Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Full Reference: J.-B. Racine, "Obligation de Compliance et droits humains" ("Compliance Obligation and Human Rights"), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), L'Obligation de ComplianceJournal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, "Régulations & Compliance" Serie, 2024, to be published.

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📕read a general presentation of the book, L'Obligation de Compliance, in which this article is published

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 English Summary of the article (done by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance - JoRC) : The author asks whether human rights can, over and above the many compliance obligations, form the basis of the Compliance Obligation. The consideration of human rights corresponds to the fundamentalisation of Law, crossing both Private and Public Law, and are considered by some as the matrix of many legal mechanisms, including international ones. They prescribe values that can thus be disseminated.

Human rights come into direct contact with Compliance Law as soon as Compliance Law is defined as "the internalisation in certain operators of the obligation to structure themselves in order to achieve goals which are not natural to them, goals which are set by public authorities responsible for the future of social groups, goals which these companies must willingly or by force aim to achieve, simply because they are in a position to achieve them". These "Monumental Goals" converge on human beings, and therefore the protection of their rights by companies. 

In a globalised context, the State can either act through mandatory regulations, or do nothing, or force companies to act through Compliance Law. For this to be effective, tools are needed to enable 'crucial' operators to take responsibility ex ante, as illustrated in particular by the French law on the Vigilance Obligation of 2017.

This obligation takes the form of both a "legal obligation", expression which is quite  imprecise, found for example in the duty of vigilance of the French 2017 law, and in a more technical sense through an obligation that the company establishes, in particular through contracts.

Legal obligations are justified by the fact that the protection of human rights is primarily the responsibility of States, particularly in the international arena. Even if it is only a question of Soft Law, non-binding Law, this tendency can be found in the Ruggie principles, which go beyond the obligation of States not to violate human rights, to a positive obligation to protect them effectively. The question of whether this could apply not only to States but also to companies is hotly debated. If we look at the ICSID Urbaser v. Argentina award of 2016, the arbitrators accepted that a company had an obligation not to violate human rights, but rejected an obligation to protect them effectively. In European Law, the GDPR, DSA and AIA, and in France the so-called Vigilance law, use Compliance Lools, often Compliance by Design, to protect human rights ex ante.

Contracts, particularly through the inclusion of multiple clauses in often international contracts, express the "privatisation" of human rights. Care should be taken to ensure that appropriate sanctions are associated with them and that they do not give rise to situations of contractual imbalance. The relationship of obligation in tort makes it necessary to articulate the Ex Ante logic and the Ex Post logic and to conceive what the judge can order.

The author concludes that "la compliance oblige à remodeler les catégories classiques du droit dans l’optique de les adosser à l’objectif même de la compliance : non pas uniquement un droit tourné vers le passé, mais un droit ancré dans les enjeux du futur ; non pas un droit émanant exclusivement de la contrainte publique, mais un droit s’appuyant sur de la normativité privée ; non pas un droit strictement territorialisé, mais un droit appréhendant l’espace transnational" ("Compliance requires us to reshape the classic categories of Law with a view to bringing them into line with the very objective of Compliance: not just a Law turned towards the past, but a Law anchored in the challenges of the future; not a Law emanating exclusively from public constraint, but a Law based on private normativity; not a strictly territorialised Law, but a law apprehending the transnational space".

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Thesaurus : Soft Law

Référence complète : Gauvain, R. et Marleix, O., Rapport d'information sur l'évaluation de l'impact de la loi n° 2016-1691 du 9 décembre 2016 relative à la transparence, à la lutte contre la corruption et à la modernisation de la vie économique, 2021.

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Lire le rapport. 

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Publications

🌐suivre Marie-Anne Frison-Roche sur LinkedIn

🌐s'abonner à la Newsletter MAFR Regulation, Compliance, Law 

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 Référence complète : M.-A. Frison-RocheChoix et embranchements de compétences lorsqu'un enjeu de vigilance est alléguédocument de travail, novembre 2024.

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🧮Ce document de travail a été élaboré pour constituer la base d'une intervention à la conférence Le droit processuel de la vigilancedu 18 novembre 2024

qui fait partie du cycle de conférences sur Le contentieux systémique,

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📕Ce document de travail sera aussi la base d'une contribution pour l'ouvrage publié en 2025.

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 Résumé du document de travail 

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🔓lire le document de travail ci-dessous⤵️

Thesaurus : Autorité de Contrôle Prudentiel et de résolution (A.C.P.R.)

Référence complète : Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR), commission des sanctions, décision du 29 avril 2021, Cardif Assurance-Vie

Lire la décision

Thesaurus : Doctrine

Référence complète :  Berlin, D., « La lutte contre la fraude : action ou politique de l’Union ? » in Berlin, D. et al. (dir.), La fraude et le droit de l'Union européenne, 1e édition, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 2017, p. 37-54. 

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Référence complète : M. M. Mohamed Salah, "Conclusions", in J. Andriantsimbazovina (dir.), Puissances privées et droits de l'Homme. Essai d'analyse juridique, Mare Martin, coll. "Horizons européens", 2024, pp. 297-314

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► Résumé de l'article :

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🦉Cet article est accessible en texte intégral pour les personnes inscrites aux enseignements de la Professeure Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

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Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Full Reference:  B. Sillaman, "Taking the Compliance U.S. Procedural Experience globally", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), Compliance Jurisdictionalisation, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant, coll. "Compliance & Regulation", to be published. 

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📘read a general presentation of the book, Compliance Jurisdictionalisation, in which this article is published

 

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 Summary of the article (done by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance): The French legal system is evolving, organizing interaction between lawyers with regulators and prosecutors, specially in investigations about corruption or corporate misconduct, adopting U.S. negotiated resolutions such as the Convention judiciaire d'intérêt public, which encourages "collaboration" between them. 

The author describes the evolution of the U.S. DOJ doctrine and askes French to be inspired by the U.S. procedural experience, U.S. where this mechanism came from. Indeed, the DOJ released memoranda about what the "collaboration" means. At the end (2006 Memorandum), the DOJ has considered that the legal privilege must remain intact when the information is not only factual in order to maintain trust between prosecutors, regulators and lawyers.

French authorities do not follow this way. The author regrets it and thinks they should adopt the same reasoning as the American authority on the secret professionnel of the avocat, especially when he intervenes in the company internal investigation.

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🦉This article is available in full text to those registered for Professor Marie-Anne Frison-Roche's courses

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Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Full Reference: M. Torre-Schaub, "La compliance environnementale et climatique" ("Environmental and Climate Compliance"), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), L'Obligation de ComplianceJournal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", to be published

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📕lire une présentation générale de l'ouvrage, L'Obligation de Compliance, dans lequel cet article est publié

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 Summary of this contribution  (done by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance) : The author starts from the fact that Compliance Law, in that it is not limited to conformity process, and Environmental Law are complementary, both based above all on the prevention of risks and harmful behaviour, environmental crises and the right to a healthy environment involving the strengthening of Environmental Vigilance. It is all the more important to do this because definitions remain imprecise, not least those of Environment and Climate, which are diffuse concepts.

