Section I: Service.

Service shall be effected on paper or by electronic means.

Service must be effected personally. Service on a legal person is effected personally when the document is delivered to its legal representative, to an authorised representative of the latter or to any other person authorised for that purpose.

If personal service proves impossible, the document may be delivered either at the addressee’s domicile or, in the absence of a known domicile, at the addressee’s residence. The judicial officer must relate in the document the steps he has taken to effect personal service on the addressee and the circumstances characterising the impossibility of such service. The copy may be given to any person present at the domicile or residence…

If no one is able or willing to receive the copy of the document and if it is clear from the checks made by the bailiff, which will be mentioned in the document of service, that the addressee does indeed live at the address indicated, service is made at the addressee’s home. In this case, the bailiff will leave a notice at the addressee’s home or residence in accordance with…

Where the document is not delivered personally, the bailiff shall state on the copy the conditions under which delivery was made. The copy of the document served must be placed in a sealed envelope bearing only the name and address of the addressee of the document and the bailiff’s stamp affixed to the seal of the envelope.

In all cases provided for in articles 655 and 656, the bailiff must notify the interested party of the service, on the same day or at the latest on the first working day, by simple letter containing the same information as the notice of service and recalling, if the copy of the document has been deposited in his office, the provisions of the last paragraph of article 656. The letter…

Where the person to whom the document is to be served has no known domicile, residence or place of work, the judicial officer shall draw up a report in which he shall give a precise account of the steps he has taken to seek out the addressee of the document. On the same day or, at the latest, on the first working day thereafter, failing which the document shall be…

If the document is intended for a person who resides in French Polynesia, the Wallis and Futuna Islands, New Caledonia and the French Southern and Antarctic Territories, and unless it has been possible to serve the document personally, the judicial officer shall send the document to the competent authority for the purpose of delivering it to the interested party in accordance with the procedures applicable in the community in which…

The competent authority shall inform the judicial officer of the steps taken; it shall send him, where appropriate, any minutes or receipts recording the delivery of the document. These documents shall be kept by the bailiff at the disposal of the court.

If, in the cases provided for in Articles 659 and 660, it is not established that the addressee has actually been notified, the judge may prescribe any additional steps ex officio, except to order the provisional or protective measures necessary to safeguard the rights of the claimant.