French Code of civil procedure
In forceIn application of the Article 4 of Law no. 2016-1547 of 18 November 2016, on pain of inadmissibility, which the judge may declare ex officio, the legal claim shall be preceded, at the parties' option, by an attempt at conciliation conducted by a court conciliator, an attempt at mediation or an attempt at a participatory procedure, where the claim is for the payment of a sum not exceeding €5,000 or where it relates to one of the actions mentioned in articles R. 211-3-4 and R. 211-3-8 du code de l'organisation judiciaire or to an abnormal neighbourhood disturbance.
The parties are exempt from the obligation mentioned in the first paragraph in the following cases:
1° If at least one of the parties seeks the homologation of an agreement;
2° When the exercise of a prior appeal is imposed on the author of the decision;
3° If the absence of recourse to one of the methods of amicable resolution mentioned in the first paragraph is justified by a legitimate reason relating either to manifest urgency, or to the circumstances of the case making such an attempt impossible or requiring that a decision be rendered without adversarial proceedings, or to the unavailability of judicial conciliators resulting in the organisation of the first conciliation meeting within a period of more than three months from the referral to a conciliator; the claimant provides proof by any means of the referral and its consequences;
4° If the judge or administrative authority must, pursuant to a specific provision, make a prior attempt at conciliation;
5° If the creditor has unsuccessfully initiated a simplified procedure for the recovery of small claims, in accordance with Article L. 125-1 of the code des procédures civiles d'exécution.
