Entry into force on 3 January 1976
Title
I: General provisions
Article 1
Amended by Law No 98-69 of 6
February 1998, Article 11, Official Gazette of the French Republic
of 7 February 1998.
Pursuant to this Law,
subcontracting shall be understood to mean the process by which a
contractor entrusts, by means of a subcontract, and under their
responsibility, all or part of the execution of a works contract or
public contract concluded with the client to another person known as
the subcontractor.
The provisions of this Law shall
apply to transport operations, in which case the contractor shall be
considered as the client and the co-contractor of the subcontracting
transporter carrying out the transport operations shall be
considered as the main contractor.
Article 2
Subcontractors shall be considered
as the main contractor with regard to their own subcontractors.
Article 3
Contractors planning to execute a
contract using one or more subcontractors must, when the contract is
concluded and throughout its duration, have all subcontractors
accepted and the conditions of payment for each subcontract approved
by the client; the main contractor shall be bound to provide the
client with the subcontract(s) upon request.
Should the subcontractor not be
accepted or the conditions of payment not be approved by the client
under the conditions laid down in the previous subparagraph, the
main contractor shall nevertheless be obligated to the subcontractor
but shall not be able to invoke the subcontract with regard to the
subcontractor.
Title
II: Direct payment
Article 4
This Title shall apply to
contracts concluded by the State, the local authorities and public
corporations and undertakings.
Article 5
Without prejudice to the
acceptance laid down in Article 3, the main contractor must, at the
time of submission, indicate to the client the nature and value of
each service they plan to subcontract.
Article 6
Amended by Ordinance No 2000-916
of 19 September 2000, Article 5 V, Official Gazette of the French
Republic of 22 September 2000 in force on 1 January 2002.
Subcontractors who
have been accepted and whose conditions of payment have been
approved by the client shall be paid directly by the latter for the
part of the contract executed by the former.
However, the provisions of the
previous paragraph shall not apply when the value of the subcontract
is below a threshold which, for all the contracts laid down in this
title, shall be set at 600 euro. This threshold may be raised by
Conseil d'Etat Decree according to variations in the economic
situation. Below this threshold, the provisions of Title III of this
Law shall apply.
With regard to industrial
contracts concluded by the Ministry of Defence, a different
threshold may be set by Conseil d'Etat Decree.
This payment shall be mandatory
even if the main contractor is in liquidation, receivership or
temporary suspension of proceedings.
Article 7
Any waiver of direct payment shall
be considered invalid.
Article 8
The main contractor shall have a
period of fifteen days from receipt of the supporting documents upon
which the direct payment is based to accept them or indicate to the
subcontractor the reasoned non-acceptance.
At the end of this period, the
main contractor shall be considered to have accepted the supporting
documents or parts of the supporting documents they have not
expressly accepted or refused to accept.
The notifications laid down in
subparagraph 1 shall be sent by registered letter.
Article 9
The main contractor shall only be
able to guarantee the part of the contract executed by them
personally.
When the contractor plans to
subcontract a guaranteed part of a contract, the acceptance of the
subcontractors laid down in Article 3 of this Law shall be subject
to a reduction in the charge to the part to be subcontracted by the
contractor.
Article 10
This Title shall apply:
To invitations to tender issued
more than three months after the publication of this Law;
To private offering contracts
whose signature is notified more than six months after the
publication of this Law.
Title III: Direct action
Article 11
This Title shall apply to all
subcontracts that do not fall within the scope of Title II.
Article 12
Amended by Law No 94-475 of 10
June 1994, Article 5 II, Official Gazette of the French Republic of
11 June 1994 in force by 1 October 1994 at the latest.
Should the main contractor fail to
pay the monies due by virtue of the subcontract, one month after
notice to pay is given, the subcontractor shall be able to take
direct action against the client. A copy of this notice to pay shall
be sent to the client.
Any waiver of direct payment shall
be considered invalid.
This direct action shall apply
even if the main contractor is in liquidation, receivership or
temporary suspension of proceedings.
The provisions of the second
subparagraph of Article 1799-1 of the Civil Code shall apply to
subcontractors who fulfil the conditions laid down in this article.
Article 13
Direct action shall only concern
the payment corresponding to the services stipulated by the
subcontract and provided to the client themselves.
The obligations incumbent upon the
client shall be restricted to the amount they still owe the main
contractor on the date of receipt of the copy of the notice to pay
laid down in the previous article.
Article 13-1
Amended by Law No 84-46 of 24
January 1984, Article 63, Official Gazette of the French Republic of
25 January 1984.
The main contractor may only
assign or guarantee claims arising from the contract concluded with
the client for the sum due to them for work carried out by them
personally.
They shall, however, be able to
assign or guarantee the claims in their entirety provided that they
obtain, in advance and in writing, the personal joint guarantee
cited in Article 14 of this Law, with regard to the subcontractors.
Article 14
In order for the subcontract to be
valid, the payment of all monies due to the subcontractor by the
contractor pursuant to the subcontract shall be guaranteed by a
personal joint guarantee obtained by the contractor from a qualified
establishment, approved under conditions laid down by Decree.
However, the guarantee shall not be provided if the contractor has
delegated payment of the subcontractor to the client pursuant to
Article 1275 of the Civil Code, up to the amount of the services
executed by the subcontractor. On a temporary basis, the guarantee
may be obtained from an establishment on the list laid down by the
Decree implementing Law No 71-584 of 16 July 1971 on guarantee
reductions.
