Publications

📝Obligation de Compliance : construire une structure de compliance produisant des effets crédibles au regard des Buts Monumentaux visés par le Législateur (Compliance Obligation: build a compliance structure producing credible effects in the perspective of the Monumental Goals targeted by the Legislator), in 🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), 📕L'obligation de Compliance

🌐follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on LinkedIn

🌐subscribe to the Newsletter MAFR Regulation, Compliance, Law

____

► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche, "Obligation de Compliance : construire une structure de compliance produisant des effets crédibles au regard des Buts Monumentaux visés par le Législateur" (Compliance Obligation: build a compliance structure producing credible effects in the perspective of the Monumental Goals targeted by the Legislator), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), L'Obligation de Compliance, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", 2024, forthcoming.

____

► This article is the introduction to the book

____

📝read the article

____

🚧read the bilingual Working Paper on the basis this article has been written, with more developments, technical references and hyperlinks

____

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

____

► Summary of this article:

Rather than getting bogged down in definitional disputes, given that Compliance Law is itself a nascent branch of Law, the idea of this contribution is to take as a starting point the different legal regimes of so many different compliance obligations to which laws and regulations subject large companies: sometimes they have to apply them to the letter and sometimes they are only sanctioned in the event of fault or negligence. This brings us back to the distinction between obligations of result and obligations of means.

Although it would be risky to transpose the expression and regime of contractual obligations to legal obligations put by legislation, starting from this observation in the evidentiary system of compliance of a plurality of obligations of means and of result, depending on whether it is a question of this or that technical compliance obligation, we must first classify them. It would then appear that this plurality will not constitute a definitive obstacle to the constitution of a single definition of the Compliance Obligation. On the contrary, it makes it possible to clarify the situation, to trace the paths through what is so often described as a legal jumble, an unmanageable "mass of regulations".

Indeed, insofar as the company obliged under Compliance Law participates in the achievement of the Monumental Goals on which this is normatively based, a legal obligation which may be relayed by contract or even by ethics, it can only be an obligation of means, by virtue of this very teleological nature and the scale of the goals targeted, for example the happy outcome of the climate crisis which is beginning or the desired effective equality between human beings. This established principle leaves room for the fact that the behaviour required is marked out by processes put in place by structured tools, most often legally described, for example the establishment of a vigilance plan or regularly organised training courses (effectiveness), are obligations of result, while the positive effects produced by this plan or these training courses (effaciety) are obligations of means. This is even more the case when the Goal is to transform the system as a whole, i.e. to ensure that the system is solidly based, that there is a culture of equality, and that everyone respects everyone else, all of which come under the heading of efficiency.

The Compliance Obligation thus appears unified because, gradually, and whatever the various compliance obligations in question, their intensity or their sector, its structural process prerequisites are first and foremost structures to be established which the Law, through the Judge in particular, will require to be put in place but will not require anything more, whereas striving towards the achievement of the aforementioned Monumental Goals will be an obligation of means, which may seem lighter, but corresponds to an immeasurable ambition, commensurate with these Goals. In addition, because these structures (alert mechanisms, training, audits, contracts and clauses, etc.) have real meaning if they are to produce effects and behaviours that lead to changes converging towards the Monumental Goals, it is the obligations of means that are most important and not the obligations of result. The judge must also take this into account.

Finally, the Compliance Obligation, which therefore consists of this interweaving of multiple compliance obligations of result and means of using the entreprise's position, ultimately Goals at system efficiency, in Europe at system civilisation, for which companies must show not so much that they have followed the processes correctly (result) but that this has produced effects that converge with the Goals sought by the legislator (effects produced according to a credible trajectory). This is how a crucial company, responsible Ex Ante, should organise itself and behave.

________

Regulation and economic law

Thesaurus : Doctrine

📝Condamnation de Shell aux Pays-Bas : la responsabilité climatique des entreprises pétrolières se dessine

► Référence complète : A.-M. Ilcheva, "Condamnation de Shell aux Pays-Bas : la responsabilité climatique des entreprises pétrolières se dessine", D. 2021, pp. 1968-1970

____

► Résumé de l'article : Après une brève description de l'affaire en cause au principal, l'auteure explicite dans un premier les fondements du jugement dit "Shell". Elle explique que l'action engagée était fondée sur le droit de la responsabilité civile délictuelle néerlandais, plus précisément le "duty of care" de l'article 6:162 du code civil néerlandais, lequel amène le juge, afin d'établir le fait générateur, à apprécier le comportement de l'entreprise défenderesse au regard du standard de comportement de la personne prudente et raisonnable. Sont également mobilisés par le juge des travaux scientifiques (rapport du GIEC), des normes de droit international (CEDH) et des normes de droit souple (Principes directeurs de l'ONU), afin de caractériser tant le fait générateur que le dommage (notamment futur). Dans un second temps, l'auteure envisage la portée de ce jugement, frappé d'appel au moment de la rédaction de son article. Elle souligne que le juge s'est appuyé sur la notion d'entreprise, permettant ainsi de contourner l'obstacle traditionnel lié à la personnalité morale, et qu'il a retenu ici une responsabilité préventive, tournée vers le futur. Elle termine en mettant en avant les conditions nécessaires pour que ce jugement soit effectif et constate que l'effort demandé à l'entreprise est plus important que celui préconisé par les rapports d'experts.

____

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

________

Thesaurus : Doctrine

📝The Relation between Tort Law and Compliance Obligation, in 🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📘Compliance Obligation

► Full Reference: J.-S. Borghetti, "The Relation between Tort Law and Compliance Obligation", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), Compliance Obligation, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant, "Compliance & Regulation" Serie, to be published

____

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

____

► Summary of the 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).

On the other hand, the Shell judgment derives directly from civil liability an obligation to act. This is understandable if one takes the perspective and the measure of the future challenges posed, in this case in the area of climate change. But the author considers that it is up to the legislator to decide on such a development in Liability Law.

