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National Report on France

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Groups of Companies

Part of the book series: Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law ((GSCL,volume 43))

Abstract

France has been a leading jurisdiction in Europe in the regulation of groups thanks to the recognition of the concept of the interest of the group by the French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) recognized the interest of the group in the famous Rozenblum case in 1985. This dynamic approach is also recognized in France in the area of insolvency law. The French approach is different from the German Konzernrecht although the latter only applies to public limited liability companies. Contrary to some other Member States of the European Union (EU), which also recognize the interest of the group, France has not adopted a comprehensive legislation on groups, although there are specific provisions to take into account the reality of the group. This means that the protection of minority shareholders is dealt with by general company law rules and cases. Recently, the French legislator has turned its attention to international corporate social responsibility and imposing duties on French parent companies.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Regards sur l’évolution du droit des sociétés depuis la loi du 24 juillet 1966.” (The Evolution of French Company Law since the July 24 1966 Act), I. Urbain-Parleani & Pierre-Henri Conac (eds.), 354 pp., Dalloz, March 2018.

  2. 2.

    See Trib. Corr. Paris, 16 May 1974, Soc. Saint-Frères, D. 1975, p. 37, Rev. soc. 1975, p. 657, n. B. Oppetit, JCP éd. E. 1075, II-11816, p; 381.

  3. 3.

    Cass. Com. 22-5-2019 n° 17-13.565 FS-PBR, S. c/ Sté française des chaux et ciments de St-Astier.

  4. 4.

    “Proposal to Facilitate the Management of Cross-Border company Groups in Europe”, as a member of the Forum Europaeum on Company Groups (FECG), (ECFR), 2015, n°2, p. 299-306; “Towards Recognition of the Group Interest in the European Union ?”, Club des Juristes, Committe on Europe, Member of the working group, June 2015, 60 pp.

  5. 5.

    Informal Company Law Expert Group (ICLEG), Report on the recognition of the interest of the group, October 2016, 47 pp; “Report of the Reflection Group on the future of European company law”, 5 April 2011. Both reports are available on SSRN.

  6. 6.

    Court of cassation, Criminal Chamber, 4 February 1985, Rozenblum and Allouche, D. 1985, p. 478, n. D. Ohl, I-639, JCP 1986, II-20585, n. W. Jeandidier, Rev. soc. 1985, p. 648, n. B. Bouloc.

  7. 7.

    Art. L. 242-6 of the Commercial code.

  8. 8.

    Id.

  9. 9.

    Boursier (2005), p. 273.

  10. 10.

    Cf. the alternative nature of the requirement of balance of the mutual obligations.

  11. 11.

    Directive 2014/59/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 establishing a framework for the recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment firms and amending (...), of the European Parliament and of the Council (BRRD), OJ [2014] L173/190.

  12. 12.

    Early intervention implies that the financial institution is ‘likely in the near future to infringe the requirements of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, Directive 2013/36/EU, Title II of Directive 2014/65/EU or any of Articles 3 to 7, 14 to 17, and 24, 25 and 26 of Regulation (EU) No 600/2014’ (BRRD, Art 27(1)).

  13. 13.

    The consideration for the provision of financial support must be set at the time such support is given.

  14. 14.

    BRRD, Art 19(7)(b).

  15. 15.

    Moreover, it is expressly contemplated that such consideration may take into account non-public information known to the subsidiary by virtue of its being part of the group: BRRD, Art 19(7)(d).

  16. 16.

    BRRD, Art 20.

  17. 17.

    BRRD, Art 21.

  18. 18.

    BRRD, Art 21(3).

  19. 19.

    BRRD, Art 23(1)(b).

  20. 20.

    BRRD Art. 23(1)(d).

  21. 21.

    BRRD, Art 23(1)(e).

  22. 22.

    EBA Guidelines, specifying the conditions for group financial support under Article 23 of Directive 2014/59/EU, EBA/RTS/2015/08, 9 July 2015.

  23. 23.

    BRDD, Art 25(2).

  24. 24.

    BRRD, Art 25(4).

  25. 25.

    Ordonnance n° 2015-1024 du 20 août 2015 portant diverses dispositions d’adaptation de la législation au droit de l’Union européenne en matière financière, JORF n°0192 du 21 août 2015 p. 14652.

  26. 26.

    Art. L. 223-19 of the Commercial code et seq.

  27. 27.

    AMF Recommendation 2012-05, n°20.

  28. 28.

    Art. L. 225-40-2 of the Commercial Code.

  29. 29.

    AMF Recommendation 2012-05 n°22.

  30. 30.