Firstly, the contribution sets out the purpose of Environmental Compliance, which is to ensure that companies are vigilant with regard to all kinds of risks: they put in place and follow a series of processes to obtain "progress" in accordance with a standard of "reasonable vigilance". This requires them to go beyond mere conformity and encourages them to develop their own soft law tools within a framework of information and transparency, so that the climate system itself benefits in accordance with its own objectives.

Then the author stresses the preventive nature of Environmental Vigilance mechanisms, which go beyond providing Information to managing risks upstream, in particular through the vigilance plan, which may be unified or drawn up risk by risk, and which must be adapted to the company, particularly in the risk mapping drawn up, with assessment being carried out on a case-by-case basis.

Lastly, in the light of recent French case law, the author describes the implementation of the system, which may bring the parties before the Tribunal judiciaire de Paris (Paris Court of First Instance) and then the specialised chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal. The author believes that judges must clarify the obligation of Environmental Vigilance so that companies can adjust to it, and these 2 courts are in the process of doing so.

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🦉This article is available in full text to those registered for Professor Marie-Anne Frison-Roche's courses

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Sept. 4, 2025

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Référence complète : G. J. Martin, "Clauses et contrats, modalités de l’obligation de vigilance", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), L'obligation de ComplianceJournal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) et Éditions Lefebvre - Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", 2025, sous presse

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📕lire une présentation générale de l'ouvrage, L'obligation de Compliance, dans lequel cet article est publié

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► Résumé de l'article (fait par le Journal of Regulation & Compliance - JoRC) : L'auteur se consacre à ce qui est souvent désigné comme les "clauses RSE" en ce qu'elles constituent une façon pour les entreprises de mettre en oeuvre leur Obligation de Compliance. Dans une pratique encore "balbutiante", les entreprises contractualisent ainsi leur aspiration éthique et leur obligation légale, définissant au passage plus précisément ce qu'est pour elle l'obligation de compliance et/ou de vigilance, notamment par des référentiels internes ou/et externes, en y associant des mécanismes d'évaluation, d'audit et de sanctions spécifiques, comme la résiliation.

En outre, le contrat organise l'articulation avec des clauses commerciales ayant un autre objet, Cela est d'autant plus requis que l'objet de ces clauses est aussi de "faire ruisseler" l'obligation légale au-delà du premier cercle contractuel. Le risque de déséquilibre devra être évité. Les clauses devront être précises et limitées, notamment au regard de l'espace et du temps. 

Dans un second temps, l'auteur examine l'articulation du Droit commun des contrats et du Droit spécial de la Vigilance. En effet, après avoir posé que le contrat soit le moyen, et même le seul moyen, de transformer la soft Law en hard Law dans les relations entre les parties contractantes, l'auteur estime que si une telle clause figure dans un contrat commercial figurant dans une situation visée par la lo de 2017 (chaine de valeur, rapport société-mère et filiale) il y a cumul de qualités. Il en naît donc des conflits de compétence avec le Tribunal judiciaire de Paris et l'on peut regretter l'abandon de la solution retenue par la Cour de cassation ouvrant une option de compétence.

Une autre articulation difficile devra être faite en cas de nullité de la clause RSE, annulation que le juge de droit commun peut prononcer, suivant qu'elle sera estimée par le juge déterminante ou non d'autres clauses, voire du contrat. En cas d'inexécution de la clause, la rupture des relations commerciales peut être prononcée, mais l'on peut penser qu'un préavis doit être respecté.

Enfin si l'objet même du contrat est l'exécution de l'obligation de vigilance, il faut que cela n'équivaille pas à une délégation qui anéantirait le principe légal d'une responsabilité personnelle.

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🦉Cet article est accessible en texte intégral pour les personnes inscrites aux enseignements de la Professeure Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

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Sept. 4, 2025

Editorial responsibilities : Direction of the collection "Regulations & Compliance", JoRC & Dalloz

🌐follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on LinkedIn

🌐subscribe to the Newsletter MAFR. Regulation, Compliance, Law

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 Full ReferenceM.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), L'Obligation de Compliance, coll."Régulations & Compliance", Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, to be published.

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📘 At the same time, a book in English, Compliance Obligation, is published in the collection copublished by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and the Éditions Bruylant.

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🧮the book follows the cycle of colloquia 2023 organised by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and its Universities partners.

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📚this volume is one of a series of books devoted to Compliance in this collection.

 read the presentations of the other books:

  • further books:

🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📕Le système probatoire de la Compliance, 2025

 

  • previous books:

🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche & M. Boissavy (eds.), 📕Compliance et droits de la défense. Enquête interne - CJIP - CRPC, 2023

🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📕La juridictionnalisation de Compliance, 2023

🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📕Les Buts Monumentaux de la Compliance, 2022

🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📕Les outils de la Compliance2021

🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📕Pour une Europe de la Compliance2019

🕴️N. Borga, 🕴️J.-Cl. Marin and 🕴️J.-Ch. Roda (eds.), 📕Compliance : l'Entreprise, le Régulateur et le Juge, 2018

🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📕Régulation, Supervision, Compliance2017

🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📕Internet, espace d'interrégulation, 2016

 

📚see the global presentation of all the books of the collection.

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► General presentation of this book: Compliance Compliance is sometimes presented as something that cannot be avoided, which is tantamount to seeing it as the legal obligation par excellence, Criminal Law being its most appropriate mode of expression. It is sometimes presented as something that the company does out of ethical concern, self-regulation which is the opposite of legal obligation. For the moment, therefore, there is no single vision of the Compliance Obligation. This is all the less the case because of the multitude of texts, themselves constantly evolving and changing, which inject such a wide range of compliance obligations that we give up trying to establish any unity, thinking that, on a case-by-case basis, we will define a regime and a legal constraint of greater or lesser strength, aimed at one subject or debtor or another, for the benefit of one or other.

This lack of unity, due to the absence of a definition of the Compliance Obligation, makes the application of the texts difficult to foresee and therefore makes the Judge fearful, even though he/she is going to take on more and more importance.

This book asks the practical questions: What is Compliance obliging? Who is obliged to comply? and How far are we obliged to comply? and provides answers, Compliance practices, constraints and innovations will be better mastered and anticipated by all those they affect: companies, stakeholders, technicians, lawyers, consultants, institutions and courts.

 

 

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🏗️general construction of this Book: The book opens with a double Introduction.  The first, which is freely accessible, consists of a summary of the book, while the second, which is substantial, deals with the unified conception that we can, and indeed should, have, of the "Compliance Obligation", without losing the concrete and active character that characterises this branch of law.

