First off I am not a legal expert or professional and this is to warn people who are normally resident in France there is a potential legal minefield if they need to go to, or take someone to court, or indeed appear as a witness in civil proceedings in courts and tribunals outside of France, but critically in the UK. In particular if they wish to give evidence via video link.
I have been involved in special interests over the past 15 years or so and have made hundreds of freedom of information requests. A couple of them have now ended up in the First Tier Tribunal of the General Regulatory Chamber “GRC”. Basically this is the tribunal that deals with Information Rights and Charity cases and the place that disputed decisions by the Information Commissioner end up
Now this is critical point, Judges that sit in these information rights and charity cases also sit in other courts and in particular the Immigration Chamber, you’ll understand why this makes a difference soon enough.
Here’s the issue. In France there is a Loi de Blocage, basically barring any person or entity normally resident or based in in France from discussing or providing information to a foreign court, but it is limited to French interests commercial or national. For want of a better term it’s in reality a Fight Club law and it’s not as though it has been used, a few years ago a French lawyer was heavily fined for disclosing information to an American Court regarding a French Banking case.
I’m not going to go into a critical assessment of this law, because it’s not that unusual, many countries around the world and in the EU forbid people from giving evidence to a court outside their territory in civil cases, which has a whole load of issues when it comes to separating of families etc and kids being dragged off.
The critical issue that affects most is that this has been blanketed across all civil cases where evidence could be given by video or phone, but these laws are subject to international treaties and agreements, namely EU treaties, including the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and the Hague Convention, where there is a process to follow and that’s where the nightmare begins and in the UK.
There is somewhat overt government disinformation which Judges are erroneously leaning into, and in effect allows them to steamroller cases through blocking appellants from giving evidence via video or phone from outside the UK, and again in particular France
That Government statement citied by these GRC Judges, including the President of the Chamber reads
“The UK Government has not been able to obtain the agreement of the Government of France to allow individuals in France to voluntarily give evidence from France by video link in UK civil, commercial or administrative tribunals (either as a witness or when appealing a case). This is not to be interpreted as permission to proceed with the taking of video evidence”
Judges of the GRC also informed me that the French have never given permission and are unlikely to, and this is where it gets interesting. I actually did FOI request to the Royal Courts of Justice “RCJ” through HMCTS and the FCDO and the GRC had never sort permission for any person to give evidence from abroad. What makes it more interesting is that other courts in the UK have and data retained showed that the French gave permission in over 83% of applications.
Moreover, the GRC disclosed that they have never made an application for any person to give evidence from abroad and in fact staff had never been made aware of the necessity to make such applications, right up until September 2024 when I really kicked off to the point I called the judges out on providing misleading and erroneous information as result.
For the avoidance of doubt, the RCJ was indicated as the correct point of contact for applications to give evidence from France in UK cases by the Hague Convention and French Ministry of Justice itself.
So it seems we should take with a pinch of salt what a UK Judge proclaims as fact because it’s clear in my experience there in issue, and I for one cannot rely on 3 UK judges to “tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth” when providing information in decisions and directions, because their position is based on a political and prismatic rhetoric by the UK government and not facts to hand.
The reason for the pendulous orbs of disinformation by these Judges is down to the fact that immigration and asylum issues are the cause, because the case law relates to an immigration case of Agbabiaka and giving evidence from Nigeria.
The problem with that case is that it relates to Nigeria which is not a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights nor are they a member of the EU that defines members must abide by the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, which Article 6 of the ECoHR and Article 47 of the CFR extends to cover civil cases too, and as France is a signatory to both, it is unlikely they will refuse application in UK cases would arguably be in violation of both.
That’s why France does in fact grant permission when the proper process is followed, it’s just that France is France and the fonctionnaire has to rubber stamp everything. Plus the reason they will on the balance of probabilities grant permission, is that refusal potentially puts France in the picture for a breach of Articles 6 and 47 where domestic courts come into play.
The problem here is that UK Judge’s are not processing applications, which mine was put in way back in 2022 when stating I wished to give evidence via video from France in the application.
The major issue here is that it affects civil cases and appeals of a vast array of ex pats from parents to pensioners, landlords to military veterans getting certain benefits, even those ordinary people that are eligible for specific UK benefits such as state pensions, industrial injuries, some disability and bereavement allowances, which are all civil matters should it turn into a court or tribunal appeal case.
And this is a problem due to a number of UK Judges and panel members being reliant on false presentation of a political position on the government website based in immigration policies and issues, and these ex pat demographic groups are going to find it difficult to give evidence from France by video, or indeed anywhere else, where courts and tribunal judges and panel members are whistling along with that inherently misleading “Government Position” presented to the public and taken by the judiciary as gospel
The cause is commenced with the FCDO that basically failed to make applications leading to the Royal Courts of Justice taking over the role in 2022, something that the Judges in my case were all aware of but failed to make clear, moreover a simple email would have revealed the French were more than likely to give permission instead of, let’s call it feckless factlessness of Judges.
So if you are thinking of appealing or getting into a civil dispute in the UK court and tribunals system, you need to be aware that if you wish to give oral evidence from France, you need to tell that court or tribunal immediately because that aspect may become a battle in itself, because some learned colon may object, and in my case the Local Authority to which the request was made paid a barrister £1,200 to tug at that thread in the hopes of killing the appeals dead, because I am representing myself.
On top of that you cannot talk about fight club, and by that I mean keep French matters out of it that relate Article 1 of the 1968 Loi de Blocage which the translation reads
Subject to international treaties or agreements, any natural person of French nationality or habitually resident on French territory and any manager, representative, agent or employee of a legal entity having its headquarters or an establishment there is prohibited from communicating in writing, orally or in any other form, in any place whatsoever, to foreign public authorities, documents or information of an economic, commercial, industrial, financial or technical nature the communication of which is likely to undermine the sovereignty, security, essential economic interests of France or public order, as specified by the administrative authority as necessary.”
I think we can agree that this law does not in reality include the areas which I have touched upon, including immigration, which the Judges and UK politicians are applying this oral effluent to block evidence from being given from abroad, in particular France…
As I have said, I am no legal expert and would welcome input.