All publications by Jean-Luc Soulier

Organizing the management of their subsidiaries in France is a major concern for both French and foreign corporate groups.
Appointing senior executives to positions such as president or managing director partially addresses this issue. However, it does not always meet the challenges of day-to-day management, especially when the designated legal representative is distant from the place of operations.

The purpose of this article is to provide a practical overview of the principles governing the liability of corporate officers and the companies they represent, as well as the conditions for the validity of the delegations of authority they grant.

In the wake of the Hamas massacre of civilians on the Israeli territory on October 7, I had planned to write an article on the concepts of terrorist crimes, crimes against humanity and war crimes. A way of putting on my wig and gown against the abominations committed by Hamas.

But words cannot express the horrors that the world inflicts upon us month after month. There is no longer any question of a hierarchy of crimes against mankind.

On February 1, 2023, the European Commission presented its Green Deal Industrial Plan to enhance the competitiveness of Europe’s net-zero industry and support the fast transition to climate neutrality.

The overall objective is to stimulate the development of clean technologies in the European Union and to ensure Europe’s strategic autonomy by reducing its dependence on third countries.

The end-of-year-holiday season is fast approaching and it will be proper to wish the best to our loved ones and to all those whose path we have crossed in 2022. It is time to look back at a traumatic year and to prepare ourselves to face the worst scenarios: war, recession, and their consequences.

The worst is never certain but it may happen again.

Over the years, risk management has become a major issue for companies. For decades, they have been faced with an increased criminalization of their activities and an explosion of new and increasingly complex regulations in a wide variety of fields such as the protection of personal data and respect for the environment.

This regulatory hell is paved with good intentions. The rule of law must guarantee a free competition environment where the dices are not loaded and where corruption has no place.

The OECD Working Group on the Implementation of the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions adopted the France Phase 4 report on December 9, 2021.

This is an opportunity to recall the origin of this Convention before briefly presenting the good and bad marks distributed by the monitoring team in charge of assessing France’s progress in the fight against foreign bribery and underlining its key role in the defense of the values of the civilized world.