The first Part of the book aims to define the Compliance Obligation. To this end, Chapter I deals with the Nature of this obligation. Chapter II deals with the Spaces of the Compliance Obligation.

The Part II aims to articulate the Compliance Obligation with other branches of Law. 

The Part III of the book looks at the way in which the possibility of obliging and the means of obliging are provided.  To this end, Chapter I deals with the Convergence of the Sources of the Compliance Obligation. Chapter II considers International Arbitration as a reinforcement of the Compliance Obligation. To this end, Chapter I deals with the Convergence of the Sources of the Compliance Obligation. Chapter II considers International Arbitration as a reinforcement of the Compliance Obligation. 

The last Part of the book is devoted to Vigilance, the leading edge of the Compliance Obligation. Chapter I is devoted to a study of the various sectors, and analyses the Intensities of the Vigilance Obligation. Chapter II deals with the Variations in Tension generated by the Vigilance Obligation. Finally, Chapter III deals with the New Modalities of the Compliance Obligation, highlighted by the Vigilance Imperative.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

 

ANCRER LES OBLIGATIONS DE COMPLIANCE SI DIVERSES  

 DANS LEUR NATURE, LEURS REGIMES ET LEUR FORCE 

POUR DEGAGER  L'UNITE DE L'OBLIGATION DE COMPLIANCE

LA RENDANT COMPREHENSIBLE ET PRATIQUABLE 

(ANCHOR COMPLIANCE OBLIGATIONS, SO DIVERSE

 IN THEIR NATURE, THEIR REGIMES AND THEIR FORCE,

TO BRING OUT THE UNITY OF THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION

MAKING IT COMPREHENSIBLE AND PRACTICABLE)

♦️ Obligation de Compliance : construire une structure de compliance produisant des effets crédibles au regard des Buts Monumentaux visés par le Législateur (Compliance Obligation: building a compliance structure that produces credible results with regard to the Monumental Goals targeted by the Legislator), by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

 

TITRE I.

CERNER L’OBLIGATION DE COMPLIANCE 

(IDENTIFYING THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION)

 

CHAPITRE I : LA NATURE DE L’OBLIGATION DE COMPLIANCE (THE NATURE OF THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION)

Section 1 ♦️ La volonté, le cœur et le calcul, les trois traits cernant l'Obligation de Compliance  (Will, Heart and Calculation, the three traits encercling the Compliance Obligation), by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

Section 2 ♦️ De la dette à l’obligation de compliance (From the Debt to the Compliance Obligation), by 🕴️Bruno Deffains

Section 3 ♦️ Obligation de Compliance et droits humains (Compliance Obligation and Human Rights), by 🕴️Jean-Baptiste Racine

Section 4 ♦️ L'Obligation de Compliance et les mutations de la souveraineté et de la citoyenneté (Compliance Obligation and changes in Sovereignty and Citizenship), by 🕴️René Sève

Section 5 ♦️ La définition de l''obligation de compliance confrontée au droit de la cybersécurité (The definition of the Compliance Obligation in Cybersecurity Law) by🕴️Michel Séjean

 

CHAPITRE II : LES ESPACES DE L’OBLIGATION DE COMPLIANCE (SPACES OF THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION)

Section 1 ♦️ Entités industrielles et Obligation de compliance (Industrial entities and Compliance Obligation), by 🕴️Etienne Maclouf

Section 2 ♦️ L'Obligation de Compliance dans les chaînes de valeur (The Compliance Obligation in Value Chains), by 🕴️Lucien Rapp

Section 3 ♦️ Compliance et conflits de lois. Le droit international de la vigilance-conformité à partir de quelques applications récentes sur le continent européen (Compliance and conflict of laws. International Law of Vigilance-Conformity, based on recent applications in Europe), by 🕴️Louis d'Avout 

 

TITRE II.

ARTICULER L’OBLIGATION DE COMPLIANCE AVEC DES BRANCHES DU DROIT

(ARTICULATING THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION WITH BRANCHES OF LAW)

 

Section 1 ♦️ Dimensions constitutionnelles de l'Obligation de Compliance (Constitutional dimensions of the Compliance Obligation), by 🕴️Stéphane Mouton

Section 2 ♦️ Droit fiscal et obligation de compliance (Tax Law and Compliance Obligation), by 🕴️Daniel Gutmann

Section 3 ♦️ Le droit processuel, prototype de l'Obligation de Compliance (General Procedural Law, prototype of the Compliance Obligation), by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

Section 4 ♦️ Le droit des sociétés et des marchés financiers face à l'Obligation de Compliance (Corporate and Financial Markets Law facing the Compliance Obligation), by 🕴️Anne-Valérie Le Fur

Section 5 ♦️ Le rapport entre le Droit de la responsabilité civile et l'Obligation de Compliance (The link between Tort Law and Compliance Obligation), by 🕴️Jean-Sébastien Borghetti

Section 6 ♦️ Dimensions environnementales et climatiques de l'Obligation de Compliance (Environmental and Climatic Dimensions of the Compliance Obligation), by 🕴️Marta Torre-Schaub

Section 7 ♦️ Droit de la concurrence et Droit de la Compliance (Competition Law and Compliance Law), by 🕴️Jean-Christophe Roda

Section 8 ♦️ L'Obligation de Compliance en Droit global (The Compliance Obligation in Global Law), by 🕴️Benoît Frydman & 🕴️Alice Briegleb

Section 9 ♦️ Transformation des relations de travail et obligation de vigilance (Transformation of Labour Relations and Vigilance Obligation), by 🕴️Stéphane Vernac

Section 11 ♦️ Les juges du droit des entreprises en difficulté et les obligations de compliance (Judges of Insolvency Law and Compliance Obligations), by 🕴️Jean-Baptiste Barbièri

 

TITRE III.

