Since the entry into force of Ordinance No. 2016-131 of February 10, 2016, which reformed contract law, the question of its ratification arose, it being specified that although Parliament had authorized the Government to rule by way of ordinance, Parliament retained the possibility of modifying this reform during the ratification phase of the ordinance.
On April 20, Law No. 2018-287 of April 20, 2018, ratifying Ordinance No. 2016-131 of February 10, 2016, reforming contract law, the general regime of obligations, and the law of evidence, was adopted.
This law contains 16 articles amending certain provisions of the Civil Code resulting from the aforementioned ordinance.
The following changes were made in particular:
- A change in the definition of an adhesion contract: "An adhesion contract is one which includes a set of non-negotiable clauses, determined in advance by one of the parties";
- A modification of the provisions relating to the lapse of the contract offer: the death of the recipient is also a cause of lapse;
- Clarifications on the scope of fraudulent concealment: "it does not constitute fraud for a party not to disclose to its contracting party its estimate of the value of the service";
- A modification of the rules governing abuse in the pricing of a service contract, which can be sanctioned by the judge not only by damages but also by the termination of the contract;
- A limitation of the system relating to unfair terms, which can only lead to the sanctioning of non-negotiable terms;
- An amendment to the rules governing the new sanction of price reduction, provided for in Article 1223 of the Civil Code, now reads as follows: “In the event of imperfect performance of the service, the creditor may, after formal notice and if they have not yet paid all or part of the service, notify the debtor as soon as possible of their decision to reduce the price proportionally. The debtor's acceptance of the creditor's decision to reduce the price must be in writing. If the creditor has already paid, in the absence of an agreement between the parties, they may request the judge to order a price reduction.”.
The new provisions relating to adhesion contracts, the lapse of the offer of contract, fraudulent concealment, sanctions for non-performance of the contract, assignment of debt, payment of sums of money in foreign currency and the regime of unforeseen circumstances will apply to legal acts concluded or established from 1 October 2018.
The other provisions, which are of an interpretative nature, are applicable immediately.
The Business Law Department team
