Legal Insights

In recent weeks, the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court) has issued a number of rulings providing useful clarification on issues that are important to companies and their corporate officers.

These rulings concern inter alia the criminal liability of employers in the context of their obligation to ensure the safety of their employees, a reversal of case law pertaining to the right of evidence in civil matters, the absolute protection of an employee on maternity leave against dismissal, and the compensation due to an employee using his/her home for professional purposes.

A provisional agreement has been reached between the European Parliament and the Council on the protection of the environment through criminal law.

This agreement relates to a proposal for a Directive, the aim of which is to improve the effective enforcement of criminal law and to combat the most serious environmental offenses which can have devastating effects on both the environment and human health.

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.

The transposition Law of November 29, 2023 incorporates most of the proposals of the national interprofessional agreement on value sharing of February 10, 2023.

From December 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023, companies that have already paid a value-sharing bonus (PPV) to their employees in 2023 will be able to pay a second value-sharing bonus under preferential social and tax arrangements.

Noting that the French State had failed to take the necessary measures to ensure compliance with European air pollution thresholds in several urban areas in France, the Conseil d’État (French Administrative Supreme Court) ordered it in 2021 and 2022 to pay 3 penalty payments of €10 million each per six-month period of non-compliance.

In a ruling handed down on November 24, 2023, considering the persistence of pollution in Paris and Lyon and the improvements observed, the Conseil d’État once again ordered the French State to pay two penalty payments of €5 million each for the two six-month periods from July 2022 to July 2023.

Following approval by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament, the new Regulation on the protection of geographical indications for craft and industrial products was published on October 27, 2023 in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation marks a significant milestone in the protection of the names of European craft and industrial products as it creates a single system of protection throughout the territory of the European Union.