____

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

________

Thesaurus : Doctrine

📝Peut-on repenser la responsabilité à l’aune du devoir de Vigilance, pointe avancée de la Compliance ?, in 🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), 📕L'obligation de Compliance

► Référence complète : M. Mekki, "Peut-on repenser la responsabilité à l’aune du devoir de Vigilance, pointe avancée de la Compliance ?", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), L'obligation de Compliance, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) et Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", 2024, à paraître

____

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

____

► Résumé de l'article (fait par le Journal of Regulation & Compliance - JoRC) : L'auteur développe les tensions que l'Obligation de Vigilance engendre sur le concept même de responsabilité. Répertoriant toutes les manifestations, très diverses, de la Vigilance, selon les domaines, il observe que se forme une logique téléologique de prévention et de gestion des risques systémiques, ce qu'est la compliance, sans doute remède à un État impuissant, s'appuyant sur une grande pluralité des normes.

La question est de savoir si l'on peut passer de ces droits spéciaux mais d'un esprit commun à un droit commun transformé. Les premières décisions rendues à propos de la loi de 2017 répondent par la négative, mais la question est ouverte.

Il faut alors revenir sur le concept même de responsabilité, qui pourrait accueillir un mécanisme général de Vigilance. Ce concept est très flexible et présente l'adaptabilité requise pour accueillir la logique de compliance. En effet, la responsabilité, classiquement ex post peut passer ex ante, à travers la notion de dette, non plus juridique mais éthique, car les entreprises doivent être "dignes de confiance".

La responsabilité préventive vise alors à restaurer l'équilibre des systèmes dans la poursuite des Buts Monumentaux, pour l'efficacité et l'efficience des systèmes. La responsabilité se mixte de subjectivité et d'objectivité, le risque devenant central (par rapport à la faute), le litige dépassant l'intérêt des parties, la remédiation devenant le sujet central dans un procès en responsabilité à repenser : le dialogue doit y être au centre, entre les juridictions, entre les entreprises et les parties prenantes, dans un office du juge adapté.

________

Thesaurus : Doctrine

La cohérence mondiale du droit

► Référence complète : L. d'Avout, La cohérence mondiale du droit, Cours général de droit international privé, Académie de droit international de La Haye, t.443, 2025, 692 p.

____

Thesaurus : Doctrine

📝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 Compliance

► 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 Compliance, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", 2024, to be published.

____

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

____

► 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).

On the other hand, the Shell judgment derives directly from civil liability an obligation to act. This is understandable if one takes the perspective and the measure of the future challenges posed, in this case in the area of climate change. But the author considers that it is up to the legislator to decide on such a development in Liability Law.

________

Thesaurus : Doctrine

📝Compliance Obligation and Human Rights, in 🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📘Compliance Obligation

► Full Reference: J.-B. Racine, "Compliance Obligation and Human Rights", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), Compliance Obligation, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant, "Compliance & Regulation" Serie, to be published

____

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

____

► 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".

____

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

________

Regulation and economic law

Thesaurus : Doctrine

📝Obligation de Compliance et droits humains (Compliance Obligation and Human Rights), in 🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), 📕L'obligation de Compliance

► 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 Compliance, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, "Régulations & Compliance" Serie, 2024, to be published.

____

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

____

► 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".

________

Regulation and economic law

Thesaurus : Doctrine

📝Les potentielles actions judiciaires en matière d’information extra-financière

► Référence complète : M. Brochier & S. Darrois, "Les potentielles actions judiciaires en matière d’information extra-financière", Banque & Droit, n°216, juillet-août 2024, pp.10-12

____

► Résumé de l'article (fait par MAFR) : Les auteurs partent d'un constat : la multiplication des obligations pesant sur les entreprises en matière d’information extra-financière, laquelle entraîne mécaniquement une multiplication des potentiels faits générateurs de responsabilité de ces entreprises. Dans le même temps, bien qu'ils constatent pour l'heure une absence de procès en la matière, ils mettent l'accent sur le nid à contentieux que pourraient constituer ces règles.

À cet égard, les auteurs mettent en avant le risque d'instrumentalisation de ces actions en responsabilité, tantôt par des "acteurs de la société civile", tantôt par des actionnaires minoritaires ou dits "activistes", les uns et les autres cherchant à peser sur la gestion de la société. Ils relèvent également que les émetteurs d'information extra-financière pourraient être amenés à agir en responsabilité contre les agences de notation RSE, champ d'activité pour l'heure relativement peu réglementé alors même qu'il peut avoir des conséquences considérables pour l'entreprise.

Ils concluent sur l'importance de l'information. Si l'information, en l'occurence extra-financière, est bien sûr l'objet des règles évoquées, ils relèvent qu'en cas de crise et face au risque de réputation la seule solution efficace est de communiquer rapidement au public une information claire, fiable et intelligible. Ils soulignent enfin que cette transparence demandée aux grandes entreprises quant à leur impact sur leur environnement est la contrepartie de leur puissance.

____

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

________

Regulation and economic law

April 30, 2025

Publications

📝Compliance et Responsabilité civile : comprendre et raison garder (Compliance, Vigilance and Civil Liability: put in Order and keep the sense of Reason), in 🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), 📕L'Obligation de Compliance

🌐follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche sur LinkedIn

🌐subscribe to the Newsletter MAFR Regulation, Compliance, Law

🌐subscribe to the Video Newsletter MAFR Surplomb

____

► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche, "Compliance, Vigilance et Responsabilité civile : mettre en ordre et raison garder" (Compliance, Vigilance and Civil Liability: put in Order and keep the sense of Reason), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), L'Obligation de Compliance, Journal 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

____

► English summary of this article: The descriptions of the Liability incurred by large companies as a result of their compliance obligations are very diverse, even contradictory, going beyond the wishes that may be expressed as to what this liability should be. The first part of this study therefore sets out the various liabilities incurred by companies, which differ in the conditions under which they are implemented and in their scope, so as not to confuse them.

