By a ruling of March 25 2026 (Cass. 1st civ., n° 24-18.271), the Court of cassation recalls that the judge of the exequatur cannot content himself with the mentions appearing in a foreign decision to consider that the rights of the defense have been respected.
The facts A Russian judicial liquidator was soliciting in France the exequatur of several decisions rendered in Russia in the framework of the bankruptcy of a Russian national. The latter contested having been regularly summoned before the Russian jurisdictions and sustained not to have been put in position to present his defense.
The decision of the Court of cassation The court of appeal had granted the exequatur by noting that the Russian decisions mentioned that the debtor had been duly informed of the holding of the hearings in accordance with Russian law.
The Court of cassation cashes this decision.
It judges that, when the defendant contests having been regularly summoned, the French judge must verify concretely if the act introductory of instance had effectively been brought to knowledge to him in conditions permitting him to exercise his rights. He cannot found himself solely on the affirmations appearing in the foreign decision.
The Court adds that this verification must also hold account of the effective possibility to exercise channels of recourse against the foreign decision.
Practical scope This ruling confirms the high level of requirement of the control exercised by the French judge under the title of the international public order of procedure.
When the foreign decision has been rendered in the absence of the defendant, the creditor who solicits the exequatur must be in measure to demonstrate that this one had effectively had knowledge of the procedure in conditions compatible with the right to a fair trial.
The sole mention, in the foreign decision, of a notification in conformity with the local law does not suffice necessarily to satisfy the requirements of the French judge.
Strategic scope This ruling inscribes itself in a recent jurisprudence particularly attentive to the protection of the rights of the defense in the exequatur procedures.
It recalls the importance, for the practitioners of international recovery, to reunite from the origin the whole of the proofs relative to the notifications, summons and channels of recourse, in order to secure the future execution of the decision in France.