Commissaire de justice 2026: what the bailiff and judicial auctioneer merger changes

The commissaire de justice is the single profession created by merging bailiffs (huissiers de justice) and judicial auctioneers (commissaires-priseurs judiciaires), established by Ordinance no. 2016-728 of 2 June 2016. Available since 1 July 2022, it becomes exclusive on 1 July 2026: only professionals who have validated the specific training may hold the title and practise.

For decades, two distinct trades coexisted. The bailiff (huissier de justice) served legal documents, enforced court decisions, drew up official reports (constats) and handled debt recovery. The judicial auctioneer (commissaire-priseur judiciaire) carried out inventories, valuations (prisées) and auctions of movable property ordered by the courts or prescribed by law.

Ordinance no. 2016-728 of 2 June 2016 brought these two professions together into one: the commissaire de justice. The legislator's aim is to group all duties relating to enforcement and judicial sales of movable property in the hands of a single public and ministerial officer, trained in a unified way.

In our discussions with offices, we find that this reform is not merely a change of title: it reshapes the scope of activity, the training, and consequently the accounting and legal organisation of the structures.

The transition spread over four years. Here are the key milestones.

• 1 July 2022: the commissaire de justice profession may be practised. Active bailiffs and judicial auctioneers keep their former title on a transitional basis.
• From 1 July 2022 to 1 July 2026: transitional period. Professionals who have not yet validated the specific training continue to practise, but only the activities they could perform before the ordinance (a former bailiff does not carry out judicial sales of movable property, and vice versa).
• 1 July 2026: the profession becomes exclusive. Only professionals who have validated the commissaire de justice training may practise. Those who do not meet the training conditions cease to practise.

It is this final deadline that makes 1 July 2026 a pivotal date for the profession.

The commissaire de justice combines the duties of the two former professions. As a public and ministerial officer, this status grants a degree of monopoly and demands strict professional rigour.

The duties cover:

• service of documents and enforcement (acts formerly specific to the bailiff);
• official reports / constats (statements of premises, evidence, factual situations);
• amicable and judicial debt recovery;
• judicial sales of movable property: inventories, valuations and auctions ordered by the courts or prescribed by law.

This is the point that causes the most confusion, including in some files we come across. Not all auctions fall under the same regime.

Judicial sales (ordered by a judge or prescribed by law: seizures, liquidations, estates under court mandate) fall to the commissaire de justice, within the monopoly of a public and ministerial officer.

Voluntary sales of movable property at public auction, on the other hand, fall to voluntary sales operators (opérateurs de ventes volontaires, OVV), supervised by the Conseil des maisons de vente, on a simple declaration basis rather than a monopoly (Commercial Code, art. L321-6). A commissaire de justice may carry out voluntary sales, but through a dedicated structure, separate from the public-officer activity.

This is where our role as a firm comes in. A commissaire de justice office is a public and ministerial officer handling funds on behalf of third parties: sums recovered for the creditor, proceeds of sales to be remitted to the rightful owners. This requires regulated accounting for public and ministerial officers, with separated client funds, strictly distinct from the office's own accounts.

In practice, two flows must never mix: third-party funds (passing through the office) and the structure's fees and proceeds (which make up its turnover). In the files we support, the points of vigilance often concentrate on this boundary: traceability of client funds, reconciliations, and accounting separation when a voluntary-sales activity is added through a dedicated structure.

If you practise or are structuring a commissaire de justice office, these issues of regulated accounting, fund separation and organisation of activities (judicial and voluntary) are best framed upstream. You will find our dedicated guidance on the page expert-comptable for auctioneers and sales offices, where we detail the mechanics of client funds and the accounting of ministerial officers.