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Pursuant to the first paragraph of Article L. 227-16 of the French Commercial Code, “In accordance with the conditions which they so determine, the by-laws may specify that a shareholder may be required to sell the shares he/she/it holds in the company.”

The second paragraph of Article L. 227-19 of the French Commercial Code, in its version applicable since July 21, 2019, stipulates that the exclusion clauses referred to in Articles L.227-18 “can only be adopted or amended pursuant to a unanimous decision of the shareholders, in the manner and under the conditions provided for in the by-laws”.

In a recent decision issued on December 9, 2022, following four applications for a preliminary ruling on the issue of constitutionality, the Constitutional Council ruled on the conformity of these provisions with the French Constitution.

In a judgment handed down on November 22, 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union, sitting as the Grand Chamber, held that, in the light of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the provision of the so-called anti-money laundering Directive whereby Member States must ensure that the information on the beneficial owners of corporate and other legal entities incorporated within their territory is accessible in all cases to any member of the general public is invalid.

As of January 1, 2023, the formalities for the registration, change and cancellation of liens and pledges over intangible movable property will have to be carried out in a single register called the “register of security interests over moveable property and other related transactions”.

This register was created by Decree dated December 29, 2021, with the aim of simplifying the rules governing the publication of security interests over moveable property, which until now varied according to the type of security interest concerned.

A chapter dedicated to this register has been incorporated into the French Commercial Code by the aforementioned Decree, and provides a number of clarifications.

The 2022 Rectifying Finance Law of August 16, 2022 provides for social measures to improve purchasing power that the employer can take advantage of.

These measures include, but are not limited to, the new value-sharing bonus, more flexibility on professional expenses, the buyback of RTT days and new provisions to support employee savings.

The trademark “L’EQUIPE”, renowned in the sports publishing business, had also been registered for other services. However, its owner should have made a serious use of it to have a strong legal base to bring an action for infringement and to avoid the risk of revocation.

But, for judges, sponsoring a sporting event does not mean making use of…

Given the extensive development of NFTs (“Non-Fungible Tokens”, Jeton Non Fongibles or “JNFs” in French), it had become urgent to assess the current legal situation and then to propose solutions or at least avenues of reflection to control their expansion, while respecting copyright and related rights (also known as neighboring rights).

This mission was entrusted to the Higher Council for Literary and Artistic Property (Conseil supérieur de la propriété littéraire et artistique) which presented its report on the subject on July 12, 2022.