Environmental Law

After ordering the French State in 2017 to comply with air quality standards, and in 2021 to pay a penalty payment of €10 million for the period from January 11 to July 11, 2021, the Conseil d’Etat (French Administrative Supreme Court) ordered it to pay two new penalty payments of €10 million each for the two periods from July 2021 to January 2022 and from January 2022 to July 2022 for the persistent breach of the authorized nitrogen dioxide concentration limit.

The French Ministerial Statistical Department for Internal Security has published, for the first time, a study on environmental damages.

The publication of these figures, which do not, however, cover all environmental crimes, is interesting.

What findings can be made?

“Greenwashing” (“écoblanchiment” in French) can be defined as an abusive or even misleading communication from an organization that promotes an eco-friendly positioning that does not reflect the reality.

In a context of increasing greenwashing practices, this article discusses the latest evolutions of the regulation that governs these practices.

In a decision issued on February 25, 2022, the Conseil d’Etat (French Administrative Supreme Court) validated the derogation allowing the use of sugar beet seeds treated with neonicotinoids.

It dismissed the application filed by four associations (Agir pour l’environnement, the Confédération paysanne, the Fédération nature et progrès and the Fédération française des apiculteurs professionnels) for an interim judgment to suspend a Ministerial Order dated January 31, 2022 that provided for this derogation.

While France is holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union, the European Commission proposed on Wednesday, February 23, 2022 a legislation to establish a corporate due diligence duty for companies, their contractors and their subcontractors.

Companies will be required to identify and, where necessary, prevent, end or mitigate the adverse impacts of their activities on human rights and the environment.

Parent companies and large companies acting as principals may be held liable in the event of a breach of their duty of vigilance.

This duty of vigilance takes into account inter alia the risks of environmental damage associated with the operations of these companies, as well as those of their subsidiaries, subcontractors or suppliers.

The debate as to which court is competent to assess a vigilance plan has just been definitively settled: The Paris Judicial Court (Tribunal Judiciaire de Paris) has exclusive jurisdiction to hear disputes over the duty of vigilance.