken without violence are borne by the debtor under the enforcement code. In practice, provision roughly one to two thousand euros for an uncontested file through to bank attachment, and treat the ECB-plus-ten penalties and the 40-euro indemnity as your partial compensation for the delay. Keep every receipt: enforcement costs advanced by the creditor are added to the recoverable bill where the measures succeed. And keep the file: the payment order, the proof of service, and the bank’s payment close your books and justify writing the penalties into income in the year of recovery, a point to raise with your French accountant when the annual accounts are prepared.

Conclusion

A French customer who does not pay is a solvable problem, even from thousands of kilometres away. Print a payment date on every invoice and let the ECB-plus-ten penalties and the 40-euro indemnity accrue automatically; send a formal demand that starts interest running and fixes the evidence; file a payment-order application with the debtor’s commercial court through a French lawyer holding your written authority; serve the order through a commissaire de justice and, once the one-month objection period expires unopposed, attach the debtor’s bank account until it pays. Each stage has a statutory deadline, a fixed cost, and a document that proves it happened, which is exactly what a founder managing from abroad needs: no hearing to attend, no travel to book, no discretionary favour to request. Start today by checking the oldest unpaid French invoice on your ledger against the five-year prescription, computing the penalties from the day after its payment date, and sending the demand that puts the debtor on notice that the order, the attachment, and the costs that follow are no longer hypothetical.