COMPLIANCE : DONNER ET SE DONNER LES MOYENS D’OBLIGER

(COMPLIANCE : GIVE AND TAKE THE MEANS TO OBLIGE)

 

CHAPITRE I : LA CONVERGENCE DES SOURCES (CONVERGENCE OF SOURCES)

Section 1 ♦️ Obligation sur obligation vaut (Compliance Obligation on Obligation works), by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

Section 2 ♦️ Les technologies disponibles, prescrites ou proscrites pour satisfaire Compliance et Vigilance (Technologies available, prescribed or prohibited to meet Compliance and Vigilance requirements), by 🕴️Emmanuel Netter

Section 3 ♦️ La cybersécurité et l’Obligation de Compliance (Cybersecurity and Compliance Obligation), by 🕴️Michel Séjean🕴️

Section 4 ♦️ Contrainte légale et stratégie des entreprises en matière de Compliance (Legal Constraint and Company Strategies in Compliance matters), by 🕴️Jean-Philippe Denis & Nathalie Fabbe-Costes

Section 5 ♦️ La loi, source de l’Obligation de Compliance (The Law, source of the Compliance Obligation), by 🕴️Jean-Baptiste Blanc

Section 6 ♦️ Opposition et convergence des systèmes juridiques américains et européens dans les règles et cultures de compliance (Opposition and Convergence of American and European Legal Systems in Compliance Rules and Cultures), by 🕴️Raphaël Gauvain & 🕴️Blanche Balian

Section 7 ♦️ Ce à quoi les engagements engagent qu'est un engagement (What a ), by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

 

CHAPITRE II : L’ARBITRAGE INTERNATIONAL EN RENFORT DE L’OBLIGATION DE COMPLIANCE (INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION IN SUPPORT OF THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION)

Section 1 ♦️ Comment l'arbitrage international peut être un renfort de l'Obligation de Compliance (How International Arbitration can reinforce the Compliance Obligation), by 🕴️Laurent Aynès

Section 2 ♦️ La considération par l'Arbitrage de l'Obligation de Compliance pour une place d'arbitrage durable (Arbitration' consideration of Compliance Obligation for a Sustainable Arbitration Place),  by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche 

Section 3 ♦️ L’usage de l’arbitrage international pour renforcer l’obligation de Compliance : l’exemple du secteur de la construction (The use of International Arbitration to reinforce the Compliance Obligation: the example of the construction sector), by 🕴️Christophe Lapp

Section 4 ♦️ L’arbitre, juge, superviseur, accompagnateur  ? (The Arbitrator, Judge, Supervisor, Support) , by 🕴️Jean-Baptiste Racine

 

TITRE IV.

LA VIGILANCE, POINTE AVANCÉE DE L’OBLIGATION DE COMPLIANCE

(VIGILANCE, SPEARHEAD OF THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION)

Section 1 ♦️ La Vigilance, pointe avancée et part totale de l'Obligation de Compliance (....), by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

CHAPITRE I : LES INTENSITÉS DE L’OBLIGATION DE VIGILANCE, POINTE AVANCÉE DU SYSTÈME DE COMPLIANCE (INTENSITIES OF THE VIGILANCE OBLIGATION, SPEARHEAD OF THE COMPLIANCE SYSTEM)

Section 2 ♦️ L’intensité de l’Obligation de Vigilance selon les secteurs : le cas des opérateurs financiers (Intensity of the Vigilance Obligation by Sectors: the case of Financial Operators), by 🕴️Anne-Claire Rouaud

Section 3 ♦️ L’intensité de l’Obligation de Vigilance selon les secteurs : le cas des opérateurs bancaires et d’assurance (Intensity of the Vigilance Obligation by Sectors: the case of Banking and Insurance Operators), by 🕴️Mathieu Françon

Section 4 ♦️ L’intensité de l’obligation de vigilance selon les secteurs : le cas des opérateurs numériques (Intensity of the Vigilance Obligation by Sectors: the case of Digital Operators), by 🕴️Grégoire Loiseau

Section 5 ♦️ L’Obligation de vigilance des opérateurs énergétiques (The Vigilance obligation of Energy Operators), by 🕴️Marie Lamoureux

Section 2 ♦️ Transformation de la gouvernance et obligation de Vigilance (Transformation of Governance and Vigilance Obligation), by 🕴️Véronique Magniermag

 

CHAPITRE II : LES DISPUTES AUTOUR DE L'OBLIGATION DE VIGILANCE, POINTE AVANCÉE DU SYSTÈME DE COMPLIANCE, DANS SON RAPPORT AVEC LA RESPONSABILITÉ

Section 1 ♦️ Le rapport entre le droit de la responsabilité civile et l'obligation de compliance, by 🕴️Jean-Sébastien Borghetti

Section 2 ♦️ Repenser le concept de responsabilité civile à l’aune du devoir de vigilance, pointe avancée de la complianc(Rethinking the Concept of Civil Liability in the light of the Duty of Vigilance, Spearhead of Compliance), by 🕴️Mustapha Mekki

Section 3 ♦️ Tensions et contradictions entre les instruments relatifs à la vigilance raisonnable des entreprises, by 🕴️Laurence Dubin

Section 4 ♦️ Compliance, Vigilance et Responsabilité civile : mettre en ordre et raison garde (Compliance, Vigilance  and Civil Liability: put in order and keep the Reason), by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

 

CHAPITRE III : LES MODALITÉS NOUVELLES DE L'OBLIGATION DE COMPLIANCE, MISES EN LUMIÈRE PAR L'IMPÉRATIF DE VIGILANCE (NEW MODALITIES OF THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION, HIGHLIGHTED BY THE VIGILANCE IMPERATIVE)

Section 1 ♦️ Clauses et contrats, modalités de l’obligation de vigilance (Clauses and Contracts, terms and conditions of implementation of the Vigilance Obligation), by 🕴️Gilles J. Martin

Section 2 ♦️ La preuve de la bonne exécution de la Vigilance au regard du système probatoire de Compliance (Proof that Vigilance has been properly carried out with regard to the Compliance Evidence System), by 🕴️Jean-Christophe Roda

 

TITRE V.

LE JUGE ET L'OBLIGATION DE COMPLIANCE

(THE JUDGE AND THE COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION)

Section 1 Section 1 ♦️ Devoir de vigilance et litiges commerciaux : une compétence à partager ?, par 🕴️François Ancel

Section 2 ♦️ Les enjeux présents à venir de l’articulation des principes de procédure civile et commerciale avec la logique de compliance (Present and Future Challenges of Articulating Principles of Civil and Commercial Procedure with the Logic of Compliance), by 🕴️Thibault Goujon-Bethan

Section 3 ♦️ Le juge de l’amiable et la compliance (The amicable settlement judge and compliance), by 🕴️Malik Chapuis

Section 4 ♦️ Le Juge requis pour une Obligation de Compliance effective (The Judge required for an Effective Compliance Obligation), by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

 

 

L’OBLIGATION DE COMPLIANCE : VISION D’ENSEMBLE

(COMPLIANCE OBLIGATION : OVERVIEW)

♦️ L'obligation de compliance, charge portée par les entreprises systémiques donnant vie au Droit de la Compliance. - lignes de force de l'ouvrage (The Compliance Obligation, a burden borne by Systemic Companies giving life to Compliance Law -  key points of the book (free access) by 🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

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Sept. 4, 2025

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 Full ReferenceM.-A. Frison-Roche, "La considération par l'arbitrage de l'obligation de Compliance pour une place d'arbitrage durable" (Arbitration consideration of Compliance Obligation for a sustainable Arbitration Place), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), L'Obligation de ComplianceJournal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", 2025, to be published

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📝read the article (in French)

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🚧read the bilingual Working Paper on the basis this contribution has been built, with  more developments, technical references and hyperlinks. 