Indeed, as the various laws establish specific legal compliance obligations, they give rise to liabilities of varying conditions and scope, and it is not possible to avail of the regime of one in a situation that falls within the scope of another. It is therefore necessary to review the various bodies of compliance legislation, the GDPR, the ALM-FT regulations, the French so-called Sapin 2 law, the French so-called Vigilance law , the European IA Act , the European European DGA Act, etc., to recall the inflexion that each of these bodies of legislation has made to the liability rules applied to the companies subject to them. Nevertheless, the unicity of the Compliance Obligation, overcoming this necessary diversity of situations, regulations and liability regimes, can provide grouping lines to indicate beyond this diversity the extent of the liability incurred by companies.

Once this classification has been made, the second part of the study develops the observation that none of this can create any principle of general liability on large companies in terms of compliance, and in particular not in terms of vigilance. It is not possible to deduce a general principle of specific obligations of liability or specific obligations to reparation, for example in the area of vigilance, as the texts creating specific vigilance obligation refer to the conditions of commun Tort Law (proof damage and causality), and International Public Law does not have the force to generate a general principle binding companies in this respect.

The third part stresses that it is nevertheless always possible to invoke Tort Law, and companies cannot claim to escape this. This may involve contractual liability, a situation becoming increasingly frequent as companies contractualise their legal compliance obligations, reproducing them but also modifying them, and as Vigilance duty is an obligation that goes beyond the specific situations covered by the regulations.

But it is essential, and this is the subject of the fourth part, not to make companies pure and simple guarantors of the state of the world, present and future. Indeed, if we were to transform sectoral compliances into illustrations of what would then be a new general principle, but one that applied only to them, they would consequently exercise the other side of this coin, namely power over others.

________

Updated: April 23, 2025 (Initial publication: April 5, 2023)

Publications

🚧The role of the Judge in the deployment of Regulatory Law in Compliance Law

♾️follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on LinkedIn

♾️subscribe to the Newsletter MAFR Regulation, Compliance, Law

____

► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche,The role of the Judge in the deployment of Regulatory Law in Compliance Law, Working Paper, June 2023.

____

🎤 this Working Paper has been elaborated to be the basis of the final speech in the colloque coorganised by the Conseil d'Etat (French Administrative Supreme Court) and the Cour de Cassation (French Judicial Supreme Court), De la Régulation à la Compliance: quel rôle pour le juge ?, the 2nd Juin 2023

____

📝 It is also the basis for the article written in French that concludes the dossier published in La documentation française following the conference.

____

► Summary of this Working Paper: The role of the Judge, a character who seems weak in Compliance Law, this branch of Law so powerful in a world where technology is developing an even more impressive power, could be to put the strength that is proper to him to continue to do: namely to be the guardian of the Rule of Law, which is not so obviously present because many of Compliance tools are in a way "insensitive" to what we are attached to (I). The second role that we can expect of the Judge is that he should help to ensure the permanence of this Rule of Law, which relies to a large extent on him, in the face of a world that is opening up before us, which is unknown (mainly digital and climatic), and which Compliance Law wishes to grasp by renewing Regulatory Law (II). In what implies both a profound maintenance of a Judge that one would like to exclude by various agreements or replace by algorithms, and a profound transformation of an office turned towards the future (III), .... (IV).

____

🔓read the Working Paper below⤵️

Updated: Dec. 4, 2024 (Initial publication: Dec. 2, 2023)

Publications

🚧Compliance, Vigilance and Civil Liability: put in order and keep the sense of Reason

🌐suivre Marie-Anne Frison-Roche sur LinkedIn

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

🌐s'abonner à la Newsletter en vidéo MAFR Surplomb / Overhang

____

► Référence complète : M.-A. Frison-Roche, Compliance, Vigilance et Responsabilité civile : mettre en l'ordre et raison garder, document de travail, juin 2024

____

📝 Ce document de travail est la base de l'article, "Compliance, Vigilance et Responsabilité civile : mettre en l'ordre et raison garder", in 📕L'Obligation de Compliance

____

► Résumé du document de travail : Les descriptions de la responsabilité encourues par les grandes entreprises en raison des obligations de compliance sont très diverses, voire opposées, allant au-delà des souhaits que l'on peut exprimer de ce que devrait être cette responsabilité. Il convient donc de remettre les diverses responsabilités encourues par les entreprises, différentes dans leurs conditions de mise en oeuvre et dans leurs ampleur, afin de ne pas les confondre (I). En effet, les diverses législations établissant des obligations légales spécifiques de Compliance, il en naît des responsabilités aux conditions et ampleurs diverses et l'on peut se prévaloir du régime de l'une dans une situation qui relève de l'autre (I.A). Il faut donc reprendre les corpus de compliance, le RGPD, le ALM-FT, Sapin 2, Vigilance, l'IA Act, le DA Act, etc., pour rappeler les inflexions que chacun de ses corpus a opéré sur la responsabilité des entreprises assujetties (I.B.). Cela n'empêche pas que l'Obligation de Compliance surmontant cette nécessaire diversité de situations, de réglementations et de régimes de responsabilités, celle-ci peut donner des lignes de regroupement pour indiquer au-delà de cette diversité l'ampleur de la responsabilité encourue par les entreprises (I.C.).

Une fois ce classement opéré, il apparaît que de tout cela il ne ressort aucun principe de responsabilité générale des grandes entreprises au titre de la compliance, notamment pas au titre du devoir de vigilance (II). On ne peut en effet pas déduire un principe général d'obligations particulières de responsabilité ou d'obligations particulières de réparer, par exemple en matière de vigilance, les textes renvoyant aux conditions du droit commun (dommage et causalité), le Droit international public n'ayant pas la force de générer un principe général contraignant les entreprises en ce sens.