    AMF Recommendation 2012-05, n°22bis.

  31. 31.

    Recommendation 2012-05, n°25.

  32. 32.

    AMF Recommendation 2012-05, n°28.

  33. 33.

    Art. L. 223-19 of the Commercial code.

  34. 34.

    Art. L. 227-10 of the Commercial code.

  35. 35.

    Art. 5.4 of the “Transparency directive”, as amended. Directive 2004/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2004 on the harmonisation of transparency requirements in relation to information about issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market. The Directive has been amended in 2013.

  36. 36.

    Art. 1833 of the Civil code.

  37. 37.

    Art. L. 225-120 of the Commercial code.

  38. 38.

    Art.L. 225-231 of the Commercial code.

  39. 39.

    Art. 145 of the Code of civil procedure.

  40. 40.

    Art. L. 242-6 of the Commercial code.

  41. 41.

    Cass. Crim. 8 december 1906, Laurent Atthalin, S. 1907.1.377 n. Demogue, D. 1907.1.207.

  42. 42.

    Art. L. 651-2 of the Commercial code.

  43. 43.

    Art. L. 653-3 of the Commercial code.

  44. 44.

    Art. L. 626-2 of the Commercial code.

  45. 45.

    Art. L. 653-5 of the Commercial code.

  46. 46.

    Art L 654-2 of the Commercial code.

  47. 47.

    Art. L. 621-2 of the Commercial code.

  48. 48.

    Cass. Com., 19 avr. 2005, n° 05-10.094, Bull. civ. V, n° 92; D. 2005. 1225, obs. A. Lienhard; Rev. sociétés 2005. 897, note D. Robine et J. Marotte.

  49. 49.

    Cour de cassation (com.) 10 janvier 2006, M. Gilles Pellegrini, mandataire judiciaire c/ Société Holco, B. Grelon et C. Dessus-Larrivé, La confusion des patrimoines au sein d’un groupe, Rev. Sociétés 2006, p. 281; Ph. Roussel-Galle, Rev. Sociétés 2006, p. 629.

  50. 50.

    Law n°2017-399 of 27 March 2017 relative au devoir de vigilance des sociétés mères et des entreprises donneuses d’ordre, JORF 28 March 2017. Conac and Urbain-Parléani (2017), p. 90; M. Lancri, Le devoir de vigilance à la Française, Journal des sociétés, n°151, April 2017, p. 71; S. Schiller, Exégèse de la loi relative au devoir de vigilance des sociétés mères et entreprises donneuses d’ordre, JCP E, n°15, April 2017, p. 19.

  51. 51.

    Law n°2016-1691 of 9 December 2016 regarding transparency, fight against corruption and the modernisation of the economic life, JORF 10 December 2016. F. Barrière, Les lanceurs d’alerte, Revue des socié tés 2017 p.191; M. Lancri, Anti-corruption issues: New French Sapin II Law on transparency, Compliance & Ethics Professional, April 2017, p. 85.

  52. 52.

    Art. L. 225-97-2 of the Commercial code. Law of June 14, 2013 on the securement of employment (Loi relative à la sécurisation de l’emploi du 14 juin 2013), JORF 14 June 2013.

  53. 53.

    Cass. com., 15 sept. 2009, n° 08-19.200, Bull. civ. IV, n° 110, RJDA 1/10 n° 81.

  54. 54.

    Government pleading before the Constitutional Court, n°2017-750 DC.

  55. 55.

    Art. L. 225-102-4 of the Commercial code.

  56. 56.

    P.-H. Conac, La loi du 24 juillet 1966 sur les sociétés commerciales et le juge: la cour de cassation prisonnière d’un fantôme ? (The July 24 1966 Act on commercial companies and the judge: the French Supreme Court prisoner of a ghost), Revue des sociétés n°2018-12, p. 691-700.

  57. 57.

    https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2929348.

References

  • Boursier M-E (2005) Le fait justificatif de groupe de sociétés dans l’abus de biens sociaux: entre efficacité et clandestinité. Analyse de vingt ans de jurisprudence criminelle. Revue des sociétés:273

    Google Scholar 

  • Conac P-H, Urbain-Parléani I (2017) The 2017 Act on the duty of vigilance of parent and outsourcing companies. Revue Trimestrielle de Droit Financier (RTDF) (3):90

    Google Scholar 

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  1. University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

    Pierre-Henri Conac

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  1. University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Rafael Mariano Manóvil

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Conac, PH. (2020). National Report on France. In: Manóvil, R.M. (eds) Groups of Companies. Ius Comparatum - Global Studies in Comparative Law, vol 43. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36697-1_3

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