F O U R T H E V A L U A T I O N R O U N D

Corruption prevention in respect of judges
Recommendation vii.
52. GRECO recommended that a reform be carried out in respect of commercial courts
and industrial tribunals with a view to strengthening the independence, impartiality
and integrity of lay judges.
53. Regarding commercial courts, the French authorities explain that a draft law no.
661 “implementing the measures on a justice system for the 21st century” was laid
before the Senate by the Government under the fast-track procedure on 31 July
2015. It was adopted by the Senate at first reading on 5 November 2015 and
forwarded on 6 November 2015 to the National Assembly, where it is currently at
the committee stage. This draft law includes an Article 47 containing a series of
measures concerning the training, professional ethics and disciplinary regime of
commercial court judges. The provisions include a requirement for commercial
court judges to undergo initial and further training. As regards professional ethics,
the judges of these courts would be subject to the same rules as professional
judges. Provision is made for a series of incompatibilities, covering professions
connected with the judiciary (lawyer, bailiff, court registrar etc.) and political
mandates. Conflict of interest situations are identified and specific arrangements
are established for preventing and dealing with them, including the submission of a
declaration of interests to the President of the commercial court at an ethics
interview held within one month of the judge taking up his or her duties. This
declaration is forwarded to the state prosecutor and the heads of the court of
appeal in the judicial district in which the court is located and is updated at the
declarant’s initiative. The disciplinary sanctions to which commercial court judges
are liable will be increased in number and supplemented by a national database of
disciplinary sanctions kept by the Minister of Justice, placing restrictions on
commercial court judges in terms of eligibility and the exercise of their functions. In
addition to disciplinary aspects, appeal court presidents will have a watchdog and
pre-disciplinary function, with the power to issue warnings, refer matters to the
national disciplinary board or propose the suspension of a commercial court judge.
Lastly, the protection afforded to commercial court judges in their official capacity
will be comparable to that enjoyed by professional judges.
54. In addition to this draft law, the procedure for transferring cases from one court to
another in the event of bias on the part of commercial court judges was extended
by Order No. 2014-326 of 12 March 2014 reforming the prevention of business
difficulties and collective procedures and by its implementing decree, no. 2014-736.
In terms of legislation, Article L 662-2 of the Commercial Code was amended to
allow cases to be transferred, where justified by the interests at stake, between
courts of different kinds (previously, this was only possible between courts of the
same category). In terms of regulations, the reform broadened the possibility of
requesting the transfer of a case. Whereas, previously, a transfer could only be
requested by the prosecution service or decided on his own initiative by the
President of the court hearing the case, this procedure can now also be requested
by the debtor or the creditor bringing proceedings (Article R. 662-7 of the
Commercial Code).
55. As regards industrial tribunals, the French authorities report that a large-scale
reform has been undertaken following the adoption of Law No. 2015.990 of 6
August 2015 to promote growth, activity and equality of economic opportunities,
known as the “Macron Law 4” . This reform, contained in Article 258 of the law,
covers several aspects: professional ethics, disciplinary rules and training.
4 JORF no. 0181 of 7 August 2015, p.13537
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