Il est néanmoins toujours possible de faire jouer le Droit commun de la responsabilité, et les entreprises ne saurait prétendre y échapper (III). Il peut s'agir de la responsabilité contractuelle, hypothèse pratique qui sera de plus en plus fréquente puisque les entreprises contractualisent leur obligation légale de compliance, les reproduisent mais aussi les modifient, et que la Vigilance est une obligation qui excède les situations visées par les réglementations (III.A.). Il pourra aussi s'agir de la responsabilité civile, dont les 3 éléments sont un fait générateur, un dommage et une causalité, droit commun qui reste stable et applicable malgré les fluctuations, incessantes, des corpus réglementaires (III.B).

Mais il est essentiel de ne pas rendre les entreprises garantes pures et simples de l'état du monde présent et futur. En effet, si on devait transformer les compliances sectorielles en illustrations de ce qui serait alors un principe général nouveau, mais ne s'appliquait qu'à elles, elles exerceraient en conséquence l'autre face de cette médaille, à savoir le pouvoir sur autrui (IV).

____

🔓lire le document de travail ci-dessous⤵️

Nov. 28, 2024

MAFR TV : MAFR TV - Overhang

🎬Compliance et engagement : le juste milieu de l'arrêt rendu par la Cour d'appel de La Haye le 12 novembre 2024

🌐suivre Marie-Anne Frison-Roche sur LinkedIn

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

🌐s'abonner à la Newsletter Surplomb, par MAFR

____

► Référence complète : M.-A. Frison-Roche, "Compliance et engagement : le juste milieu de l'arrêt rendu par la Cour d'appel de La Haye le 12 novembre 2024", in série de vidéos Surplomb, 28 novembre 2024

____

🌐visionner sur LinkedIn cette vidéo de la série Surplomb

____

🌐visionner sur LinkedIn cette vidéo de la série Surplomb, publiée dans la Newsletter Surplomb, par MAFR

____

🎬visionner ci-dessous cette vidéo de la série Surplomb⤵️

____

Surplomp, par mafr

la série de vidéos dédiée à la Régulation, la Compliance et la Vigilance

Nov. 26, 2024

MAFR TV : MAFR TV - Overhang

🎬Compliance, Climat, Dommage, Science et Vérité - Cour d'appel de La Haye, 12 novembre 2024

🌐suivre Marie-Anne Frison-Roche sur LinkedIn

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

🌐s'abonner à la Newsletter Surplomb, par MAFR

____

► Référence complète : M.-A. Frison-Roche, "Compliance, Climat, Dommage, Science et Vérité - Cour d'appel de La Haye, 12 novembre 2024", in série de vidéos Surplomb, 26 novembre 2024

____

🌐visionner sur LinkedIn cette vidéo de la série Surplomb

____

🌐visionner sur LinkedIn cette vidéo de la série Surplomb, publiée dans la Newsletter Surplomb, par MAFR

____

🎬visionner ci-dessous cette vidéo de la série Surplomb⤵️

____

Surplomp, par mafr

la série de vidéos dédiée à la Régulation, la Compliance et la Vigilance

Nov. 12, 2024

Thesaurus : 09. Juridictions étrangères

🏛️Arrêt de la Cour d'appel de La Haye du 12 novembre 2024, Milieudefensie et a. c/ Shell Plc

► Référence complète : Gerechtshof Den Haag (Cour d'appel de La Haye), 12 novembre 2024, n° 200.302.332/01, Shell Plc c/ Milieudefensie et a.

____

🏛️lire la décision

____

🏛️lire la traduction de la décision (en anglais)

____

🏛️consulter une présentation de la décision de première instance rendue dans cette affaire par la Cour de District de La Haye

____

🎬Regarder la première vidéo de la série Surplomb réalisée à propos de cet arrêt et intitulée "Compliance, Climat, Dommage, Science et Vérité - Cour d'appel de La Haye, 12 novembre 2024"

____

🎬Regarder la seconde vidéo de la série Surplomb réalisée à propos de cet arrêt et intitulée "Compliance et engagement : le juste milieu de l'arrêt rendu par la Cour d'appel de La Haye le 12 novembre 2024"

________

Oct. 4, 2024

Thesaurus : 05. CJCE - CJUE

🏛️CJUE 4 octobre 2024

► Référence complète : CJUE, Grande chambre, 4 octobre 2024, aff. C-21/23, ND c/ DR

____

🏛️lire l'arrêt

________

Sept. 5, 2024

Thesaurus : Doctrine

📗La responsabilité des grandes entreprises à l’aune du devoir de vigilance. Analyse comparée des droits français et OHADA

► Référence complète : R. Intolé, La responsabilité des grandes entreprises à l’aune du devoir de vigilance. Analyse comparée des droits français et OHADA, préf. M. Goré, L'Harmattan, coll. "Le Droit aujourd'hui", 2024, 412 p.

____

📗lire la 4ième de couverture

____

📗lire la table des matières de l'ouvrage

____

► Résumé de l'ouvrage (fait par l'éditeur) : "Le devoir de vigilance prône la responsabilisation des grandes entreprises en matière sociétale et environnementale. En permettant l’appréhension des grandes entreprises et de leurs réseaux dans leur ensemble, il incite toute l’organisation à agir globalement de manière responsable.

L’analyse du devoir de vigilance en droit français fait ressortir que ce dernier s’écarte des solutions classiques du droit de la responsabilité, et cela à au moins deux points de vue. Les normes applicables au devoir de vigilance privilégient une approche fondée sur l’auto-contrôle autonome des entreprises plutôt que sur la répression. En même temps, le devoir de vigilance apporte une logique de contrainte entraînant plus spécifiquement une nouvelle construction du droit de la responsabilité fondée sur la prévention, qualifiée de responsabilité-anticipation.

