All publications by Soulier Avocats

On January 12, 2021, the French Anti-Corruption Agency published its new guidelines which will serve as the reference framework for its investigations, effective from July 13, 2021.

These new guidelines, which are both more demanding and pragmatic because they have been adapted to take into account the inspections and audits carried out by the AFA since the entry into force of the former guidelines, deserve, in our opinion, the full attention of entities subject to Article 17 of the Sapin II Law.

The payment of commercial rents during successive lockdown periods is an issue that has given rise to numerous disputes.

Arguments based on force majeure, unforeseeability or non-performance, often used by lessees as a justification for not paying the rent, had been dismissed in the majority of court decisions handed down on this subject.

On January 20, 2021, the enforcement judge of the Paris Judicial Court opened up another way based on the “loss of the leased property”.

The International Chamber of Commerce (the “ICC”) has unveiled a revised version of its Rules of Arbitration (the “Revised Rules”). This new version, which came into force on January 1, 2021, applies to arbitration proceedings initiated on or after that date, unless otherwise agreed by the Parties. Although it does not introduce major substantive changes, […]

Law No. 2020-1525 of December 7, 2020 on the acceleration and simplification of public action (often referred to under its French acronym “ASAP” Law) has extended until December 31, 2021 a number of derogations that adapt French legal provisions governing distressed companies to the COVID-19 health crisis.

The adoption of this Law provides the opportunity to recall the various measures that remain applicable to date.

The closure of many companies since the first lockdown in March 2020 and the resulting economic slowdown have caused high tensions between lessors and lessees of commercial premises. Some tensions escalated to disputes, some of which have already been brought before French courts.

Law No. 2020-1379 of November 14, 2020 authorizing the extension of the state of health emergency and introducing various measures to manage the health crisis (the “Law”) has supplemented the measures taken as early as in March 2020 by the French Government concerning the performance of commercial leases agreements.

In a ruling issued on November 25, 2020, the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court) reaffirmed the exceptional nature of co-employment by giving a new definition of its constituent elements.

This more restrictive definition, which reinforces the exceptional nature of the situation of co-employment, should have a deterrent effect on employees wishing to rely on this concept in court.