Article 14-1
Created by Law No 86-13 of 6
January 1986, Article 13, Official Gazette of the French Republic of
7 January 1986.
For contracts concerning building
works and public works:
-
should the client be aware that a
subcontractor who has not been the subject of the requirements laid
down in Article 3 is present on site, they should give the main
contractor the opportunity to fulfil their obligations;
-
should payment of a subcontractor who
has been accepted, and whose conditions of payment have been
approved by the client under the conditions laid down by Conseil
d'Etat Decree, not be delegated to the client, the latter must
require the main contractor to prove that they have obtained the
guarantee.
The provisions above regarding the
client shall not apply to natural persons building a home for
themselves, their spouse, their own ascendants or descendants or
those of their spouse.
Title
IV: Miscellaneous provisions
Article 15
Any clauses, stipulations and
arrangements counter to the provisions of this Law, whatever their
form, shall be null and void.
Article 15-1
Amended by Law No 94-638 of 25
July 1994, Article 33, Official Gazette of the French Republic of 27
July 1994.
This Law shall apply within the
territorial authority of Mayotte. It shall apply to subcontracts
concluded as of the first day of the twelfth month following the
publication of Law No 94-638 of 25 July 1994 aiming to improve
employment, integration and economic activity in the overseas
departments, Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon and Mayotte.
With regard to the application of
the Law to the territorial authority of Mayotte, the first
subparagraph of Article 14 should read: “approved under the
conditions laid down by Order of the Government representative in
Mayotte”, instead of “approved under the conditions laid down by
Decree”.
Nota – Law No 2001-616 2001-07-11,
Article 75: In all the legislative and regulatory texts in force in
Mayotte, references to the “territorial authority of Mayotte” shall
be replaced by references to “Mayotte”, and references to the
“territorial authority” shall be replaced by references to the
“departmental authority”.
Article 15-2
Created by Law No 96-609 of 5 July
1996, Article 7, Official Gazette of the French Republic of 9 July
1996.
This Law shall apply to the
territorial authority of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon. It shall apply to
subcontracts concluded as of 1 January 1997.
With regard to the application of
the Law to the territorial authority of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon,
the first subparagraph of Article 14 should read: “approved under
the conditions laid down by Order of the Prefect” instead of:
“approved under the conditions laid down by Decree”.
Article 15-3
Created by Law No 96-609 of 5 July
1996, Article 7, Official Gazette of the French Republic of 9 July
1996.
This Law, with the exception of
the final subparagraph of Article 12, shall apply to the territories
of New Caledonia and French Polynesia subject to the following
provisions:
I – The first subparagraph should
read: “approved under the conditions laid down by Order of the High
Commissioner of the Republic” instead of: “approved under the
conditions laid down by Decree”.
II – It shall apply to
subcontracts concluded as of 1 January 1997.
Article 222 IV of Organic Law No
99-209 of 19 March 1999 on New Caledonia stipulates that:
“In all legislative and regulatory
provisions in force:
1.
References to the territory of New
Caledonia shall be replaced by references to New Caledonia;
2.
References to the Territorial Assembly
of New Caledonia shall be replaced by references to the Congress of
New Caledonia;
3.
References to the Executive of New
Caledonia shall be replaced by references to the Government of New
Caledonia.”
Article 16
Conseil d'Etat
Decrees shall lay down the conditions for the application of this
Law.
By the President of the French
Republic: VALERY GISCARD D'ESTAING
The Prime Minister: JACQUES CHIRAC
The Keeper of the Seals, Minister
for Justice, JEAN LECANUET
The Minister for Economic Affairs
and Finance, JEAN-PIERRE FOURCADE
The Minister for Defence, YVON
BOURGES
The Minister for Equipment, ROBERT
GALLEY
The Minister for Industry and
Research, MICHEL D'ORNANO
The Minister for Commerce and
Craft Trades, VINCENT ANSQUER
Preparatory work: Law No 75-1334
French National Assembly:
Proposal for a Law No 1449:
Report by Mr Lauriol, on behalf of
the Committee on Laws (No 1817) and supplementary report (No 2038);
Discussion of 28 June and 5
December 1975;
Adoption of 5 December 1975;
Senate:
Proposal for a Law, adopted by the
French National Assembly, No 100 (1975-1976);
Opinion of the Committee on
Economic Affairs, No 144 (1975-1976);
Discussion and adoption of 18
December 1975.
French National Assembly:
Proposal for a Law, amended by the
Senate (No 2094).
Report by Mr Lauriol, on behalf of
the Committee on Laws (No 2104).
Discussion and adoption of 19
December 1975).
Senate:
Proposal for a Law, adopted with
amendments, No 186 (1975-1976).
Oral report by Mr Jean Sauvage, on
behalf of the Committee on Laws.
Discussion and adoption of 19
December 1975.
French National Assembly:
Proposal for a Law, amended by the
Senate (No 2127).
Report by Mr Marc Lauriol, on
behalf of the Joint committee comprised of mixed representatives (No
2129).
Discussion and adoption of 20
December 1975).
Senate:
Report by Mr J Sauvage, on behalf
of the Joint committee comprised of mixed representatives, No 190
(1975-1976).
Discussion and adoption of 20
December 1975.
