Section 12: Payment incidents and penalties

The drawee must pay, notwithstanding the absence, insufficiency or unavailability of funds, any cheque drawn on a form issued by it for an amount equal to or less than 15 euros, the account holder and the drawee being legally deemed to have entered into an irrevocable credit agreement at the time the form was issued. The obligation of the drawee resulting from the provisions of this article is not subject…

A drawee who has paid a cheque despite the absence, insufficiency or unavailability of funds shall, except in the case provided for in the first paragraph of II of Article L. 131-81, be subrogated to the rights of the bearer to the extent of the sum advanced by the drawee; to this end, the drawee may have the absence or insufficiency of the available funds recorded by a deed drawn…

The drawee who has refused payment of a cheque for lack of sufficient funds or who has closed an account on which cheque forms have been issued or who has registered a stop payment order for loss or theft of cheques or cheque forms shall notify the Banque de France.

The Banque de France shall inform the institutions and persons on which cheques may be drawn, finance companies, the organisations mentioned in Article L. 511-6, electronic money institutions, payment institutions and, at its request, the public prosecutor, of cheque payment incidents, bans imposed pursuant to Article L. 163-6 and the lifting of bans on cheque issuance. The Banque de France alone is responsible for centralising the information provided for in…

The Banque de France shall provide information to any person who, on receiving a cheque for the payment of a good or service, wishes to check that the cheque was properly issued in accordance with this chapter. The origin of these requests for information is recorded.

Where the account holder is a sole trader with limited liability, the provisions of this section apply : – to accounts relating to unrestricted assets where the payment incident is the result of a cheque issued on one of these accounts ; – to accounts relating to assets allocated to a professional activity where the payment incident is the result of a cheque issued on one of these accounts, excluding,…

The implementing measures for this chapter shall be determined by decree in the Conseil d’Etat, as necessary. This decree shall in particular determine the terms and conditions under which the injunction is brought to the attention of the account holder and shall also specify his rights and obligations as well as the conditions under which he may regularise his situation. It also determines the conditions under which the Banque de…