Chapter Fourth: Service of Process

Article 397

Notice to the parties concerned of the contents of the court papers and its procedures shall be made through notification. The principles of notification stipulated in this Chapter may be followed even if the law prescribes another method for notifying the parties concerned of the contents of the papers or procedures.

Article 398

Notification shall be made by a direct server. It may also be carried out by police officers or gendarmes. It is also permissible to carry it out through the clerk of the court registry.

Article 399

Papers to be served are delivered to the person himself at his residence or dwelling or place of work or at any other place where he is found. They may be delivered at the chosen address in the cases specified by law. If the process server does not know the person to be served, the papers shall be delivered at his residence or dwelling to the person who declares himself to be the one intended, but outside the residence or dwelling the papers shall not be delivered to the person to be served except after showing him official identification establishing his identity. The process server shall mention in the service report the declaration of the person served or the method of proving his identity mentioned above with the number of the identity document. If the person to be served or the person at whose residence an address for service is chosen refuses to accept the papers, the process server shall leave them with him. Service is then deemed validly accomplished, even if he refuses to sign the report.

Article 400

1. The notification may be modified if the bailiff does not find the person to be notified at their residence or domicile, in which case it is permissible to deliver the document to someone who declares that they are their agent or work for them, or that they are one of the cohabitants, such as spouses, relatives, or in-laws, who appear to be at least eighteen years old, provided that the interest of the person to be notified is not in conflict with their interest. 2. If one of the aforementioned persons refuses to receive the documents, the bailiff shall leave them with that person, and the notification shall be deemed to have been legally effected, even if the person refuses to sign the minutes.

Article 401

If the process server does not find among the persons present at the residence or dwelling of the person to be served anyone to whom the paper may properly be delivered according to the preceding article, or if the person present refuses to accept it, he must deliver it on the same day to the municipal chief or secretary or to the mayor in whose jurisdiction the residence of the person to be served is located. In this case, the process server must within twenty-four hours post a notice on the door of the residence or dwelling of the person to be served informing him that the paper was delivered to one of those mentioned in the preceding paragraph. This procedure shall be carried out in the presence of the person to whom it was delivered or two neighbors or members of public forces, and service is deemed accomplished from the completion thereof. The paper is kept with the municipality or mayor's office for three months and neither of them is responsible for it thereafter. The process server must detail all the aforementioned procedures in the service report signed by those who witnessed the posting of the notice.

Article 402

If the law requires the defendant to appoint a domicile and he fails to do so, or if the declaration of this domicile is incomplete or incorrect, it is permissible to notify him at the court registry of all documents that could have been regularly notified to him at the appointed domicile, with the exception of the final judgment. The notification of documents is made to the head of the registry, who shall have the server draw up a report thereof in accordance with the conditions stipulated in Article 405, and a copy of the notified document shall be posted on the court's notice board.

Article 403

Except as provided in special laws, papers are served as follows: 1- Concerning the State and other public persons: Service is made to the representative authorized by law or one acting in his place. 2- Concerning companies, associations, and other legal entities: Service is made at the legal entity's principal office or at the branch referred to in paragraph 2 or at the branch of the foreign legal entity located in Lebanon or at its agent's office, to its legal representative or the person responsible for the branch or the agent or one declaring he represents any of them, and if none of them is present then to one of the members or employees present. If the legal entity has no principal office, branch, or agent's office, the papers are served to its legal representative or agent or at his residence. In case of refusal by the persons mentioned in the two preceding paragraphs, the rules of paragraph 4 apply to the legal representative or agent and the provisions of article 401 apply to other persons. 3- Concerning military personnel: Service is made through unit command. 4- Concerning imprisoned persons: Service is made through the prison director. 5- Concerning merchant ship sailors or those employed therein: Service is made through the ship captain. 6- Concerning persons lacking capacity or of limited capacity or missing persons: Service is made to their legal representative. If the person of limited capacity has a judicial guardian, a copy of the paper is served on him and another copy to the judicial guardian, and the periods run from the date of the last service.

