France adopts a corporate duty of vigilance law

The French Parliament has adopted a law that will require French large companies to identify and prevent their human rights and environmental impacts.

The national Assembly (French Parliament) adopted the text of the “law regarding the duty of vigilance of parent and contracting companies” on 21st of February. The norm will require big companies domiciled in France to adopt an annual plan of vigilance whereby they shall identify and prevent human rights and environmental risks linked to their own activities, to their controlled companies and to those suppliers and sub-contractors with whom they maintain an established business relationship.

Civil society organisations, scholars and policy-makers have been working for the adoption of this law for more than one year. Despite being welcome, the current text lags behind the ambitious scope or content of the first versions. Some of the identified shortcomings are its limited scope (it will only affect around the 100 largest companies) or the fact that the burden to proof that the entity failed to adopt all the required measures to prevent the harm still falls on the victim. Moreover, in the event of damage, shall the company be deemed to have adopted all such measures, no liability will apply.

The official text in French can be accessed here, and a translation to English here. Additionally, the European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ) has also published a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) document (available here).