Bringing Together the Professionals of the Service of Documents and Enforcement
UIHJ-EuroMed gathers the judicial officers of the Mediterranean. Colleagues from Algeria, France, Greece, Morocco, Portugal and Spain were present at the meeting in Marseille.
Various representatives did remind that it was thus a homecoming since this organization, created by the UIHJ, was established in Marseille eight years ago, in 2004, on the impulse of the President of the Chamber of the Jurisdictions of the Bouches-du-Rhône who was then Françoise Andrieux.
Stéphane Gensollen, current President of the Chamber of the Judicial Officers of the Jurisdictions of Bouches-du-Rhone and organizer of the event, opened the session with a traditional short speech. He welcomed the guests and especially our Algerians colleagues, who were accompanied by Ahmed Ali Salah, Director of Civil Affairs and the Seal of the Department of Justice of Algeria. He particularly stressed the twinning links that unite the Chamber of the Bouches-du-Rhône and the Chamber of eastern Algeria.
Christian Alivon, President of the Regional Chamber of the judicial officers of the Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence, added on the wishes of President's Gensollen welcome. He spoke of the particular attachment of the Regional chamber with the Chamber of Western Algeria, united by a twinning agreement. He stressed the hyphen between the countries represented in UIHJ-EuroMed: the sun, he said, gives the same colour to people, nicely...
Finally Leo Netten, president of the UIHJ, spoke to recall the objectives of UIHJ-EuroMed. The Euro-Mediterranean axis develops in all its aspects. Public authorities realized this in 1995 with the Barcelona Conference. Europe's development can be achieved by and through a Southern Mediterranean axis. With this in mind it was decided to develop in Barcelona a Euro-Mediterranean cooperation. Initially security, economic and cultural aspects were favoured. But the legal aspect should not be overlooked. Some are already working. Judicial officers cannot be absent from the debate. Their presence on the ground is essential. They should show their concern, their ability to adapt and their dynamism.
Fifteen states border the Mediterranean. These have as many particularisms, judicial organizations and different professionals. If they want to be heard, judicial officers of the Mediterranean should be better acquainted. Bringing together professional of the service of documents and enforcement is the goal of these procedural meetings of the Euro-Mediterranean.
Through a very wide cooperation involving professionals, the goal is to know who they are, what they do, and seek ways of cooperation through service of documents and enforcement. After this reminder, President Netten declared the meeting open.
The Fragility of the Situation of the Creditor
Françoise Andrieux, Secretary General of UIHJ and Secretary of UIHJ-EuroMed, presented the work. She said that they would be held in the form of workshops, focusing on debates.
The first workshop was entitled "Safeguards for creditors in the Mediterranean countries." It Chaired by Françoise Andrieux (Roquevaire, France). The speakers were Belkacemi Noor (Algeria), Luis Ortega Alcubierre (Zaragoza, Spain), Rose-Marie Bruno (Arles, France), Dionysios Kriaris (Athens, Greece), Abdelaziz Fouganni (Casablanca, Morocco) and Carlos de Matos (Portugal).
The brief review of the situation in each country where our colleagues work was followed by a long debate with the audience. It came out that only France among the present countries has the possibility to seize the debtor's assets as a preventive measure without judicial authorization, in the following specific cases:
- A legal title has not yet acquired the force of res judicata,
- An unpaid accepted bill of exchange
- An unpaid promissory note
- An unpaid check
- An unpaid rent resulting from a written contract of lease of a building
The second workshop on safeguards for creditors in the case of the opening of insolvency proceedings against the debtor started with a round table led by Rose-Marie Bruno (Arles, France). Our colleague chaired the presentations of Belkacemi Noor, Luis Ortega Alcubierre, Stéphane Gensollen, Abdelaziz Fouganni and Carlos Matos.
The synthesis of the workshop helped in this case revealing the fragility of the situation of the creditor. A lively debate ensued on the need to obtain and disseminate information relating to companies in their "business to business" relations.
The second roundtable concerned the clause of reservation of ownership. It included Noor Belkacemi, Luis Ortega Alcubierre, Hélène Tuca (Marseille, France), Abdelaziz Fouganni and Carlos Matos.
It turned out that this clause is known in several Mediterranean countries under various names, but not in the Maghreb countries such as Algeria or Morocco, nor in Greece.
The last workshop on tariff was chaired by Noor Belkacemi. He allowed our colleagues Ortega Alcubierre, Gensollen, Kriaris, Fouganni and Matos to develop the structural points of their tariff.
It was once again an opportunity to reveal the lack of clarity and the wide disparity of the different tariffs which do not allow the defendant to be informed of the cost of any procedure.
The meeting ended with the traditional news session of the countries in which each participant spoke of the legislative developments that occurred in the country in which they work during the past year.
At the Conference of Presidents, it was decided that the next session would be held in Greece, in Thessaloniki.
The gala dinner hosted by the Chamber of Bouches-du-Rhône also allowed to thank the French Caisse des dépôts et consignations, sponsor in this session.
The Marseilles UIHJ-EuroMed Recommendations
In light of the previous discussions, the participants adopted the following recommendations:
Recommendation 1
Considering the need to guarantee the rights of the creditor,
Considering that the judicial officer is someone who, in all cases, carries out and implements the provisional measures,
UIHJ-EuroMed recommends that in all cases the judicial officer can file or submit to the competent court the request for permission to carry out all provisional measures.
Recommendation 2
Whereas certain objective elements, such as contracts and invoices, can assume the reality of a debt
UIHJ-EuroMed recommends the possibility for judicial officers to carry out provisional measures corresponding to the said claims without prior court authorization
Recommendation 3
Considering the danger represented by collective procedures for creditors,
Considering that certain goods continue to exist in nature or equivalent after the sale,
Considering that creditors must, especially in this case, protect themselves, with the consent of the debtor, against the loss of their claim on the property sold,
UIHJ-EuroMed recommends the introduction of a clause of reservation of ownership on the sold goods until full payment in all Mediterranean countries
Recommendation 4
Considering the need for the creditor to quickly carry out all necessary proceedings,
UIHJ-EuroMed recommends that the clause of reservation of ownership, when it exists, can be implemented without a prior court authorization
Recommendation 5
Considering the need for information of the citizens,
Considering the rise of cross-border relations,
UIHJ-EuroMed recommends the establishment of a reflection on a common tariff structure for all the Mediterranean countries.
