Legal Insights

2021 is already shaping up to be a year of new developments on such exciting topics as the principle of equality of the parties in the constitution of the arbitral tribunal and the arbitrators’ duty to disclose.

Indeed, in five rulings handed down between the end of December 2020 and mid-February 2021, the Paris Court of Appeals has ruled on the arbitrator’s duty to disclosure, either by reiterating conventional solutions or by adopting, in the case of the International Commercial Chamber of the Paris Court of Appeals, a more innovative approach.

For several months now, ransomware cyberattacks have been on the rise. Recent attacks echoed by the media show that all types of organizations, whether private or public, can be affected, whatever their size.

In this context, this article offers a reminder of the best practices to implement in order to limit the risks and to know how to react effectively in case of an attack.

Since April 2021, some information relating to the beneficial owner(s) of unlisted companies and legal entities incorporated in France is now freely accessible via the website “DATA INPI” managed by the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (French National Institute of Industrial Property).

This information includes: The identity, month and year of birth, country of residence and nationality of the beneficial owners, as well as the nature and extent of the beneficial interests they hold in the relevant company or legal entity.

Law No. 2019-222 of March 23, 2019 on the 2018-2022 Programming and Reform of the Justice System (the “Reform”) has amended the divorce process introduced by Law of May 26, 2004.

The health crisis has disrupted the legislative calendar and the entry into force of the Reform, initially planned for January 1, 2020, was then postponed to September 1, 2020, and finally did not take place until January 1, 2021.

The French Anticorruption Agency (Agence Française Anticorruption, hereinafter “AFA”) published its 2020 annual report in March 2021.

This provides the opportunity to review the key figures of its audit activities in one infographic, four years after its creation by the Law of December 9, 2016 on transparency, fight against corruption and modernization of economic life, known as the “Sapin II” Law.

While these figures help us identify a trend concerning the types of audits carried out and the entities concerned, the AFA could in the future extend these audits by deciding to subject more companies to the compliance scheme, as it seems to envisage in its latest guidelines.

On March 17, 2021, the European Commission presented a proposal for a regulation to create a digital green certificate to facilitate free movement within the European Union in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This contemplated digital tool was discussed in a joint opinion from the European Data Protection Board and the European Data Protection Supervisor dated March 31, 2021, published on April 6, 2021.