In a decision dated December 8, 2021, the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court) confirmed that when the mandatory provisions of French law regarding the termination of an employment contract are more favorable, they apply to employment contracts under foreign law performed in France.
Ordinance No. 2021-1658 of December 15, 2021 relating to intellectual property rights in assets generated by software developers or inventors who are neither employees nor public agents and who have been hosted by a legal entity carrying out research (the “Ordinance”) unifies French intellectual property law with respect to service inventions.
Parent companies and large companies acting as principals may be held liable in the event of a breach of their duty of vigilance.
This duty of vigilance takes into account inter alia the risks of environmental damage associated with the operations of these companies, as well as those of their subsidiaries, subcontractors or suppliers.
The debate as to which court is competent to assess a vigilance plan has just been definitively settled: The Paris Judicial Court (Tribunal Judiciaire de Paris) has exclusive jurisdiction to hear disputes over the duty of vigilance.
In a decision dated January 26, 2022, the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court) clarified that the presumption introduced by Article L. 1226-12 of the French Labor Code only applies if the redeployment position offered to an employee declared unfit for work is as comparable as possible to the position previously held by that employee, thereby imposing a duty of loyalty on the employer.
As early as 2016, the then Minister of Justice, Christiane Taubira, stressed the importance of criminal seizures in the legal arsenal.
The current interest in this process can be explained by the fact that it allows for a patrimonial penalty that deprives the perpetrator of the proceeds of his/her offense and, consequentially, of a title considered to be more fraudulent than legitimate.
However, the confiscation sometimes does not only affect the perpetrator of the offense but also a third-party owner of the seized property who has not committed any offenses.
The principle under French law is that financial dealings between France and foreign countries are unrestricted.
However, some investors making certain types of investments in so-called “sensitive” business sectors must follow a prior authorization procedure with the French Minister of the Economy.
The control of foreign investments in these business sectors has been significantly reinforced in recent years, especially since the outbreak of the health crisis resulting from the emergence and spread of COVID-19.
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