TITLE II: Public auction sales.

Public and retail sales of goods that take place after death or by authority of justice are carried out in the prescribed forms and by the ministerial officers responsible for the forced sale of furniture in accordance with articles L. 221-4 of the code of civil enforcement procedures and 945 of the code of civil procedure.

Sales of goods after judicial liquidation are made in accordance with Articles L. 642-19 et seq. They may be conducted by the ministry of judicial auctioneers, notaries or bailiffs when they take place at retail or by lots, or by the ministry of sworn merchandise brokers when they take place at wholesale. The debtor’s movable property other than goods may only be sold at auction by the ministry of judicial…

Public sales and sales by auction after cessation of trade, or in other cases of necessity the assessment of which is submitted to the Commercial Court, may only take place insofar as they have been previously authorised by the Commercial Court, at the request of the merchant-owner, to which a detailed statement of the goods is attached. The court notes, by its judgment, the fact which gives rise to the…

Public auctions of wholesale goods conducted in application of the law or ordered by court decision are entrusted to a sworn goods broker.

Any breach of the provisions of articles L. 322-1 to L. 322-7 shall be punishable by confiscation of the goods offered for sale and, in addition, a fine of 3,750 euros, which shall be imposed jointly and severally against both the seller and the sworn goods broker or the public official who assisted him, without prejudice to damages, if any.

The fact that sellers, sworn merchandise brokers or public officers include in sales made by judicial authority, on seizure, after death, judicial liquidation, cessation of business, or in other cases of necessity whose assessment is submitted to the Commercial Court new merchandise not forming part of the goodwill or furniture put up for sale, is punishable by the penalties provided for in Article L. 322-5.

In places where there are no sworn merchandise brokers, judicial auctioneers, notaries and bailiffs shall conduct the sales provided for in Article L. 322-4, in accordance with the legal and regulatory provisions governing their interventions. They are, for the said sales, subject to the forms, conditions and rates imposed on brokers.

Voluntary wholesale public auction sales of arms, ammunition and their essential components may only take place with the prior authorisation of the Commercial Court.

Sworn goods brokers are subject to the provisions prescribed by articles 871 and 873 of the General Tax Code.