The UIHJ, represented by its President, Marc Schmitz, and by Patrick Gielen, Secretary of the Board, Mathieu Chardon, Secretary General, and Françoise Andrieux, Honorary President, attended on 30 June 2023 in Paris the 1st Anniversary of this new profession, resulting from the merger between judicial officers and judicial auctioneers.
This event was celebrated during the 8th Meeting of the Association of Commissioners of Justice Real Estate Administrators of France (GCJAI), which represents the professionals in charge of this currently booming secondary statutory activity of the Commissioners of Justice.
In front of an audience of Commissioners of Justice, representatives of the Ministry of Justice and senior magistrates, Benoît Santoire, President of the National Chamber of Commissioners of Justice of France, thanked the participants as well as Didier Duplaa, president of the GCJAI, and greeted the representatives of the UIHJ. He spoke of the long journey since the law of 6 August 2015 for Growth, Activity and Equal Economic Opportunity, which laid the groundwork for the new profession, and the promulgation of the ordinance of 2 June 2016 relating to the statute of Commissioner of Justice, until the 1st anniversary of the new profession. “This first year has been full of challenges,” he continued, referring to the merger between the two professions. He thanked Eric Dupont-Moretti, Minister of Justice of France, for his support, in particular regarding the modernisation of the profession, as well as the Department of Civil Affairs and the Seal of the Ministry of Justice and its Director, Rémi Ducout-Paolini, for the relationships of trust that have been forged, already resulting in positive outcomes in several domains. He announced that the National Chamber of Commissioners of Justice of France would focus in the coming months on communication, attractiveness of the profession for young people, training, and digital technology. For Benoît Santoire, “looking into the future, it is obvious that bringing together our two former professions goes far beyond a simple addition of skills. We are in the process of creating a new, even more versatile professional, a true trusted third party.”
Following him, on behalf of the impeded Minister of Justice, Rémi Ducout-Paolini, Director of Civil Affairs and the Seal, declared that he wished to send a message of trust, commitment, and unity. In one year, he noted, “your young profession, resolutely turned towards the future, and supported by your Presidency and a dynamic Board, has become a key player, both in the judicial world and in the economic world”. He assessed that each of the 3,700 Commissioners of Justice “embodies the face of a profession of the future at the service of our fellow citizens“. He praised the teamwork bringing together the two former professions, the work on a draft Code of Ethics and Professional Rules for Commissioners of Justice, currently under review and to be published before the end of the year 2023, developments in digital technologies, and projects relating to future new activities for the profession. He assured that the Ministry of Justice of France fully supports the National Chamber of Commissioners of Justice in all its work, remains particularly attentive to all developments in the new profession “which is becoming more rooted every day in the judicial landscape of the country” and that he had no doubts about the ability of the Commissioners of Justice to meet all the challenges ahead.
The UIHJ wishes an excellent first anniversary to the profession of Commissioner of Justice of France and a long life!
