Class actions in France since the law of 30 April 2025.

Since the law of 30 April 2025, a class action can be brought in any area of French law. The same law allows a third party to fund it, under certain conditions. This single regime replaces schemes created one sector at a time since 2014.

The regimes before 2025.

The loi Hamon of 17 March 2014 (law no. 2014-344) created the class action in consumer law. Later texts opened it to health, the environment, personal data and discrimination. The law of 18 November 2016 on modernising justice for the 21st century (law no. 2016-1547) gave them a common procedural base.

Each sector nevertheless kept its own rules. Admissibility conditions and the associations entitled to act varied from one to the next.

A single regime since 2025.

Law no. 2025-391 of 30 April 2025 transposes Directive (EU) 2020/1828 of 25 November 2020 on representative actions. Its article 16 replaces the sector regimes with a unified framework. Every type of loss can be compensated, whether economic, material, bodily or moral, whatever the area of law.

A claim no longer has to fit a category, such as consumer law or health, to support a class action. Harm suffered by many people in banking, real estate or employment law can now found one.

The competent courts and the procedure.

Decree no. 2025-653 of 16 July 2025 designates eight courts with jurisdiction, the tribunaux judiciaires of Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Nancy, Paris, Rennes and Fort‑de‑France. The court of appeal where each court sits hears the appeals. This specialisation is meant to ensure experienced judges and consistent decisions.

Decree no. 2025-734 of 30 July 2025 sets the procedure. It allows a manifestly unfounded action to be dismissed quickly and a claimant’s conflict of interest to be raised against it. It also creates a public register of pending class actions. A circular from the Ministry of Justice presents article 16 and its implementing decrees.

Third‑party funding.

Article 16 allows the association or entity bringing the action to receive funds from third parties. That funding must give the funder no influence against the interests of the people represented, either over bringing the action or over conducting it. The entity must also avoid any conflict of interest with its funders.

The funding is made public. Decree no. 2025-1191 of 10 December 2025 organises this disclosure. It also sets the approval procedure for the associations and entities that bring class actions, domestic or cross‑border. It has applied since 1 January 2026.

What the reform makes possible.

The single regime and third‑party funding may make possible actions that were too costly until now. A single procedure carries the claims of many people, and negotiation with the business is conducted on behalf of the group.

A dispute that affects many people can also be handled another way. Hello Justice funds individual cases handled as a series. In the Swiss franc loan programme, each borrower keeps their own file, lawyer and agreement. The programme covers loans taken out between 2002 and 2015. We estimate the number of eligible cases at around 50,000.

We explain this method in our article on serial litigation. For a Swiss franc loan, the programme’s eligibility test is free.