The French Vigilance Law, dated 27 March 2017, subjects certain companies to effectively establishing, implementing and publishing a “vigilance plan”. This plan aims to identify and prevent the occurrence of violations of the human rights and fundamental freedoms, health and safety of individuals and the environment, resulting from the activities of the company and those of the companies it controls, directly or indirectly, as well as from the activities of subcontractors or suppliers with which it has an established commercial relationship. A vigilance plan should include (i) a risk mapping; (ii) procedures for regular assessment of the situation of subsidiaries, subcontractors or suppliers with whom an established commercial relationship exists, in the light of the risk map; (iii) appropriate actions to mitigate risks or prevent serious harm; (iv) a reporting mechanism drawn up in conjunction with the company’s representative trade unions; and (v) a system for monitoring the measures implemented and evaluating
their effectiveness. This so-called “duty of vigilance” is applicable to French companies that, at the end of two consecutive financial years, employs, together with their direct and indirect subsidiaries, more than 5,000 persons in France, and to French companies employing, together with their direct and indirect subsidiaries, more than 10,000 persons in the world. Any interested party may put obliged companies under formal notice to establish, publish and implement a vigilance plan. Should the company not respond within three months, the court may, at the request of any interested party, order the company to comply with its obligations, possibly under penalty payment. Furthermore, failure to comply with this duty of vigilance may give rise to civil liability for the obliged company and result in the obligation to compensate for any damage caused. The court may also order the publication, dissemination or posting of its decision or an extract therefrom.
Source: Law no. 2017-399 of 27 March 2017 on the duty of vigilance of parent companies and ordering companies, https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/article_jo/JORFARTI000034290627
