Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (JD Supra France)

While the technical feasibility of a decarbonised economy essentially based on renewable energies is taking shape, the French Republic has just been found liable for environmental harm in relation to climate change by the French administrative judge. At stake, France’s breach of the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the aggravation of climate change.

Summer 2020 was characterized by two significant news items: one in the area of merger control and the other in the area of restrictive practices. ..On 28 August 2020, the French Competition Authority prohibited a merger for the first time since its creation. This transaction involved the takeover of a hypermarket in the Troyes agglomeration and the proposed remedies were not sufficient to...

On July 23, 2020, the French Competition Authority (the "Authority") published its new guidelines on merger control (the "Guidelines"), after more than two years of consultations and discussions. These Guidelines, which replace, effective immediately, the previous guidelines published in July 2013, are binding on companies before the Authority and directly enforceable by the parties to a merger.

It is widely known that brands around the world destroy over-ordered under-sold clothing and non-expired cosmetic products (often referred to as dead stock or obsolete inventory), rather than discount the sale price or donate the items. Such brands (and in particular, clothing brands with a focus on ‘fast fashion’), are no strangers to being criticized for playing their part in the increasing...

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated an unprecedented crisis, throwing companies into uncertainty as to the fate of their contractual commitments. In response to the legitimate questions raised by such situation, many articles have presented the force majeure and revision for unforeseen circumstances as the main remedies. However, while these two mechanisms could rightly be mentioned, an...

In response to the pandemic of the Covid-19 Coronavirus, the Government put in place various measures to support businesses in difficulty. First of all, the emergency law of 23 March dealing with the coronavirus pandemic was published on 24 March 2020, the date of its entry into force.

On 26 March 2020, the French government issued 26 Covid 19 decrees as part of the health state of emergency that has been declared. Below is a  summary of the measures affecting businesses...

The French act of March 23, 2020 (no. 2020-290) known as the "emergency act to deal with the Covid 19 epidemic" was enacted yesterday, March 24, 2020, in the French Official Journal. The “state of health emergency” is declared for a period of two months and the government is authorized to take social measures by ordinance for three months.

La Loi n° 2020-290 du 23 mars 2020 d’urgence pour faire face à l’épidémie de covid-19 instaure un «état d’urgence sanitaire» de deux mois face à l’épidémie due au coronavirus.  Cette loi habilite le Gouvernement à prendre par ordonnances, dans un délai de trois mois, des mesures d’urgence économique relevant du domaine de la loi sans validation préalable du parlement.

Télétravail : quelles sont les modalités de mise en place? Faut-il signer un accord ou une charte? Non. Aucune procédure n’est légalement requise. Certes, des accords ou chartes peuvent être adoptés ou signés mais ils ne présentent qu’un caractère facultatif.

As the coronavirus has spread worldwide to reach pandemic level, employers are putting into place measures group-wide to limit risks of contagion within the work place. Some of these measures have led companies to question their staff and visitors about their health, recent travels and/or contacts with a contagious person.

As the Coronavirus spreads on a worldwide level, employers have started to put into place certain measures group-wide, to limit risks of contagion, such as forbidding travel to certain countries (mainland China, South Korea, Northern Italy, Iran and Singapore) or restricting non-essential travel to certain regions (such as Asia). In addition to these measures, employers may quarantine staff which

Following the ruling of the Supreme Court on 17 July 2019, the Paris Court of Appeal, by a judgment dated 30 October 2019, validated the Macron grid capping damages for unfair dismissal. This policy, which limits the compensation that may be awarded to employees dismissed without a real or serious cause, has been challenged by many French labor courts since its implementation by an order dated

Dans la foulée de l’avis rendu par la Cour de cassation le 17 juillet 2019, la cour d’appel de Paris, par un arrêt du 30 octobre 2019, valide à son tour le barème Macron.   Ce dispositif légal, qui plafonne les indemnités pouvant être accordées aux salariés licenciés sans cause réelle ou sérieuse, est contesté par les juridictions prud’homales depuis sa mise en place par une ordonnance du 22...

French Ordinance No. 2019-740 of 17 July 2019 standardized the civil penalties applicable to errors (or omissions) in the calculation of the Annual Percentage Rate or, as it is known in French, the Taux Effectif Global (TEG). The Ordinance was adopted pursuant to the Enabling Act "for a State working for a trustworthy society"(“Pour un Etat au Service d’une Société de Confiance”), Law n° 2018-7

The French Data Protection Authority (“Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés” - CNIL), the independent French administrative regulatory body whose mission is to ensure that data privacy law is respected, has adopted new guidelines on cookies and other tracers. The guidelines highlight that stakeholders are required to obtain the consent of users before any operation to using...

