I have been contacted by a constituent who believes he has faced discrimination by the French legal system on account of not being a French citizen.

My constituent owns a film production company and sold a film to a French firm in a deal set up by his distributor in France. However, rather than passing on the licensing fee to my constituent, the distributor decided to use the fee to pay off its own debts. The distributor has since closed down.

My constituent has been in contact with the French embassy, which advised him to contact the French prosecutor’s office. He first contacted the French prosecutor’s office in March 2015, and finally received a response in August 2015 telling him that the case would go to court. However, when he contacted the court, he did not receive a response until January 2016, and this was simply an acknowledgement of his letter.

Can the Commission confirm whether:

  1. it has any powers to intervene in my constituent’s case to speed up the process of his intra-EU legal dispute?
  2. there is any EU agency that my constituent can contact to resolve his business-to-business issue?
  3. there is any other advice the Commission could provide that would assist my constituent?
Answer given by Ms Jourová on behalf of the Commission
Under the Union Treaties, the Commission has no general powers to intervene in situations where the application of Union law is not involved. The Commission only has powers to examine the merits of an individual case if it is relevant to ensure that the public authorities of Union Member States apply Union law correctly. On the basis of the information provided, the case does not seem to be linked to Union law. Even if the case has a cross-border dimension, remedies must be sought under national law before national authorities, in particular the courts. The Commission has no powers to intervene in proceedings before national courts.

There is no Union agency or body that can be contacted by businesses to seek help in the resolution of their cross-border disputes with other businesses in the Union.

On the basis of the information provided, remedies have been sought in France under criminal law. It may be useful to verify whether, in France, compensation for damages can be obtained through criminal proceedings or whether parallel civil proceedings to that effect may be required.
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