Duty of Vigilance Law

Reporting
- Companies must disclose their due diligence processes
- Vigilance plans must be published in the company’s annual report since 2018
- Companies must report on implementation and legal actions since 2019
Due Diligence
- Duty of vigilance: general obligation to take and effectively implement adequate measures to identify and prevent risks of severe abuses to human rights, health and safety and the environment.
- Companies falling within the scope of the law must:
  (1) Establish and effectively implement a vigilance plan which shall include a mapping assessment to identify and rank risks; set out procedures to assess subsidiaries, subcontractors, and suppliers; establish appropriate action to mitigate risks and prevent violations; create an alert mechanism, and a monitoring scheme to assess the efficiency of the measures implemented;
  (2) Publish the plan and a report on its implementation, and include it in their annual report.

Human Rights
- Severe violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, health, and security
Environment
- Covers ‘environmental damage’ broadly defined
Broad ranging

Own Operations
Subsidiaries
Direct Suppliers
Indirect Suppliers
- Refers to violations “resulting from the activities of subcontractors and suppliers with whom there is an established business relationship, when these activities are related to this relationship”
- Scope of the duty of vigilance may depend on the interpretation of the judge.
Full Value Chain

Large Companies
- Defined as any company that at the end of two consecutive financial years has at least 5,000 employees employed within the company and its subsidiaries, with registered offices in French territory, or with at least 10,000 employees in its service and in its subsidiaries, with registered offices in French territory or abroad (Article 1).
SMEs
All sectors

Monitoring
Administrative Sanctions
- The draft law planned for a fine up to 10 million euros if a company failed to establish and publish a vigilance plan and a civil fine up to 30 million in case the company was found liable for any resulting harm: both were removed by the Constitutional Court
Other

Civil Liability
- Individuals can bring a civil lawsuit based on French tort law to claim damages resulting from a company failure to comply with its duty of vigilance
Facilitating Access to Justice
- Fault-based or negligence-based liability: liability is not presumed, victims must prove harm, breach, and a causal link
Other
- Monitoring: any person can send a formal notice to urge the company to comply with its duties
- If the company fails to comply within 3 months following a formal notice, any person with standing (locus standi) may ask the court to order the company to comply with its duties, even under penalty payment. The President of the court can order companies to comply with rulings in interlocutory proceedings

Documentation

Law