The judicial crisis recovery management procedure: A new temporary tool for businesses in financial distress because of the health crisis

Sophie Hosri, Esq.

Seeking to ensure the survival of companies that could become insolvent in the coming months due to the phasing-out of the support measures that have been put in place, the French legislator has adopted a Law introducing a new procedure, i.e., the judicial crisis recovery management procedure.

This temporary procedure is of particular interest to debtors who may be experiencing short-term difficulties caused by the COVID-19 health crisis and who wish to benefit from a simple and rapid mechanism for spreading out their current liabilities over a long period of time.

Google fined 220 million euros by French Competition Authority for having abused its dominant position in the online advertising sector

Pauline Kubat, Esq.

In decision No. n°21-D-11 dated June 7, 2021, the Autorité de la concurrence (French Competition Authority) imposed a 220 million euros fine on Google.

The reason: Google had engaged into discriminatory practices aimed at favoring its own adverting technologies to the detriment of the other players of the sector.

The matter was brought before the French Competition Authority by several newspaper publishers (News Corp. Inc., the Figaro group and the Rossel La Voix group) adversely affected by the practices of the digital giant.

Recognition of the existence of a manifestly unlawful disturbance resulting from the failure to file annual accounts and statute of limitations applicable to actions based on ordinary law provisions

Sophia El  Makhoukhi, Esq.

While many company managers fail to comply with their obligation to file annual accounts, the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court) has decided to reinforce the applicable sanction mechanism in an unprecedented decision issued on March 3, 2021.

Recognizing for the first time the non-exclusive nature of the special provisions of the French Commercial Code allowing a third party to obtain the forced filing of a company’s annual accounts, the Cour de Cassation held that the failure to file annual accounts constituted a manifestly unlawful disturbance that justified the initiation of summary proceedings with a view to putting an end to such disturbance.

Moreover, since the injunction to file the annual accounts was intended to put an end to a manifestly unlawful disturbance, the Cour de Cassation considered that the limitation period provided for in Article 1844-14 of the French Civil Code was not applicable.

Publications

Anaëlle idjeri has authored an article entitled Principio de igualdad y deber de revelación de los árbitros: Nuevas contribuciones de la Chambre Commerciale Internationale à la Cour d’Appel de Paris in the publication La Ley Mediación y Arbitraje (April-June 2021 edition, n° 07).

Catherine Nommick and Fabien Pomart contributed the following articles to the 2021 Legal Guide published by Tribune de Lyon, a Guide that offers precise and pragmatic answers to concrete issues faced by business owners/managers:

How to justify the non-payment of commercial rents during the health crisis?

Merger by acquisition” transactions: What is the impact of the recent decision on the transfer of criminal liability?

The collective performance agreement: A tool for companies to adapt to the health crisis?

Pauline Kubat was interviewed by Tribune de Lyon in connection with an article on ransomware attacks entitled Cybercriminality. Tips to fight ransomware.

Podcast: Jean-Marie Deveaux, a convenient scapegoat

Christophe Hondelatte, a French TV and radio journalist, interviewed André Soulier in a podcast entitled Jean-Marie Deveaux, a convenient scapegoat as part as his “Hondelatte tells” podcast series broadcasted on Europe 1, a leading French private radio station.

The so-called Jean-Marie Deveaux case, often described as one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in French criminal history, had a considerable impact because it is directly at the origin of the 1970 French Indemnification Act which provides for the indemnification of people sentenced wrongly before being cleared of all charges pursuant to a dismissal, discharge or acquittal ruling.

In 1963, Jean-Marie Deveaux, a retailer butcher helper, is sentenced to twenty years of imprisonment for the murder of his employers’ daughter. After a long judicial fight led by André Soulier and three appeals before the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court), the last two of which were lodged by two Ministers of Justice, Jean-Marie Deveaux is retried in 1969 and finally acquitted.

“Contributor Most Read in France, May 2021” Award

We are pleased to announce that our Firm has received the “Contributor Most Read in France, May 2021” award from Mondaq, one of the largest global online advisory content suppliers with more than one million registered users.

International Perspective: Transfer Pricing Card 2021

This month, we are pleased to feature a contribution entitled Transfer Pricing Card 2021 authored by Aina Okseņuka, Kaido Künnapas, Indrė Ščeponienė, Alexey Fidek and Aija Lasmane from Sorainen, a fully integrated international business law firm with offices in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Belarus.

This contribution provides most recent information on transfer pricing requirements in the Baltics and Belarus and a comparison of the main transfer pricing regulations applicable in these countries.