Legal Insights

The French Data Protection Authority (Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés or “CNIL”) receives many individual and collective complaints (La Quadrature du Net, Privacy International, NOYB) relating to online marketing. In 2018, 21% of the complaints were related to marketing in the broad sense. Meanwhile, online marketing professionals and their representatives are seeking to better understand their obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation. Pending the adoption of the forthcoming ePrivacy Regulation, the CNIL has released new guidelines.

Definitively adopted on April 11, 2019, the Law on business growth and transformation, known as the “PACTE” Law, reforms the workforce thresholds and amends the rules governing employee savings schemes in many respects.
This article provides an overview of the main provisions of the Law that have implications for the French labor and employment landscape.

The property ownership tax (taxe foncière) is a local tax levied once a year by municipalities. To calculate the amount of the tax, tax authorities use the cadastral rental value of the property. This base is then multiplied by the tax rate set by each municipality. Any owner of a real estate property is liable for the property ownership tax. However, while the owner is effectively legally liable for this tax, it is permissible, under a commercial lease agreement, for the latter to pass all or part of the burden of this tax to the lessee of the property. But what exactly does the law say?

Regulation (EU) 2019/452 of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 19, 2019 establishing a framework for the screening of foreign direct investments into the European Union entered into force on April 10, 2019. It will automatically apply in EU Member States from October 11, 2020. The objective of this new Regulation is to create cooperation mechanisms between Member States on the one hand, and between Member States and the European Commission on the other hand, in order to control foreign direct investments in sensible European business sectors.

On June 20, 2019, the Haute Autorité de la Santé (French Health Authority) published a best practice guide for the implementation and exercise of teleconsultation and tele-expertise activities. These recommendations, intended for professionals, are designed to support the operational deployment of telemedicine in France.

A new episode in the legal saga on Macron’s scale: the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court) recently issued an eagerly awaited opinion on the compatibility of Macron’s mandatory scale for the determination of damages in case of dismissal without real and serious cause with European and international standards.