Il est alors proposé la transposition de ces pratiques qui ont pénétré le droit français en droit de l’OHADA."

________

Regulation and economic law

May 29, 2024

Editorial responsibilities : Direction of the collection Compliance & Regulation, JoRC and Bruylant

Publication of :🕴️ M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.),📘 Compliance Obligation

🌐follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on LinkedIn

🌐subscribe to the Newsletter MAFR Regulation, Compliance, Law

____

► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), Compliance Obligation, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant, "Compliance & Regulation" Serie, to be published

____

📕In parallel, a book in French L'Obligation de compliance, is published in the collection "Régulations & Compliance" co-published by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz.

____

📚This book is inserted in this series created by Marie-Anne Frison-Roche for developing Compliance Law.

read the presentations of the other books of this Compliance Series:

further books:

🕴️M.A. Frison-Roche (dir.), 📘Le système probatoire de la compliance, 2025

previous books:

🕴️M.A. Frison-Roche (ed), 📘Compliance Juridictionnalisation, 2023

🕴️M.A. Frison-Roche (ed), 📘Compliance Monumental Goals, 2022

🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📘Compliance Tools, 2021

____

► go to the general presentation of this 📚Series Compliance & Regulation, conceived, founded et managed by Marie-Anne Frison-Roche, co-published par the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant.

____

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

____

► general presentation of the book: 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. However, this is not so evident. Moreover, it is becoming difficult to find a unity to the set of compliance tools, encompassing what refers to a moral representation of the world, or even to the cultures specific to each company, Compliance Law only having to produce incentives or translate this ethical movement. The obligation of compliance is therefore difficult to define.

This difficulty to define affecting the obligation of compliance reflects the uncertainty that still affects Compliance Law in which this obligation develops. Indeed, if we were to limit this branch of law to the obligation to "be conform" with the applicable regulations, the obligation would then be located more in these "regulations", the classical branches of Law which are Contract Law and Tort Law organising "Obligations" paradoxically remaining distant from it. In practice, however, it is on the one hand Liability actions that give life to legal requirements, while companies make themselves responsible through commitments, often unilateral, while contracts multiply, the articulation between legal requirements and corporate and contractual organisations ultimately creating a new way of "governing" not only companies but also what is external to them, so that the Monumental Goals, that Compliance Law substantially aims at, are achieved.

The various Compliance Tools illustrate this spectrum of the Compliance Obligation which varies in its intensity and takes many forms, either as an extension of the classic legal instruments, as in the field of information, or in a more novel way through specific instruments, such as whistleblowing or vigilance. The contract, in that it is by nature an Ex-Ante instrument and not very constrained by borders, can then appear as a natural instrument in the compliance system, as is the Judge who is the guarantor of the proper execution of Contract and Tort laws. The relationship between companies, stakeholders and political authorities is thus renewed.

____

🏗️general construction of the book

The book opens with a double Introduction. The first, which is freely accessible, is a summary of the book, while the second, which is substantial, deals with the future development of the compliance obligation in a borderless economic system.

The first part is devoted to the definition of the Compliance Obligation.

The second part presents commitments and contracts, in certain new or classic categories, in particular public contracts, and compliance stipulations, analysed and qualified regarding Compliance Law and the various relevant branches of Law.

The third part develops the responsibilities attached to the compliance obligation.

The fourth part refers to the institutions that are responsible for the effectiveness, efficiency, and efficacy of the compliance obligation, including the judge and the international arbitrator.

The fifth part takes the Obligation or Duty of Vigilance as an illustration of all these considerations.

____

► Résumé de l'ouvrage (fait par l'éditeur) : "Ce manuel transporte le lecteur au coeur du creuset des cultures juridiques européennes : le droit romain et ses interprétations évolutives à travers les siècles. Véritable socle du droit privé, le droit romain a forgé des concepts juridiques fondamentaux tels que l’émancipation, la succession ab intestat, le fidéicommis, l’usufruit, la responsabilité aquilienne, la gestion d’affaires, le commodat, l’action rédhibitoire, et bien d’autres. Mais au-delà de la terminologie de base du droit, les Romains ont façonné la grammaire même du raisonnement juridique et fourni les clés de l’administration de la justice en Europe et au-delà.

Plaçant l’accent sur des domaines clés tels que le droit des biens, les contrats et la responsabilité civile, cet ouvrage explore également la procédure, le droit des personnes et les successions dans la tradition romaine. Une attention particulière est accordée aux recyclages, souvent empreints d’une certaine créativité interprétative, des textes du Corpus iuris civilis de l’Empereur Justinien (527-565) aux époques médiévale et moderne. Dès la création des universités à la fin du XIe siècle, c’est en effet autour du Corpus iuris civilis que s’est édifiée la formation des juristes et plus largement celle des responsables de la société.

Pour l’étudiant.e en quête de maîtrise du langage et du raisonnement juridiques, l’étude du droit romain s’impose encore aujourd’hui comme une voie privilégiée, offrant une immersion inégalée dans les fondements des systèmes juridiques modernes. En outre, l’analyse du droit romain permet à toute personne intéressée de se familiariser avec un langage technique qui, pendant de nombreux siècles, a formé les esprits des hommes et femmes lettrés. De ce fait, la tradition romaniste est devenue une sorte de deuxième Bible de l’Occident (P. Legendre) et une partie substantielle du patrimoine culturel de l’humanité.".

________

Feb. 1, 2024

Conferences

🎤Compliance et responsabilité civile : comprendre et raison garder (Compliance and Civil Liability: understanding and keeping our heads), in 🧮Droit de la compliance

🌐follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on LinkedIn

🌐subscribe to the Newsletter MAFR Regulation, Compliance, Law

____

► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche, "Compliance et Responsabilité civile : comprendre et raison garder" ("Compliance and Civil Liability: understanding and keeping our heads"), in Droit de la compliance (Compliance Law), École nationale de la magistrature - ENM (French National School for the Judiciary) in collaboration with the École de Formation professionnelle des Barreaux du ressort de la cour d'appel de Paris - EFB (Paris Bar School), Paris, February 1, 2024.

