Business Law

The 7th Choose France Summit, held on May 13, 2024, brought together nearly 200 foreign business leaders of 40 different nationalities. 56 foreign investment projects were announced, representing a total of €15 billion and 10,000 jobs.

Created in 2018 by President Emmanuel Macron, Choose France aims at highlighting the importance of international investment and presenting to international companies the reforms carried out by the French Government to promote economic growth on its territory.

France offers many advantages for businesses, in particular thanks to its central location in Europe, the 2nd largest market in the world, a well-trained workforce and one of the highest hourly productivity rates, an advantageous tax system, as well as an appreciable environmental protection.

The French Government has set up rules to screen foreign investments. This screening has not prevented a significant number of foreign projects from being authorized in 2022.

The French Government has recently been encouraging foreign investments in the industrial and green sectors.

On October 16, 2023, the Internal Market and International Trade committees of the European Parliament adopted their position on the future EU Regulation “on prohibiting products made with forced labor on the Union market” (the “Regulation”).

This Regulation was proposed by the European Commission on September 14, 2022, with the aim of combating forced labor and promoting corporate sustainability standards.

On a global scale, the use of forced labor remains widespread, affecting some 27.6 million people worldwide, according to the International Labor Organization (“ILO”).

On September 12, 2023, the European Commission presented a series of initiatives to provide short-term relief to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), boost their long-term competitiveness, and strengthen fairness in the business environment across the Single Market.

The contemplated measures include new proposals for a Regulation on late payments in commercial transactions and for a Directive establishing a head office tax system for SMBs, as well as additional tools to support SMBs throughout their entire business life cycle.

In two judgments handed down on February 28, 2023, the summary judge of the Paris Judicial Court declared inadmissible the claims of several environmental protection associations seeking that TotalEnergies be ordered to comply with its duty of vigilance obligations under the Law No. 2017-399 of March 27, 2017.

Law No. 2016-1691 on transparency, the fight against corruption and the modernization of the economy of December 9, 2016, commonly referred to as the “Sapin II Law”, has provided France with innovative tools inter alia to detect, prevent and punish corruption and breaches of probity.

The reinforcement of the legal arsenal to better fight corruption is one of the major pillars of this Law, and the risks associated to breaches of compliance rules can prove to be a deterrent for buyers in the context of M&A transactions.