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Reminder: On 18 December 2024, in connection with the exceptional drought in Mayotte and its impact on drinking water supply contracts, the Cour de cassation (ie. French Supreme Court) handed down a very interesting ruling on how some provisions of the new French contract law – the scope of which is still uncertain – should be interpreted. Let's quickly review the facts giving rise to this decision: The plaintiffs, having signed a water supply contract with Société Mahoraise des eaux (SMAE), suffered water cuts from June 2023 due...Publié le 28/01/2025
Reminder: Since both its former decisions, Bootshop (6 October 2006) and Sucrerie de bois rouge (13 January 2020, 17-19.963), the French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) has acknowledged that a third party to a contract may, on the basis of liability in tort: - raise a contractual breach against a party to a contract and seek for an indemnification… - ... provided that a causal link is established between said breach by the contracting party and the damage suffered by the third party. While confirming those...
Reminder: A decision dated March 13, 2024 (no. 22-16.487) of the French Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation) is a useful reminder of the important difference between a scanned or digitized signature and a so-called “electronic” signature. Too many people still tend to consider that digitized or scanned signature is similar to a truly “electronic” signature, i.e. one obtained through a specific process that guarantees the identity of the signatory, which is a prerequisite for the valid formation of the contract. In the dispute in question, a...
UPDATE OF PREVIOUS ARTICLE FROM MARCH 2022 This article is an update of the previous article published on the same subject in March 2022 following Egalim 2 law of 18 October 2021. In those times of shortages of goods and very strong logistic tensions, some suppliers can be held responsible in case of late deliveries of supplies, in particular if late delivery penalties are contractually provided for in the contracts entered into with their customers. Since contractual provisions legally bind the parties, is it possible to question or renegotiate such penalties for « late...
Reminder: A new ruling by the Commercial Chamber of the Court of Cassation on 20 March 2024, again handed down in the context of an international commercial agency contract, serves as a useful reminder that the choice of one’s law is not always appropriate. We already pointed out, in a previously commented decision, that opting for one's own law can have counterproductive effects and that it is best to be fully aware of its content and possible pitfalls before considering it a negotiation key-point. In the commented judgment of 11 January 2023, the French principal...
Reminder: Some still tend to negotiate vigorously in order to get their own law governing an international contract, assuming that a contract governed by a familiar law is always an advantage. It is often preferable, but not systematically... A decision of the French Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation) dated 11 January 2023, in the context of an international commercial agency contract, usefully reminds us of this, among other insightful lessons. What is worth noting in the decision of the French Supreme Court? In the case brought before the Cour de Cassation, a French company...
Reminder: According to article 1224 of the French Civil Code, terminating a contract without incurring liability requires: either to comply with a terminating provision set forth in the contract, which needs to be drafted in the clearest and most precise terms (always the preferred option); or, and without excluding the terminating provision, to require from the failing contracting party that he needs to comply with the breached or seriously non-performed obligation within a reasonable period of time; or, to be authorized to do so by a court decision (this...
Reminder : Since the end of February, the war in Ukraine - besides the humanitarian disaster arising therefrom and which should be of great concern to all of us - is also starting to impact international trade, due to the adoption of international sanctions against Russia, over the last few days, by the European Union and the United States, In addition to the freezing of Russian assets, the various international sanctions also affect exports and imports of goods to and from Russia and the Dombass regions, even if, as for now, sanctions explicitly strike products related to strategic...
Reminder: It is always worth repeating. When there is no signed contract and in the event of a dispute, having one's general terms and conditions of sale (GCS) attached to is invoices may not be regarded as sufficient to legally bind its domestic or international partner, which may also have issued, during the order process, its own general terms and conditions of purchase (GCP). In such a context, which conditions, between the GCS and the GCP, shall prevail? What to remember: From an international standpoint, the conflict between general terms and conditions is appraised...