Five years — but not the way most creditors assume
A French commercial debt does not stay claimable forever. Under article L.110-4 of the French Commercial Code, a claim between businesses acting in a commercial capacity prescribes — becomes legally unenforceable — five years after it fell due. That much is well known. What trips creditors up is a much narrower question: what actually stops that clock from running, and what doesn't.
Sending reminders, even a formal notice from a lawyer, does not reset the five-year clock under French law. Only a specific, limited set of acts does. Creditors who spend years on informal follow-up, believing each letter buys them a fresh five years, are often wrong — and find out only when it's too late to act.
What actually interrupts the clock
French civil law recognises a limited set of acts that interrupt prescription and restart the five-year count from zero. Three matter in practice for a commercial debt:
The debtor acknowledges the debt
A written acknowledgment — including an email asking for a payment plan, or apologising for the delay — can count, even without a formal document.
You take formal judicial action
Filing a court claim interrupts the clock at the moment of filing — including an injonction de payer application or a référé filing, not only a full lawsuit.
A formal enforcement measure is taken
An actual enforcement act — not a threat of one — also interrupts the clock, covered in types of asset seizure in France.
Notice what is missing from that list: a reminder email, a formal notice sent by a lawyer, a letter from a debt-collection agency. None of these interrupt prescription, however firm their tone. A formal notice remains genuinely useful — it is the standard first step before court action and often produces payment on its own — but it is not, by itself, the act that protects your claim against the clock.
An interruption has to actually go somewhere
Filing a claim interrupts the clock from the date of filing, and that effect continues for as long as the case is genuinely proceeding. But a claim that is later withdrawn, dismissed, or left to lapse for inactivity generally does not preserve that interruption — the clock is treated, in substance, as if the filing had not happened. A case started and then abandoned is not a safety net.
Once you hold a judgment, the picture changes
A favourable judgment or an unopposed payment order resets the situation: you are no longer racing the original five-year clock on the underlying debt, and enforcing that judgment — through the mechanisms covered in types of asset seizure in France and executed by a commissaire de justice — runs on its own, separate and considerably longer timeline. Getting to a title before the five-year window closes is therefore the practical goal, not chasing the debtor indefinitely by letter.
A special case: your debtor becomes insolvent
If your debtor enters formal French insolvency proceedings, a different and much shorter procedural deadline takes over: you generally have to register your claim with the court-appointed representative within a short window from the proceeding's opening, or risk losing your ability to be paid from the estate at all — regardless of where the five-year prescription clock otherwise stands. If you hear that a debtor has filed for insolvency protection, treat it as urgent and get advice immediately; the ordinary prescription analysis in this guide is not the deadline that matters at that point.
The practical habit that avoids all of this
The five-year period is generous by design — it exists so creditors are not forced into premature litigation over every minor delay. The mistake is treating "generous" as "indefinite." Our guide on common mistakes foreign creditors make covers the same trap from a different angle: escalating from informal reminders to a formal notice within 60–90 days of an invoice going overdue, so that if the debtor still doesn't pay, there is time left in the window for the judicial step that actually protects the claim.
Frequently asked questions
Possibly — if none of those reminders included a genuine interruption event (a written acknowledgment from the debtor, or a court filing), the original five-year clock may be close to running out regardless of how many letters were sent. Send us the dates and any debtor correspondence so we can check where you actually stand.
No, not by itself — but it is still the right first step, and if it doesn't produce payment, we file the judicial action that does interrupt the clock, well within the remaining window.
Anything in writing that treats the debt as real and owed — a request for a payment plan, an apology for the delay, a partial payment. Ambiguous or non-committal replies are weaker evidence; we can assess a specific email or letter for you.
From when the debt became due and payable, not the invoice date itself — the payment terms on your invoice or contract determine when that clock starts.
Send us the invoice date, payment terms, and any correspondence with the debtor. Confirming where a claim stands against the prescription clock is a quick check, and it is far better done with time to act on the answer than after the window has closed.
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