____

📕read a general presentation of the book, L'Obligation de Compliance, in which this article is published 

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 English summary of this contribution : The first part of this study assesses the evolving relationship between Arbitration Law and Compliance Law, which depends on the very definition of the Compliance Obligation (I). Indeed, these relations have been negative for as long as Compliance has been seen solely in terms of "conformity", i.e. obeying the rules or being punished. These relationships are undergoing a metamorphosis, because the Compliance Obligation refers to a positive and dynamic definition, anchored in the Monumental Goals that companies anchor in the contracts that structure their value chains.

Based on this development, the second part of the study aims to establish the techniques of Arbitration and the office of the arbitrator to increase the systemic efficiency of the Compliance Obligation, thereby strengthening the attractiveness of the Place (II). First and foremost, it is a question of culture: the culture of Compliance must permeate the world of Arbitration, and vice versa. To achieve this, it is advisable to take advantage of the fact that in Compliance Law the distinction between Public and Private Law is less significant, while the concern for the long term of contractually forged structural relationships is essential.

To encourage such a movement to deploy the Compliance Obligation, promoting the strengthening of a Sustainable Arbitration Place (III), the first tool is the contract. Since contracts structure value chains and enable companies to fulfill their legal Compliance Obligation but also to add their own will to it, stipulations or offers relating to Arbitration should be included in them. In addition, the adoption of non-binding texts can set out a guiding principle to ensure that concern for the Monumental Goals is appropriate in order the Compliance Obligation to be taken into account by Arbitrators.

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Sept. 4, 2025

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 Full ReferenceM.-A. Frison-Roche, "Le droit processuel, prototype de l'Obligation de Compliance " ("General Procedural Law, prototype of Compliance Obligation"), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), L'Obligation de ComplianceJournal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance" 2025, to be published.

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📝read the article (in French)

____

🚧read the bilingual Working Paper on the basis this contribution has been built, with  more developments, technical references and hyperlinks. 

____

📕read a general presentation of the book, L'Obligation de Compliance, in which this article is published 

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 English summary of this contribution : At first glance, General Procedural Law seems to be the area least concerned by the Compliance Obligation, because if the person is obliged by it, mainly large companies, it is precisely, thanks to this Ex Ante, in order to never to have to deal with proceedings, these path that leads to the Judge, that Ex Post figure that in return for the weight of the compliance obligation they have been promised they will never see: any prospect of proceedings would be seeming to signify the very failure of the Compliance Obligation (I).

But not only are the legal rules attached to the Procedure necessary because the Judge is involved, and increasingly so, in compliance mechanisms, but they are also rules of General Procedural Law and not a juxtaposition of civil procedure, criminal procedure, administrative procedure, etc., because the Compliance Obligation itself is not confined either to civil procedure or to criminal procedure, to administrative procedure, etc., which in practice gives primacy to what brings them all together: General Procedural Law (II).

In addition to what might be called the "negative" presence of General Procedural Law, there is also a positive reason, because General Procedural Law is the prototype for "Systemic Compliance Litigation", and in particular for the most advanced aspect of this, namely the duty of vigilance (III). In particular, it governs the actions that can be brought before the Courts (IV), and the principles around which proceedings are conducted, with an increased opposition between the adversarial principle, which marries the Compliance Obligation, since both reflect the principle of Information, and the rights of the defence, which do not necessarily serve them, a clash that will pose a procedural difficulty in principle (V).

Finally, and this "prototype" status is even more justified, because Compliance Law has given companies jurisdiction over the way in which they implement their legal Compliance Obligations, it is by respecting and relying on the principles of General Procedural Law that this must be done, in particular through not only sanctions but also internal investigations (VI).

Mais non seulement les règles juridiques attachées à la procédure s'imposent parce que le Juge s'avère présent, et de plus en plus, dans les mécanismes de compliance mais encore ce sont des règles de Droit processuel et non pas une juxtaposition de procédure civile, procédure pénale, procédure administrative, etc., parce que l'obligation de compliance elle-même n'est pas enfermée ni dans le droit civil, ni dans le droit pénal ,dans le contentieux administratif, etc., ce qui donne en pratique primauté à ce qui les réunit toutes : le Droit processuel (II).

A cette raison que l'on pourrait dire "négative" de la présence du Droit processuel s'ajoute une raison positive, parce que le Droit processuel s'avère être le prototype du "Contentieux systémique de la Compliance, et notamment de la pointe avancée de celui-ci qu'est l'obligation de vigilance (III). Il gouverne notamment les actions par lesquelles les Juges peuvent être saisis (IV), les principes autour desquels les procédures se déroulent, avec une opposition accrue entre le principe du contradictoire qui épouse l'obligation de compliance puisque l'un et l'autre traduisent le principe d'information et les droits de la défense qui ne les servent pas nécessairement, heurt qui va poser une difficulté processuelle de principe (V).

Enfin, et la qualité de "prototype" se justifie alors plus encore, parce que le Droit de la compliance a juridictionnalisé les entreprises dans la façon dont celles-ci mettent en oeuvre leurs Obligation légale de Compliance, c'est en respectant et en s'appuyant sur les principes de droit processuel que cela doit être fait, notamment à travers non seulement les sanctions mais encore les enquêtes internes (VI).

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Sept. 4, 2025

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 Full ReferenceM.-A. Frison-Roche, "La volonté, le cœur et le calcul, les trois traits cernant l'Obligation de Compliance" ("Will, Heart and Calculation, the three marks surrounding the Compliance Obligation"), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), L'Obligation de ComplianceJournal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance" 2024, to be published

____

📝read the article (in French)

____

🚧read the bilingual Working Paper on the basis this contribution has been built, with  more developments, technical references and hyperlinks. 

____

📕read a general presentation of the book, L'Obligation de Compliance, in which this article is published 

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 English summary of this contribution : There is often a dispute over the pertinent definition of Compliance Law, but the scale and force of the resulting obligation for the companies subject to it is clear.  It remains difficult to define. First, we must not to be overwhelmed by the many obligations through which the Compliance Obligation takes shape, such as the obligation to map, to investigate, to be vigilant, to sanction, to educate, to collaborate, and so on. Not only this obligations list is very long, it is also open-ended, with companies themselves and judges adding to it as and when companies, sectors and cases require. 

Nor should we be led astray by the distance that can be drawn between the contours of this Compliance Obligation, which can be as much a matter of will, a generous feeling for a close or distant other in space or time, or the result of a calculation. This plurality does not pose a problem if we do not concentrate all our efforts on distinguishing these secondary obligations from one another but on measuring what they are the implementation of, this Compliance Obligation which ensures that entities, companies, stakeholders and public authorities, contribute to achieving the Goals targeted by Compliance Law, Monumental Goals which give unity to the Compliance Obligation.  Thus unified by the same spirit, the implementation of all these secondary obligations, which seem at once disparate, innumerable and often mechanical, find unity in their regime and the way in which Regulators and Judges must control, sanction and extend them, since the Compliance Obligation breathes a common spirit into them.