____

► This conference is given in French.

____

🧮see the full programme of this event (in French)

____

🌐consult on LinkedIn a general presentation of this event, which links to a presentation of each speech (in French)

____

🧱consult the scientific direction sheet of this event, which gives an account of the various speeches made

____

🔲see the slides used to support the presentation (in French)

____

📝This conference and the Working Paper on which it is based are to be linked with the article to be published in the book📘Compliance Obligation

____

🎤see a presentation of the conference "Droit de la Compliance : tour d'horizon" ("Compliance Law: overview"), given at the same symposium

____

► Presentation of the conference : It is difficult, even artificial, to separate the presentation of the relationship between Compliance Law and Civil Liability from the consideration given in Compliance to Criminal Liability, sanctions and the whole contractual organisation. But, if only for reasons of time, this will be done.

The chosen method consists of using decisions handed down either under Compliance Law, an emerging branch of Law of which an overview has been given before📎!footnote-3362, or under Special Liability Laws, such as Company Law (but here too the field of analysis is huge), or under Ordinary Civil Liability Law. The latter is often the preferred approach.

It always seems that civil liability and Compliance Law are both intimate and have a difficult relationship. To understand them, before embarking on crusades in one direction or another, it is technically necessary to look at the liabilities attached to the application of "compliance regulations" imposed on economic operators, who contractualise the resulting legal obligations and whose third parties may also rely on breaches on the grounds of civil liability. This is the first stage of the analysis. Much is made of the Vigilance technique. Even if this is the advances point of Compliance, we also need to look at the GDPR, the French co-called "Sapin 2" law, Anti-Corruption, etc.

However, civil liability is not the same depending on whether the obligation, legal and/or contractual, in relation to which it arises as a cause of action, gives rise, depending on the case, the text and the person, to an obligation of means or an obligation of result. If there is one principle to bear in mind, particularly in the mind of the judge, it is that, unless a text or clause provides otherwise, an obligation is an obligation of means.

This essential question raises the need to better define the "Compliance Obligation", which consists of prevention and detection, with the economic operator making his "best efforts" with regard to the monumental goals to which the various regulations (thus finding their unity) are normatively anchored. The Ex Ante evidential dimension thus comes to the fore.

In the second part of the analysis, which continues to be based on court decisions, we need to measure the "points of contact" between these "special compliance responsibilities" and the Ordinary Law of Civil Liability. Indeed, because this is a profound movement that runs through the entire legal system, expressing a social demand that distinguishes Western law from the rest of the world, Ordinary Liability Law has long had a preventive dimension and targets operators in a different way, not only because of their power, but also because of their "mission". This is expressly stated in the case law, and these points of contact do not justify opposing the two branches. It would only be if Compliance Law were confused with its instrument, "conformity", and if new principles were invented in an Ordinary Law, that clashes could arise.

In the third stage of the analysis, which can be applied to the principles at stake today, it should be remembered that while there is no general Compliance Obligation under Ordinary Law, which implies detecting and preventing for oneself and for others any breach of any applicable regulation likely to harm others, there is a principle of freedom, as the Conseil constitutionnel (French Constitutional Council) regularly reminds us. Unless we change the legal system so that people become nothing more than subjects who obey all regulations and let it be seen that they do so, with the judge's role being limited to punishing them for not doing so. Indeed, the principle of freedom remains the foundation both of the Ordinary Civil Liability Law (and not of repression, as in Chinese Law) and of the Special Law of Compliance (and not of conformity, as in Chinese law).

In conclusion, it appears that the evolution of Civil Liability, in particular due to the spirit of a Compliance Law that is articulated with it, is leading to a twofold movement: from Ex Post liability to Ex Ante responsibility📎!footnote-3363, and from Liability to Accountability.

To accompany this movement, alliances are being forged and must be fostered, which brings Compliance Law face to face with Competition Law, alliances often forged by contract and for which the role of the judge is being renewed, particularly through mediation techniques.

________

1

🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche, 🎤Droit de la Compliance : tour d'horizon (Compliance Law: overview), 2024.

2

🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche, 🚧Ex Ante Responsibility, 2022 ; 🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📝La responsabilité ex ante, pilier du droit de la compliance (Ex Ante Responsibility, pillar of Compliance Law), 2022

Regulation and economic law

Feb. 1, 2024

Teachings

⚖️Droit de la compliance (Compliance Law)

🌐follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on LinkedIn

🌐subscribe to the Newsletter MAFR Regulation, Compliance, Law

____

► Full Reference: F. Ancel & M.-A. Frison-Roche, Droit de la compliance (Compliance Law), École nationale de la magistrature - ENM (French National School for the Judiciary), in collaboration with the École de Formation professionnelle des Barreaux du ressort de la cour d'appel de Paris - EFB (Paris Bar School), Paris, February 1 and 2, 2024

This teaching is given in French.

____

🌐consult on LinkedIn a general présentation of this event, which links to a presentation and a report of each speech

____

► Presentation of the Teaching: The aim of this two-day conference is to enable judges and lawyers to grasp the issues, objectives and methods that define Compliance Law as it is practised in companies.

The speakers will illustrate the growing trend towards litigation, which is difficult to reconcile with the supranational dimension, or even indifference to territories, for example when disputes concern systemic climate or digital issues: the result is a renewal of the role of the judge and the role of lawyers.

This must be set against the renewal of the role and operation of companies themselves.

This is analysed from the perspective of Civil Law, in particular Contract Law and Liability Law. Company Law and Criminal Law are also addressed, as well as the way in which the legal system now integrates governance, regulation, climate and digital issues and the smooth operation of financial markets through Compliance techniques.

