Parliament rejects draft bill for prohibition of « private » jets
French members of Parliament (MPs) Christine Arrighi and Julien Bayou recently presented a draft bill in the French Parliament entitled Draft bill for the prohibition of private jet flights. Both MPs belong to Europe Ecologie Les Verts, France’s largest environmentalist party. The proposal was simple. It sought to amend the French Code of Transport by […]
Forced sale of a State aircraft in France: adjugé!
by Matthieu de Varax and Charles Derollez Introduction Commisimpex, a company incorporated in the Republic of the Congo, has been in dispute for several years against the State of Congo over unpaid commercial claims and has conducted litigation in the courts of many jurisdictions, including Belgium, the United States and France. This article discusses the […]
Aircraft leases should include waiver of hardship rule in article 1195 of French Civil Code
Introduction By a very rare, if not unique, decision rendered on 14 December 2022,(1) a French commercial court terminated a contract at the request of one of the parties by applying the hardship rule of article 1195 of the French Civil Code. Although article 1195 is often invoked in French courts, courts have proved very […]
Secured lenders should not delay enforcement of their security package, says French Court of Cassation
Matthieu de Varax and Charles Derollez Introduction Personal guarantees, particularly suretyships, are a common feature in French secured financing transactions. Under article 2309 of the French Civil Code, where a guarantor under a suretyship pays the debt of the obligor, the guarantor is subrogated in all of the creditor’s rights against the debtor (up to […]
Pour une cession de contrat à titre de garantie
Soyons clairs tout de suite et osons le dire, voire le clamer : nous pensons que le droit civil est supérieur à la common law ! On n’en voudra pas à un avocat français de le revendiquer. Construction juridique rationnelle, organisée et codifiée aux racines très anciennes, notre droit civil constitue le socle robuste sur […]
Registration of leases with French aircraft registry
Article L6131-4 of the French Code of Transport provides that if an aircraft is leased, the owner and the operator are jointly liable for damages caused to third parties. However, the Code further provides that if the lease is recorded with the Civil Aviation Registry, the owner is only liable if the third party can […]
Draft decree on the compensation of greenhouse gas emissions for domestic flights
Introduction In 2019, the French President launched a citizen convention for the climate, comprising 150 French randomly selected citizens. The purpose of the convention was to define a series of steps to help France reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. This initiative led to the proposal of various environmental laws, including law No. 2021-1104 […]
Implementation of EU aviation regulation into French law
Introduction As France takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 January 2022, it wants to show the other 26 member states that it is not late in implementing EU law. Air transport is no exception.The French Parliament passed a law on 8 October 2021 implementing certain EU regulations with […]
Court rules that ACNUSA may not publish list of penalties and penalised operators on its website
The French authority in charge of preventing and controlling air pollution (ACNUSA) is also responsible for ensuring that airlines comply with the French regulation regarding noise pollution at and around airports. In this respect, ACNUSA has the power to penalise airlines and operators that do not comply with the regulation. ACNUSA used to publish such […]
Court of Cassation rules on liability of pilot in connection with free of charge flight
The Court of Cassation recently issued a decision with respect to the liability of a pilot in the context of a flight that did not give rise to any compensation. Facts In the case at hand, a private pilot took several passengers on board an aircraft owned by a local aeroclub for a round trip. […]