Since September 1, 2025, a new financial sanction has changed French civil justice. A measure that can concern all the litigants in conflict.
It happens to us all to forget an important meeting or not to be able to get there. Whether in negligence, a setback or simply because we have not measured the importance of the approach, miss certain meetings can sometimes have very real consequences. And indeed, since September 1, 2025, missing a very special type of meeting can cost you very dear: up to 10,000 euros fine. A sanction that can potentially concern people in full divorce, in conflict with their owner, their insurance or in a consumption dispute.
You may have guessed it, these are mediation and conciliation meetings ordered by a judge. This new measure, provided for in decree n ° 2025-660 of July 18, 2025, radically transforms the approach of civil justice in France and introduces a financial sanction where there was none before. Concretely, the civil judge can now “At any time of the body, to enjoin the parties to meet, within a period he determines, a conciliator of justice or a mediator”, indicates the decree.
This compulsory meeting is not a mediation as such, but only an information session on the appointment itself. There is no obligation to then enter an amicable process or to conclude an agreement. But the decree now requires the mediator or the conciliator to inform the judge of the absence of a party to the ordered meeting. And that’s not all …
On this basis, the magistrate can then pronounce a civil fine of up to 10,000 euros. Only legitimate reasons such as a medical or family emergency, or a material impossibility of displacement make it possible to avoid sanction. As our colleagues from theUFC what to choosethis reform is already raising criticism. The main risk: even if mediation is not compulsory, the pressure of the judge and the threat of a fine could push people to accept an expensive process that they cannot afford. Some also fear that this obligation extended the deadlines instead of reducing them. The objective remains to make justice faster and to unclog the courts. The next months will say if this reform will reach its goal.