 In the same way that the multiplicity of compliance techniques must not mask the uniqueness of the Compliance Obligation, the multiplicity of sources must not produce a similar screen. Indeed, the Legislator has often issued a prescription, an order with which companies must comply, Compliance then often being perceived as required obedience. But the company itself expresses a will that is autonomous from that of the Legislator, the vocabulary of self-regulation and/or ethics being used in this perspective, because it affirms that it devotes forces to taking into consideration the situation of others when it would not be compelled to do so, but that it does so nonetheless because it cares about them. However, the management of reputational risks and the value of bonds of trust, or a suspicious reading of managerial choices, lead us to say that all this is merely a calculation.

Thus, the first part of the contribution sets out to identify the Compliance Obligation by recognising the role of all these different sources. The second part emphasises that, in monitoring the proper performance of technical compliance obligations by Managers, Regulators and Judges, insofar as they implement the Compliance Obligation, it is pointless to limit oneself to a single source or to rank them abruptly in order of importance. The Compliance Obligation is part of the very definition of Compliance Law, built on the political ambition to achieve these Monumental Goals of preserving systems - banking, financial, energy, digital, etc. - in the future, so that human beings who cannot but depend on them are not crushed by them, or even benefit from them. This is the teleological yardstick by which the Compliance Obligation is measured, and with it all the secondary obligations that give it concrete form, whatever their source and whatever the reason why the initial standard was adopted.

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Sept. 4, 2025

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Full Reference: V. Magnier, "Transformation de la gouvernance et obligation de vigilance" (The transformation of governance and due diligence), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), L'Obligation de ComplianceJournal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", 2024, forthcoming

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📕read the general presentation of the book, L'Obligation de Compliance, in which this contribution is published

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► English summary of this contribution (done by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance - JoRC) : The author develops the tensions caused by Compliance Law and the Duty of Vigilance on corporate governance.

The French "Sapin 2" law targets corruption, while the French "Vigilance" law has a broader scope in terms of risks and the entire value chain. It is logical that this should create tensions in terms of governance, given the monumental goals involved. Companies need to take ownership of the powers delegated to them, which means rethinking their governance and the way in which they exercise their corporate mandates, with the corporate interest, the judge's compass, having to be combined with the adoption of new standards of behaviour formalised voluntarily by ethical charters in line with international standards. On this voluntary and supervised basis, the company must adapt its structure and then contractualise these norms.

This ethical approach has an impact on the role of corporate organs, not only in terms of transparency and risk prioritisation, but also proactively in terms of the adoption of commitments whose sincerity will be verified, as reflected, for example, in corporate governance codes (cf.in France the AFEP-MEDEF Code), the setting up of ad hoc committees and the presence of stakeholders, who will be consulted when the vigilance plan is drawn up.

She stresses that this creates tensions, that dialogue is difficult, that business secrecy must be preserved, but that stakeholders must become Vigilance watchdogs, a role that should not be left to the public authorities alone.

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🦉this article is available in full text pour the persons following the Professor Marie-Anne Frison-Roche teaching

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Sept. 4, 2025

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Référence complète : Th. Goujon-Bethan, "Les enjeux présents à venir de l’articulation des principes de procédure civile et commerciale avec la logique de compliance", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), L'Obligation de ComplianceJournal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) et Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", 2025, à paraître

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📕lire une présentation générale de l'ouvrage, L'Obligation de Compliance, dans lequel cet article est publié

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 Résumé de l'article (fait par le Journal of Regulation & Compliance - JoRC) : L'auteur montre que le Code de procédure civile, parce qu'il est exceptionnellement bien conçu et dirigé, peut répondre à l'ampleur de la transformation que le Droit de la Compliance apporte.

Le Droit de la Compliance est normativement ancré dans ses Buts Monumentaux : ceux-ci sont portés en tant que tels devant le juge dans des "causes systémiques".

Or, le Code de procédure civile distingue, et les travaux des auteurs du Code comme ceux de la doctrine le montrent, qu'il faut distinguer le litige et le conflit. En effet, dans une "cause systémique" telle que le Droit de la Compliance les emporte nécessairement (climat, protection des internautes, égalité effective des êtres humains, durabilité des systèmes bancaires, etc.) ce sont des parties qui sont en litiges, tandis que le conflit embrasse lui les systèmes eux-mêmes et d'autres entités.
La procédure doit intégrer non seulement le litige mais encore le conflit. Cela implique notamment que l'on s'occupe non seulement du litige, mais encore du conflit, lequel ne s'éteint pas nécessairement avec le litige, et ne trouve pas les mêmes solutions que celles demandées par le litige. C'est notamment dans cette dernière perspective, essentiellement dans une procédure de "Cause Systémique de Compliance" que les techniques de médiation, d'amicus curiae, d'un juge qui se situe ex ante, etc., s'imposent. Elles sont disponibles à travers des articles du Code de procédure civile : il suffit que les juges, comprenant ce que sont les "Causes Systémiques de Compliance" s'en saisissent.

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Sept. 4, 2025

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Full Reference: J.-Ch. Roda "Obligations de compliance et concurrence : les liaisons dangereuses ? (Compliance obligations and Competition: dangerous liaisons?)", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), L'Obligation de ComplianceJournal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Éditions Lefebvre - Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", 2025, forthcoming.

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📕read a general presentation of the book, L'Obligation de Compliance, in which this contribution is published 

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 English summary of this contribution (done by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance - JoRC): The author stresses that if Compliance Law and Competition Law may seem far apart today, it is because many people today have a restricted and inaccurate view of Competition Law. Indeed, if Competition Law is reduced to being no more than that which enables offer and demand rule to function fully, then 'compliance obligations' need to be injected into this sort of 'natural law' of the market backed up by the legal system, compliance obligations giving humanity to the whole. But if Competition Law is given back its rightful dimension, which it has in its more classical conception, the links between the obligations arising from the 2 branches of Law find harmonious relationships.

They are all the more necessary because, particularly through the Duty of Vigilance, Civil Competition Law is going to interfere because of the contractualisation of this legal obligation and the possible significant imbalance that could be identified, the article stressing that the application of Compliance stipulations on a partner could end up being analysed as a power, justifying merger control or at the very least a dominant position legal qualification, the abuse of which will be sanctioned. It is for this reason that the 2024 CS3D reminds us that it must be implemented in respect with competition legal rules. However, the author emphasises that it is towards a kind of 'Ethical Competition' that compliance obligations are leading, leading to new practices.