____

► Organisation of the Teaching: This conference is divided into two parts.

The first day is designed as a presentation of the major themes through which Compliance Law crosses the branches of traditional Law. The speakers will be professors of Law who will successively summarise the branches of Law and put into perspective the way in which Compliance imperatives give rise to new situations, new difficulties and new solutions.

This enables the second day to focus on practical and topical issues and to debate controversial questions between people of different sensibilities. The participants tend to be judges, members of regulatory authorities, lawyers, members of associations and so on.

____

► Enrolment procedure: The course is open to all judicial and consular magistrates, as well as lawyers.

Registrations can be made directly with the ENM or with the EFB.

____

► Speakers :

🎤François Ancel, Judge at the Première Chambre civile de la Cour de cassation (First Civil Chamber of the French Court of cassation)

🎤Thomas Baudesson, Attorney at the Paris Bar, Partner at Clifford Chance

🎤Guillaume Beaussonie, Full Professor at Toulouse 1 Capitole University

🎤Jacques Boulard, Premier Président de la Cour d’appel de Paris (First President of the Paris Court of Appeal)

🎤Marie Caffin-Moi, Full Professor at Paris Panthéon-Assas University

🎤Malik Chapuis, Judge at the Tribunal judiciaire de Paris (Paris First Instance Civil Court)

🎤Lucie Chatelain, Advocacy and Litigation Manager - Civil Liability of Parent Companies, Sherpa

🎤Jean-Benoît Devauges, Directeur Juridique, Ethique et Gouvernance des entreprises (Legal, Ethics and enterprises governance Director), MEDEF

🎤Marie-Anne Frison-Roche, Professor of Regulatory and Compliance Law, Director of the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC)

🎤Arnaud Gossement, Attorney at the Paris Bar, Partner at Gossement Avocats

🎤Thibault Goujon-Bethan, Full Professor at Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University

🎤Christophe Ingrain, Attorney at the Paris Bar, Partner at Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier

🎤Isabelle Jegouzo, Director of the Agence française anticorruption - AFA (French Anti-Corruption Agency)

🎤Anne-Valérie Le Fur, Full Professor at Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University

🎤Charlotte Michon, Attorney at the Paris Bar, partner at Charlotte Michon Avocat

🎤Jean-Baptiste Racine, Full Professor at Paris Panthéon-Assas University

🎤 Jean-Christophe Roda, Full Professor at Jean-Moulin Lyon 3 University

🎤Jérôme Simon, 1er Vice-Procureur Financier (First Financial Vice-Prosecutor)

____

🧮read below the programme put together and organised by François Ancel and Marie-Anne Frison-Roche, as well as the reports of each presentation⤵️

Dec. 27, 2023

Thesaurus : Doctrine

📝Critique de la convergence des responsabilités contractuelle et délictuelle, in 📗Mélanges en l'honneur du Professeur Loïc Cadiet

► Référence complète : M. Fabre-Magnan, "Critique de la convergence des responsabilités contractuelle et délictuelle. L'exemple du devoir de vigilance", in Mélanges en l'honneur du Professeur Loïc Cadiet, LexisNexis, 2023, pp. 547-561

____

► Résumé de l'article : Après avoir rappelé les oppositions doctrinales entre les auteurs qui considèrent que la responsabilité civile délictuelle n’existerait pas et ne serait qu’une exécution par équivalent du contrat, et ceux qui au contraire sont partisans d’une assimilation des responsabilités civiles contractuelle et délictuelle, l'auteure s'attache à démontrer que les évolutions contemporaines du droit de la responsabilité nous orientent vers une confusion des responsabilités délictuelle et contractuelle, au détriment de la première. Cette extension du modèle de la responsabilité contractuelle à la responsabilité délictuelle est porteuse de 3 risques : une relativisation de la responsabilité délictuelle, une limitation de la réparation aux dommages prévisibles et une réduction de cette responsabilité à l’exécution d’obligations déterminées.

Pour illustrer ce phénomène, l’auteure prend l’exemple fil rouge du devoir de vigilance des sociétés mères et entreprises donneuses d'ordre, dont le régime de responsabilité, ou du moins les analyses qui en sont faites, sont particulièrement révélateurs de ce mouvement.

À ce titre, l’auteure pointe le risque de confusion qui existe entre l’obligation générale de prudence et de diligence découlant des articles 1240 et 1241 du Code civil et les autres devoirs et obligations spéciaux, dont le devoir de vigilance fait partie. Elle met en avant l’importance de bien distinguer entre ce qui est spécial et ce qui est général, ce qui l’amène à réaffirmer une distinction entre des éléments souvent confondus : le devoir de vigilance, la diligence et le duty of care britannique.

Elle critique également la logique qui consisterait à limiter l’action en responsabilité civile sur le fondement du devoir de vigilance au « bénéficiaire » de cette loi. Un tel raisonnement, de recherche d’un bénéficiaire dont les intérêts seraient protégés par un texte et qui de fait aurait intérêt à agir en cas de violation de celui-ci, n’est pas d’essence délictuelle mais contractuelle et ne devrait pas s’appliquer ici. Elle estime que tout manquement à ce devoir spécial devrait permettre à toute personne qui y a intérêt d’agir sur le fondement de la responsabilité civile délictuelle.

L’auteure constate par ailleurs une tendance à limiter la réparation du dommage, dans le cadre de la responsabilité civile délictuelle, au dommage qui serait prévisible, comme en matière de responsabilité civile contractuelle. Elle relève également la montée en puissance contemporaine de la prévention des dommages et d’une responsabilité ex ante. Elle met en garde sur le fait que si ce mouvement est heureux, il ne doit pas conduire à limiter la responsabilité civile délictuelle classique. Par exemple, en matière de vigilance, elle estime que le respect par l’entreprise des obligations ex ante de détection et prévention des dommages qui lui incombent au titre de la loi de 2017 ne doivent pas constituer une cause d’exonération lui permettant d’échapper à une action en responsabilité civile délictuelle (fondée sur une faute autre que l’élaboration et la mise en oeuvre du plan) en cas de réalisation effective d’un dommage.

