Lessons from the French Duty of Care Law on the way to a European text

Abstract

A few years ago, France was significantly behind in matters of compliance and was even being stigmatised by the OECD for failing to prosecute corruption offences provided for by the criminal code.

Then, everything came at once: The now well-renowned Sapin II law that implemented the obligation to adopt an anticorruption compliance programme for companies of a certain size (more than 500 employees and a turnover of more than 100 million euros); the entry into force of the GDPR; the transposition of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive n° 2014/95/$\mathit{EU}$; and the loi sur le devoir de vigilance (duty of care).

To complete this legal framework, the “loi Pacte” was adopted in 2019.

The purpose of the present article is to: recall the context in which the French Duty of Care Law was adopted; discuss the law and how it has been implemented for the almost 4 years since its passage and show how the law is influencing other countries and the European Union.