International Debt Collection

Quickly collect your outstanding payments in Europe and anywhere else in the world

Entrust the management of your receivables abroad to experts with in-depth knowledge of the commercial and legal practices of each country.

Collect your bills

When you are faced with late payments and non-payments from your foreign customers, the challenges and consequences are both more numerous and different from those encountered with your customers in France.

Between development opportunities for the company and risks related to learning about foreign regulations, collecting your export turnover is sometimes complex.

International debt collection, how does it work?

An advisor will call you back within the hour to understand your needs and answer all your questions.

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Recouvrement de Créances et international | Gestion Credit Expert

Amicable negotiation first

To recover a debt from a foreign debtor, an amicable negotiation is essential in first intention. Indeed, local habits and practices in terms of commercial relations and payment differ according to the country. This is why it is important to qualify the nature and source of the unpaid debt before initiating proceedings. However, communication with a foreign client can sometimes be difficult and the room for maneuver is not necessarily identical to that which one might have for receivables in France.

Parameters that change depending on the country and that directly affect international debt collection:

Local trade practices,
Habits and methods of payment,
Language,
The legislation in force (rights of creditors, protection of debtors, limitation periods for claims, etc.),
The efficiency of the legal sphere,
The level of business failure.

During the amicable phase of international debt collection, recovery actions must really adapt to the profile of the debtor and to the particularities of each country. Otherwise, your image and your business relationships could suffer. Another factor is to be seriously taken into account: time, the concept of which differs from country to country.

As soon as a creditor mandates GCE-FRANCE CREANCES for the international recovery of an unpaid invoice, the file is analyzed and handled by a lawyer who is an expert in your sector of activity and in the country of your debtor. Thus, the chances of quick and effective collection are maximized.

The international judicial recovery then if necessary

In the event that amicable recovery is not effective, it is advisable to know the legal procedures existing in the country of the debtor in order to be able to take legal action.

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How does judicial recovery work in Europe?

There are judicial debt collection procedures common to EU countries that any creditor can implement to recover his money. Often misunderstood or misjudged, these common European measures and provisions for all Member States remain effective in quickly resolving disputes with debtors.

Recovering your money in Europe and resolving disputes with your debtors more quickly is possible thanks to certain common European measures and provisions for all Member States that are often overlooked or misjudged:

The European Enforcement Order : created in 2004, it allows automatic recognition and enforcement of judgments, court settlements and authentic instruments for uncontested cross-border claims without having to go before a judge.
European payment order : set up in 2006, it makes it possible, thanks to standard forms, to proceed with the recovery of uncontested claims in civil and commercial matters without requesting a declaration of enforceability (exequatur) anywhere in the European Union except in Denmark. 12,577: this is the number of European payment orders filed within the EU between 2012 and 2013. (Source: EC report of 10/13/2015).
European procedure for the settlement of small claims : created in 2007, it allows the settlement of disputes in civil and commercial matters in the case of claims whose amount does not exceed €2,000. The decision rendered is recognized and enforced in the other Member States, without it being necessary to resort to the exequatur.

Brussels I Bis Regulation : adopted on December 12, 2012 by the European Parliament and Council, it applies to actions brought after January 10, 2015. It maintains the principle of recognition of judgments as of right and abolishes the exequatur procedure for judicial decisions rendered within the various Member States. Do you have a judgment rendered by a French court and want to enforce it in another EU country? From now on, the only formality necessary for your judgment to be effectively enforceable in another Member State is the communication to the competent authority of a copy of your judgment and the certificate attesting to its enforceability.
European Bank Account Preservation Order : applicable since January 18, 2017, it allows a court in an EU country to freeze funds in a debtor’s bank account in another EU country. The procedure is quick and takes place without the debtor being informed and without his prior hearing. This “surprise effect” prevents the debtor from moving, concealing or spending the money.

What about debt collection in non-EU countries?

Again, the solutions exist.

Signed on October 30, 2007 and entered into force on May 1, 2011, the new Lugano Convention replaced the old 1988 agreement. This convention aims to facilitate the circulation of judicial decisions between the Member States of the EU with Norway, Iceland and Switzerland, its objective being to align with the provisions of Regulation 44/2001 of the European Council relating jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters.

Debt collection abroad: who to turn to?

Are you unable to recover your debt on your own? Entrust your outstanding debt to a partner who knows how to deal with the specificities of each country. Because the effectiveness of export debt collection will be strongly conditioned by good control of country risk and by the potential languages spoken.

Each country has its specificities: legislation, economic context, local practices, language, culture… These many variables influence the path to be taken for effective debt collection in Europe and around the world.

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Make sure that your partner has, in addition to legal and collection skills, the human resources and all the tools to be responsive, a quality essential to the efficiency of the collection process:

Multi-lingual collaborators who perfectly master the legislation and customs of the country(ies) in which your debtors are located,
A network of foreign partners whose skills are proven (colleagues in collection, fellow investigators, lawyers, bailiffs, etc.) and whom they can quickly activate for your most delicate cases.

The collection company GCE-FRANCE CREANCES works daily on behalf of exporting customers, in order to help them get paid by their debtors, whether they are in France or anywhere in the world .

The languages that we particularly master: French, English, Spanish, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese.
A local presence in certain geographical areas that require it: GCE-FRANCE CREANCES has developed a network of 300 local partners around the world.

The expert in international debt collection

A tailor-made approach

The collection strategy is developed with you in line with your business strategy and adapted to the particularities of your business, your commercial relations and the nature of the unpaid debt; the goal is obviously to optimize performance and also to ensure appropriate treatment of your customers in the collection of unpaid bills.

Time saving

Save time on cumbersome and time-consuming administrative procedures and stay focused on your business. We constitute for you your request with the competent court and the right bailiff for your procedure.

A local network

We put our network of more than 300 bailiffs, lawyers and negotiators at your disposal to obtain payment of your claims, in France and around the world.

Your budget under control

We optimize our interventions for you in terms of time and costs. We make you benefit from privileged pricing conditions for all the services of essential intermediaries (excluding legal acts whose prices are regulated). Finally, our remuneration is calculated only on the sums recovered.

Your image preserved

When our lawyer takes action to recover an unpaid invoice, he knows how to protect your debtor’s sensitivity. He is the guarantor of the quality of the commercial relationship between you and your client-debtor. Finally, GCE is a member of the SAR, the first Syndicate of Collection Actors in France. As such, we strictly respect the code of ethics of our professional organization.