____

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

________

Sept. 27, 2023

Thesaurus : 02. Cour de cassation

🏛️Arrêt de la Chambre commerciale du 27 septembre 2023

► Référence complète : Com., 27 septembre 2023, n°21-21.995

____

🏛️lire l'arrêt

________

June 13, 2023

Organization of scientific events

🧱Co-organisation du Colloque 🧮Compliance : obligation, devoir, pouvoir, culture

► Référence complète : B. Deffains, M.-A. Frison-Roche et J.-B. Racine (dir.), Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC), Centre de recherche sur la justice et le règlement des conflits (CRJ) et Centre de recherche en économie (CRED) de l'Université Paris Panthéon-Assas (Paris II), Compliance : Obligation, devoir, pouvoir, culture, Université Paris Panthéon-Assas, 13 et 14 juin 2023.

____

🏗️Ce colloque s'inscrit dans le cycle de colloques organisé par le Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) et ses Universités partenaires, portant en 2023 sur le thème général de L'Obligation de Compliance.

____

📚Les travaux s'inséreront ensuite dans les ouvrages :

📕L'obligation de Compliance, à paraître dans la collection 📚Régulations & Compliance, coéditée par le Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) et Dalloz, publié en langue française.

📘Compliance Obligation, à paraître dans la collection 📚Compliance & Regulation, coéditée par le Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) et Bruylant, publié en langue anglaise.

____

► Présentation générale du colloque : "L'obligation" est au cœur de bien des disciplines. Les techniques de compliance prennent très souvent la forme d'obligations. Mais pour ne mentionner que les premières interrogations qui viennent à l'esprit et dans les cas, notamment ceux qui sont posés aux juridictions, c'est paradoxalement assez peu le "Droit des obligations" qui a été utilisé, le Droit de la Compliance étant d'une part assez souvent assimilé à la "réglementation", et son unilatéralité, comme le fût le Droit de la Régulation, branche du Droit qu'il prolonge, d'autre part on lui a souvent associé l'éthique, la morale, une culture partagée, tout ce qui semble mettre en distance de l'obligation. Les notions de "devoir" et d'"engagement", prennent de plus en plus place dans le Droit de la Compliance, avec une portée encore incertaine. C'est pourquoi, au-delà de la multiplicité des "obligations de compliance", l'on peut se demander s'il existe une "obligation de compliance", quelle serait sa définition et son rapport avec tout ce qui, dans le Droit de la Compliance, ne serait pas une obligation.

____

► Interviennent :

🎤Jean-Sébastien Borghetti, professeur à l'Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II)

🎤Louis d'Avout, professeur à l'Université Paris Panthéon-Assas (Paris II)

🎤Bruno Deffains, professeur d'économie du Droit, Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II)

🎤Marie-Anne Frison-Roche, professeur de Droit de la Régulation et de la Compliance, directrice du Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC)

🎤Daniel Gutmann, professeur à l'Ecole de Droit de l'Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris I)

🎤Anne-Valérie Le Fur, professeure à l'Université Paris-Saclay

🎤Gilles Lhuilier, professeur à l'ENS de Rennes, directeur du département Droit, Economie, Gestion

🎤Etienne Maclouf, professeur en sciences de gestion à l'Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II)

🎤Jean-Baptiste Racine, professeur de Droit, Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II)

🎤René Sève, directeur de l'Association française de philosophie du droit (AFPD) et des Archives de Philosophie du Droit (APD)

🎤Marta Torre-Schaub, directrice de recherches au CNRS, Institut des sciences juridique et philosophique de la Sorbonne, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris I)

____

Lire une présentation détaillée de la manifestation ci-dessous⤵️

Regulation and economic law

March 23, 2023

Publications

🚧Thinking and using Vigilance through its Compliance Monumental Goals

♾️ follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on LinkedIn

♾️ subscribe to the Newsletter MAFR Regulation, Compliance, Law

____

► Full reference: M.A. Frison-Roche, Thinking and using Vigilance through its Compliance Monumental Goals, Working Paper, March 2023.

____

🎤 This Working Paper has been done as basis for the introduction of the colloquia La société vigilante ("Vigilant Company") at the Aix-Marseille University on March 24, 2023 (conference given in French)

____

📝It is also the basis of the article that introduces a special issue on La société vigilante

____

► Summary of the Working Paper: The concept of "Vigilance" is difficult to define. Probably because even as it is becoming a standard, it has just entered the legal systems. And what a splash it is! To understand it, it must not be isolated. Neither in the only French law attracting all the attention, all the fears, all the hopes, the so-called Loi Vigilance ("Vigilance Law"), nor in the only technical mechanisms that make Vigilance a reality.

Vigilance is itself only a part of a deeper movement, of which it is the advanced point, allowing us to anticipate the evolution of the whole: Compliance Law.

In this light and for not getting lost in it, because the stakes are so high that one quickly loses the measure of things, with each party lashing out at the others, so Vigilance, the key element of Compliance, requires above all alliances, that we can first examine the entry of Vigilance into the legal system and then understand it through the Monumental Goals which give the measure of it, i.e. both the scope and the limit, each one having to act within the margins that are theirs, States, companies, stakeholders, and judges.

A Will for tomorrow can then emerge today, carried by Europe.

____

🔓read the Working Paper⤵️

Get our newsletters

Surplomp, par mafr

la série de vidéos dédiée à la Régulation, la Compliance et la Vigilance

Surplomp, par mafr

la série de vidéos dédiée à la Régulation, la Compliance et la Vigilance

TABLE OF CONTENTS