The results, described in the second part of the article, are increasing the influence of the Compliance Obligation, which embodies the ambition of a "just transition" and a "social Europe". These ambitions are rejected by the advocates of the so-called "neo-liberal" conception of what Competition Law should be, but the conception of "Competition-Means" was indeed that of the American designers of the corpus of appropriate rules in the nineteenth century, when it was necessary in particular to fight against the large infrastructure monopolies, and it was also that of the jurists who founded the European Union.

Only the minimal view of what falls within the scope of competition leads to opposition to the Compliance Obligation. The author therefore stresses that "il semble aujourd’hui évident que la compliance doit être la boussole du droit de la concurrence (it seems obvious today that Compliance must be the compass of Competition Law)". It is in this spirit that companies must draft the compliance clauses that will multiply to structure the value chains they have set up, providing in particular for the resolution of tensions, or even conflicts, with partners.

The author concludes that it is in this way that crucial companies will demonstrate their "particular responsibility" both and in the same way with regard to Competition Law and Compliance Law.

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🦉This article is available for people who follow Professor Marie-Anne Frison-Roche teaching 

Sept. 4, 2025

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Full Reference: J.-S. Borghetti, "Le rapport entre le Droit de la responsabilité civile et l'Obligation de Compliance" (The Relation between Tort Law and Compliance Obligation), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), L'obligation de ComplianceJournal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", 2024, to be published.

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📕read the general presentation of the book, L'obligation de Compliance, in which this article is published

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► English Summary of this Article (done by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance - JoRC) : The Author points out that in order to establish civil liability, it is first necessary to find fault, i.e. a deviation from an obligation, which will trigger a secondary obligation, that of reparation. But it can also be argued that it is from liability that this primary obligation arises, civil liability then revealing an obligation which existed only implicitly. That establishes a two-way relationship between liability and obligation. The Compliance Obligation illustrates this, in particular through the Obligation of Vigilance conceived by the French law of 2017.

The author therefore devotes the first part of his contribution to civil liability as a result of an Compliance Obligation, especially the Obligation of Vigilance. issued of the French law of 2017. After discussing whether the constraints generated by compliance should be classified as 'obligations', since there is no creditor, which therefore opens the way to liability in tort, he examines the conditions for incurring such liability, which are difficult, particularly with regard to the burden of proof and the demonstration of the causal link. The requirement concerning the latter may evolve in French law towards the admission of proportional causality, as is now accepted in certain cases in German case law.

In the second part of his contribution, the author deals with the hypothesis of civil liability as an indicator of a Compliance Obligation. He points out that the claims made, particularly in the cases of TotalOuganda  (France) and Milieudefensie v. Shell (Netherlands) seek to obtain from the judge a such "revelation".

The author considers that it is not possible to draw from the  French 2017 law which refers to article 1240 of the French Civil Code on the liability because this article is referred to only in order to organise the consequences of a breach of article L.225-102-4 of the French Commercial Code organising the Obligation of Vigilance (article 1240 being therefore under the secondary obligation described above) and not to feed what this article L.225-102-4 requires under the primary obligation (defined above). 

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Sept. 4, 2025

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Référence complète : A.-V. Le Fur, "Le droit des sociétés et des marchés financiers face à l'Obligation de Compliance", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), L'Obligation de ComplianceJournal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) et Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", 2025, sous presse.

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📕lire une présentation générale de l'ouvrage, L'Obligation de Compliance, dans lequel cet article est publié

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► Résumé de l'article (fait par le Journal of Regulation & Compliance - JoRC) : L'auteure montre que le Droit des sociétés et des marchés financiers est en train d'être transformé en profondeur par le Droit de la Compliance. Par une succession de textes un mouvement de fond a transformé ces deux branches du Droit, par ailleurs corrélées.

L'auteure situe la première perception de ce mouvement interne au Droit des sociétés dans la loi NRE, pour décrire ensuite les lois sur l'information des associés, des investisseurs et des parties prenantes. Elle a insiste sur la loi dite "Pacte", qui changea la conception même de ce qu'est une société au regard de ce qu'est une entreprise. Cela est indissociable des lois et des jurisprudences que l'on associe davantage au Droit de la Compliance, notamment la loi dite "Sapin 2" et la loi dite "Vigilance", les textes de directives poursuivant cette transformation si profonde.

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🦉Cet article est accessible en texte intégral pour les personnes inscrites aux enseignements de la Professeure Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

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Sept. 4, 2025

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 Full ReferenceM.-A. Frison-Roche, "À quoi engagent les engagements" (In Compliance Law, the legal consequences for Entreprises of their commitments and undertakings), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), L'Obligation de ComplianceJournal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Lefebvre-Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", 2025, forthcoming

____

📝read the article (in French)

____

🚧read the bilingual Working Paper on which this article is based, with additional developments, technical references and hyperlinks

____

📕real the general presentation of the book, L'Obligation de Compliance, in which this article is published

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 English summary of this article: The innocents might believe, taking the Law and its words literally, that "commitments" are binding on those who make them. Shouldn't they be afraid of falling into the trap of the 'false friend', which is what the Law wants to protect them from (as stated in the prolegomena)?

Indeed, the innocent persons think that those who make commitments ask what they must do and say what they will do. Yet, strangely enough, the 'commitments' that are so frequent and common in compliance behaviours are often considered by those who adopt them to have no binding value! Doubtless because they come under disciplines other than Law, such as the art of Management or Ethics. It is both very important and sometimes difficult to distinguish between these different Orders - Management, Moral Norms and Law - because they are intertwined, but because their respective standards do not have the same scope, it is important to untangle this tangle. This potentially creates a great deal of insecurity for companies (I).

The legal certainty comes back when commitments take the form of contracts (II), which is becoming more common as companies contractualise their legal Compliance Obligations, thereby changing the nature of the resulting liability, with the contract retaining the imprint of the legal order or not having the same scope if this prerequisite is not present.

But the contours and distinctions are not so uncontested. In fact, the qualification of unilateral undertaking of will is proposed to apprehend the various documents issued by the companies, with the consequences which are attached to that, in particular the transformation of the company into a 'debtor', which would change the position of the stakeholders with regard to it (III).

It remains that the undertakings expressed by companies on so many important subjects cannot be ignored: they are facts (IV). It is as such that they must be legally considered. In this case, Civil Liability will have to deal with them if the company, in implementing what it says, what it writes and in the way it behaves, commits a fault or negligence that causes damage, not only the sole existence of an undertaking. 

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June 25, 2025

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 Full Reference: P. Bonis & M.-A. Frison-Roche, "Réguler le numérique, ou Sisyphe heureux" (Regulating Digital, or a happy Sisyphus), in P. Bonis & L. Castex (dir.), Régulation et Compliance, Les Annales des Mines, série "Enjeux numériques, 2025.

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📝lire read the article (in French)

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📕read the general presentation and the table of content of this special issue of Enjeux numériqueRégulation et Compliance, in which this introductory article is published.