In two opinions dated July 17, 2019, the French Supreme Court confirmed that the so-called “Macron Grid” implemented by the French employment law reforms in September 2017 is compatible with Article 10 of Convention no. 158 of the International Labor Organization (“ILO”). Following diverging opinions and judgments from local French labor courts (e.g., Montpellier, Troyes, Lyon) on the validity

Decree No. 2019-339 of 18 April 2019 (the “Decree”), simplifying formalities for the notification of a prospective concentration operation, including mergers and acquisitions, to the French Competition Authority (“FCA”), was published in the French Official Journal on 20 April 2019 and came into force the following day. This Decree is in line with the FCA’s intention to modernise concentration

The French CNIL imposed a €400,000 fine on a company specialized in real estate development, purchase, sale, rental and property management, for failing to adequately protect the data of users of its website and for implementing inappropriate procedures for storing data. Facts - The company operates a website on which users can create a file to apply for a rental and upload supporting...

In order to fight against gender inequalities at work, French law no. 2018-771 adopted on 5 September 2018 introduces an obligation for employers to achieve the principle of equal remuneration between women and men (as opposed to a best efforts obligation). To do so, companies with 50+ employees will be required to calculate an “equal pay index”, based on gender equality indicators.

On 11 December 2018, the French Government published an implementing Decree No. 2018-1126 that clarified the conditions for the implementation of the new general protection scheme with respect to trade secrets introduced by Law No. 2018-670 of 30 July 2018. The trade secrets Law was promulgated on 30 July 2018 as per the EU Directive 2016/943 of 8 June 2016 on the protection of undisclosed...

In a judgment dated 28 November 2018, the French Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation) ruled for the first time on the characterization of the agreement between a delivery driver and a digital platform. The French Supreme Court granted the status of employee to a former delivery driver of Take Eat Easy.

French Parliament passed a bill last December 21, 2018 introducing urgent economic and social measures to improve employees’ purchasing power. One measure concerns the payment of an exceptional bonus of up to 1,000 euros net, exempted from social contributions and income tax, to employees earning up to 3 times the yearly minimum wage.

Le 22 novembre 2018 est entré en vigueur, le décret 2018-1004 du 19 novembre 2018 portant modernisation du cadre juridique de la gestion d'actifs et du financement par la dette. Publié le 21 novembre au Journal Officiel, ce décret concerne le recours à des instruments financiers à terme par les sociétés civiles de placement immobilier, aux groupements forestiers d'investissement, aux prêts...

Le 22 novembre 2018 est entré en vigueur, le décret 2018-1004 du 19 novembre 2018 portant modernisation du cadre juridique de la gestion d'actifs et du financement par la dette. Publié le 21 novembre au Journal Officiel, il concerne le recours à des instruments financiers à terme par les sociétés civiles de placement immobilier, aux groupements forestiers d'investissement, aux prêts octroyés par

Le 22 novembre 2018 est entré en vigueur, le décret 2018-1004 du 19 novembre 2018 portant modernisation du cadre juridique de la gestion d'actifs et du financement par la dette. Publié le 21 novembre au Journal Officiel, il précise les conditions dans lesquelles les fonds professionnels spécialisés et les organismes de financement, notamment les organismes de financement spécialisé créés par l'ord

Le 22 novembre 2018 est entré en vigueur, le décret 2018-1004 du 19 novembre 2018 portant modernisation du cadre juridique de la gestion d'actifs et du financement par la dette. Publié le 21 novembre au Journal Officiel, ce décret concerne le recours à des instruments financiers à terme par les sociétés civiles de placement immobilier, aux groupements forestiers d'investissement, aux prêts...

In a judgment dated 28 November 2018, the French Supreme Court (Cour de Cassation) ruled for the first time on the characterization of the agreement between a deliverer and a digital platform. The French Supreme Court granted the status of employee to a former deliverer of Take Eat Easy (a company that went bankrupt in 2016). What impact will this case have?

After the deadline and with several weeks additional delay caused by a constitutional challenge brought before the French Constitutional Council (Conseil Constitutionnel) France has joined the band of roughly half of the other EU Member States that have transposed EU Directive 2016/943 with respect to the protection of trade secrets in to local law. The Trade Secrets Directive should have been...

Forty-five years after the law “for professional equality”, the wage gap between women and men persists. In order to overcome this, the law "for the freedom to choose one's professional future" imposes new measures on companies.