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Article L511-52 of the French Commercial code

Protests in the absence of acceptance or payment shall be made by a notary or by a bailiff. The protest must be made by one and the same act: 1° At the domicile of the person on whom the bill of exchange was payable, or at his last known domicile; 2° At the domicile of the persons indicated by the bill of exchange to pay it if necessary; 3° At…

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Article L511-53 of the French Commercial code

The act of protest contains the literal transcription of the bill of exchange, the acceptance, endorsements and recommendations indicated therein, the summons to pay the amount of the bill of exchange. It states the presence or absence of the person required to pay, the reasons for refusal to pay and impotence or refusal to sign.

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Article L511-55 of the French Commercial code

Notaries and bailiffs are required, on pain of dismissal, costs, damages to the parties, to leave an exact copy of the protests. Subject to the same penalties, they are also required to deliver against receipt to the clerk of the commercial court or of the judicial court ruling commercially at the debtor’s domicile, or to send him by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, an exact copy of protests in…

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Article L511-56 of the French Commercial code

The clerk of the commercial court shall regularly update, on the basis of denunciations made to him by notaries and bailiffs, a statement by name and by debtor of protests for non-payment of accepted bills of exchange, promissory notes and cheques as well as certificates of non-payment of postal cheques which are denounced to him by postal cheque centres. This statement includes the information listed by decree.

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Article L511-57 of the French Commercial code

After the expiry of a period of one month from the date of the protest or the drawing up of the certificate of non-payment of the postal cheque and for a period of one year from the same date, any claimant may be issued, at his own expense, by the registrars of the aforementioned courts, with an extract from the nominative statement provided for in Article L. 511-56.

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Article L511-58 of the French Commercial code

Upon deposit against a receipt by the debtor of the bill of exchange and the protest of the postal cheque and the certificate of non-payment or a receipt recording payment of the cheque, the clerk of the commercial court shall, at the debtor’s expense, carry out the deletion of the protest notice or the certificate of non-payment from the statement drawn up pursuant to Article L. 511-56, the deletion of…

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Article L511-60 of the French Commercial code

A decree in the Conseil d’Etat shall determine the terms and conditions for the application of the provisions of this sub-section. In particular, it shall set the amount of remuneration payable to notaries or bailiffs who have drawn up protests and to commercial court registrars for the various formalities for which they are responsible.

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Article L511-61 of the French Commercial code

In the event of mobilisation of the army, a plague or public calamity, or the interruption of public services managed by or subject to the control of the State or local authorities, decrees in the Council of Ministers may, for all or part of the territory, extend the periods within which protests and other acts intended to preserve recourse must be made for all negotiable securities. In the same circumstances…

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