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 English Summary of this article: This introduction to the collective publication on Regulation and Compliance, which aims to bring order to the Digital space, takes up the idea expressed by Camus when he referred to 'happy' Sisyphus, and expresses the idea that Regulation and Compliance are applied to this area with difficulty, relentlessness and failure, with texts constantly being adopted, modified and amplified on all sides, while the Digital Space is constantly changing, and the slope is constantly being climbed again. But this should not be seen as a failure, not even a flaw, because it is in the nature of digital regulation to always place the regulatory apparatus on our shoulders.

This weight is shared by all, by the Authorities of all countries, because there is something common to all and also because there is something specific for each, because the techniques differ and because the visions of the world that the Politicians print in the texts and project in the Digital will always differ. This weight is also shared by companies, which internalise the rules through Compliance mechanisms, making them necessary agents for the efficiency and sustainability of the digital system, but also players in it, in articulation with Internet users in a permanent and unstable articulation with the local to the finest and this global that the Internet has invented.

This presentation opens the series of contributions to the collective publication Régulation et Compliance, which makes up this special issue of Enjeux numériques in Annales des Mines.

 

 

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📝read also the English presentation of:🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche, 📝Le Droit de la compliance, voie royale pour réguler l'espace numérique (Compliance Law as a Royal Road for regulating the Digital Space)

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June 25, 2025

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 Full ReferenceM.-A. Frison-Roche"Le Droit de la compliance, voie royale pour réguler l'espace numérique" (Compliance Law as a Royal Road for regulating the Digital Space), in P. Bonis et L. Castex (dir.), Régulation et Compliance, Annales des Mines, coll. "Enjeux numériques", juin 2025, pp. 

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📝 read the article (in French) 

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🚧This article is underpinned by a English Working Paper in English, with additional technical developments and hypertext links. : Compliance Law as a Royal Road for regulating the Digital Space

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 English Summary of this article:  In order to describe the role of Compliance Law in regulating the digital space and to conclude that this new branch of Law is the 'royal road' to this end, this study proceeds in 6 stages. 

Firstly, at first sight and conceptually, there is a gap between the political idea of Regulating and the ideas (freedom and technology as 'law') on which the digital space has been built and is unfolding. 

Secondly, in practice, there is such a huge gap between the ordinary methods of Regulatory Law, which are backed by a State, and the organisation of the Digital Space by these economic operators, that are both American and global. 

Thirdly, the political claim to civilise the Digital Space remains and is growing, relying on the very strength of the entities capable of realising this ambition, these entities being the crucial digital operators themselves, seized as Ex Ante

Fourthly, it corresponds to the conception and practice of a new branch of Law, Compliance Law, which should not be confused with "conformity" and which is normatively anchored in its "Monumental Goals". 

Fifthly, Compliance Law internalises Monumental Goals in the digital operators which disseminate them through structures and behaviours in the digital space. 

Sixthly, through the interweaving of legislation, court rulings and corporate behaviour, the Monumental Goals are given concrete expression, willingly or by force, in ways that can civilise the digital space without undermining the primacy of freedom.

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June 25, 2025

Teachings : Participation à des jurys de thèses

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► Référence complète M.-A. Frison-Roche, membre du jury de la thèse d'Annika Bauch,  Le droit de l’entreprise à l’épreuve de la complianceUniversité de Toulouse, 5 juin 2025, 14h- 

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🪑🪑🪑Autres membres du jury :  

🕴🏻Lukas Rass-Masson, professeure à l'Université Toulouse-Capitole, directeur de la thèse 

🕴🏻Sandrine Tisseyre,  professeure à l'Université Toulouse- Capitole, rapporteure 

🕴🏻Philippe Weller,  professeure à l'Université d'Heidelberg

🕴🏻Caroline Coupet, professeure à l'Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II)

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► Présentation de la thèse

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May 31, 2025

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 Full Reference : M.-A. Frison-RochePour maîtriser la masse réglementaire de la Compliance, la penser comme un puzzle,  Working Paper , May 2025

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📝 This Working Paper underpins the Video Surplomb Newsletter of 31 May 2025 : watch the video (in French)

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 Résumé s du document de travail :  People are rightly complaining that Europe's regulatory and compliance regulations are too numerous, too complicated and too changeable. As a result, they are said to be unmanageable.

Three solutions are proposed: specialise lawyers, regulatory corpus by regulatory corpus; deregulate; entrust everything to algorithms.

These are inadequate solutions, because regulations cannot be understood unless they are put into perspective with the rest of the legal rules .; we have entered a new world, and these new regulations reflect the need for a new Law (unless we want to destroy the Law itself, which is what some people are dreaming of doing); algorithms reproduce past solutions and do not produce the new legal conception required.

For an appropriate solution, we need to move away from a word-by-word understanding of the regulatory and compliance regulations and understand them as a whole, not only in relation to the purpose that gives them meaning, but also in relation to each other. In the positive sense of the term, they form a European 'jigsaw puzzle'. We need to look at the overall picture in which each regulation fits and makes sense. It finds its simplicity in relation to its purpose.

It is always a question of working towards the sustainability of systems by asking companies to contribute so that the systems do not crush human beings but benefit them. Thus, in practice, the Monumental Goals of Compliance Law give clarity to the body of regulations which, when seen as a whole, are manageable and practical. Judges interpret them in this way.

 

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🔓read the Working Paper below⤵️

May 28, 2025

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 Full ReferenceM.A. Frison-Roche, "100 fois remettre la Compliance sur le métier de la Stratégie" (100 times put Compliance back on the Strategy agenda), in Lettre d'information Compliance. Groupe SNCF, 100ième issue, 28 may 2025.

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📝read the article (in French)

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 English presentation of this article: This anniversary article sets out what Compliance is and should be in a large group. It expresses it in 4 points:

1. Actively master regulations by understanding their spirit

2. Improving risk detection without taking away the entrepreneurial spirit

3. Promoting convergence and managing conflict

4. Strengthen the company's identity by focusing on its strategic ambitions

 

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May 12, 2025

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Référence complète : L. Murphy,  "Legal Practice et the Responsibility of Individuals", conférence au Collège de France,12 mai 2025.

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 Présentation de la conférence (faite par le Collège de France) : Some legal practices, such as the private law of obligations and property, are justified by the good that general compliance with their rules bring about. It cannot be said, however, that each particular act of compliance by individuals itself contributes to that good outcome. And yet there is clearly an ethical tie between individuals and the rules of the practices. Leaving aside cases where the law simply protects independent moral rights, the same points can be made about compliance with law generally.

This lecture explores the question of how we should understand the ethical tie between individuals and legal practices that are justified in terms of the social good produced by general compliance. An imperfect duty of impartial beneficence will play a central role in the account.

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