Section 5: Presentation and payment

Cheques are payable on demand. Any statement to the contrary is deemed to be unwritten. Cheques presented for payment before the day indicated as the date of issue are payable on the day of presentation.

Cheques issued and payable in mainland France must be presented for payment within eight days. Cheques issued outside mainland France and payable in mainland France must be presented for payment within twenty days or seventy days, depending on whether the place of issue is in or outside Europe. For the purposes of the previous paragraph, cheques issued in a country bordering the Mediterranean are deemed to have been issued in…

When a cheque payable in France is issued in a country where a calendar other than the Gregorian calendar is used, the day of issue is changed to the corresponding day of the Gregorian calendar.

Presentation to a clearing house is equivalent to presentation for payment.

The drawee must pay even after the expiry of the presentation period. He must also pay even if the cheque was issued in breach of the injunction provided for in Article L. 131-73 or the prohibition provided for in the second paragraph of Article L. 163-6. Payment by cheque may only be stopped in the event of loss, theft or fraudulent use of the cheque, or in the event of…

Neither the death of the drawer nor the drawer’s incapacity occurring after the cheque has been issued affects the effects of the cheque.

The drawee may require payment of the cheque by the bearer. The bearer may not refuse partial payment. If the provision is less than the amount of the cheque, the bearer has the right to demand payment up to the amount of the provision. In the event of a partial payment, the drawee may demand that this payment be mentioned on the cheque and that a receipt be given. This…

A person who pays a cheque without a stop payment is presumed to be validly discharged. The drawee who pays an endorsable cheque is obliged to check the regularity of the series of endorsements, but not the signatures of the endorsers.

Where a cheque is payable in a currency that is not a legal tender in France, the amount of the cheque may be paid, within the time limit for presentation of the cheque, on the basis of its value in euros on the day of payment. If payment has not been made when the cheque is presented, the bearer may, at his or her option, request that the amount of…

If a cheque is lost, the person to whom it belongs may pursue payment from a second, third, fourth, etc. cheque. If the person who lost the cheque cannot represent the second, third, fourth, etc., he may request payment of the lost cheque and obtain it by order of the judge by proving his ownership by his books and by giving security. In all the provisions of this chapter relating…