Article 404

If there are multiple agents or representatives of the person to be notified, notification to one of them is permissible.

Article 405

The service of process record must contain the following information: 1- Mention of the place of service and the date of its occurrence by day, month, year and hour. 2- Name of the party requesting service, surname, profession or position and residence, and the name of his representative, surname, profession or position and residence. 3- Name of the court that ordered the service. 4- Nature of the document being served. 5- Name and surname of the person being served, profession or position and residence; if his residence was not known at the time of service, then his last known residence. 6- Name and capacity of the person who received the document to be served. 7- Mention of the delivery of the document to the person who received it and obtaining his signature. In case of his refusal to receive the document or to sign, mention this refusal and its reason in the record, as well as mention that the document being served was left to the person being served in person. 8- Name of the officer who carried out the service and his signature. The officer shall also mention, when necessary, in the service record the information mentioned in Articles 399 and 401. If the service on the opponent or other interested parties relates to any judicial rulings or court orders or petitions, the period of objection or third-party objection or appeal or cassation must be mentioned in the service document.

Article 406

1. Amended to require the bailiff or the person making the notification to deposit the notification record at the court registry within a maximum of forty-eight hours, otherwise they shall be liable to a fine of twenty thousand to forty thousand Lebanese pounds, to be imposed by the court. This record shall be appended to the case file.

Article 407

If ordinary notification is impossible for any reason, recourse shall be made to extraordinary notification after the court has ascertained the existence of such impossibility.

Article 408

If the person to be served has no known residence, exceptional service shall be effected after the court verifies this matter. The court ascertains that the person to be served has an unknown residence on the basis of a thorough and complete investigation carried out by the process server among relatives, neighbors and acquaintances of the person to be served and the head of the district where he used to reside, in light of the clarifications provided to him by the party requesting service in this regard.

Article 409

1. Exceptional notification shall be made by sending a court clerk, within an envelope sealed with its seal, a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt to the last known address or residence of the person to be notified, and to their elected domicile if any, summoning them to appear before the clerk to receive the document addressed to them. The envelope addressed to the elected domicile must indicate who may receive the letter on their behalf. 2. If the addressee refuses to receive the letter, the postal employee shall return it without delay to the court clerk, accompanied by a note indicating the refusal, and it shall be attached to the case file as evidence of the notification. 3. If the postal employee does not find the person to be notified at the address specified, they shall explain the situation and return the letter to the court clerk. In this case, as well as in the case where the person to be notified has no known address, residence, or elected domicile, a copy of the document to be notified shall be posted on the court's notice board for a period of twenty days, and a notice shall be published in a daily newspaper designated for judicial announcements, informing the person to be notified of the existence of a notification concerning them at the court. The notification shall be deemed complete upon the expiration of twenty days from the posting of the copy and the publication of the notice. 4. A certificate from the clerk attesting to this shall replace the notification record.

Article 410

1. Notification shall be deemed to be intended to cause lapse if it is not performed within a certain deadline, and the delivery of the document to be notified to the concerned party may suspend the running of this deadline.

Article 411

Service of documents between lawyers may be made directly provided that the document to be served is sent to the other lawyer in two copies, and he returns one of them to be submitted to the court to his colleague immediately after dating it and signing it as notice of service.

Article 412

If the place of notification is outside the jurisdiction of the court, its president may send the documents to be notified to the president of the court in whose jurisdiction the notification is required.

Article 413

1. Notification shall be made by a registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt, or through the Lebanese embassy or consulate in the said country, or in accordance with the rules prescribed by the local law, if the notification is addressed to a person residing in a foreign country. If notification is impossible, the court may consider the person to whom the notification is addressed as being of unknown residence, and the notification shall be made by the exceptional method.

Article 414

If service is directed to a representative of a foreign state or an international organization or body or one of its delegates in Lebanon, it shall be effected through the Ministry of Justice and Foreign Affairs in Lebanon by means of a letter in two copies, the body being served returning the second copy dated and signed by it to the court that ordered the service.