Legal Insights

France offers many advantages for businesses, in particular thanks to its central location in Europe, the 2nd largest market in the world, a well-trained workforce and one of the highest hourly productivity rates, an advantageous tax system, as well as an appreciable environmental protection.

The French Government has set up rules to screen foreign investments. This screening has not prevented a significant number of foreign projects from being authorized in 2022.

The French Government has recently been encouraging foreign investments in the industrial and green sectors.

The transposition Law of November 29, 2023 incorporates most of the proposals of the national interprofessional agreement on value sharing of February 10, 2023.

From December 1, 2023 to December 31, 2023, companies that have already paid a value-sharing bonus (PPV) to their employees in 2023 will be able to pay a second value-sharing bonus under preferential social and tax arrangements.

Noting that the French State had failed to take the necessary measures to ensure compliance with European air pollution thresholds in several urban areas in France, the Conseil d’État (French Administrative Supreme Court) ordered it in 2021 and 2022 to pay 3 penalty payments of €10 million each per six-month period of non-compliance.

In a ruling handed down on November 24, 2023, considering the persistence of pollution in Paris and Lyon and the improvements observed, the Conseil d’État once again ordered the French State to pay two penalty payments of €5 million each for the two six-month periods from July 2022 to July 2023.

Following approval by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament, the new Regulation on the protection of geographical indications for craft and industrial products was published on October 27, 2023 in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation marks a significant milestone in the protection of the names of European craft and industrial products as it creates a single system of protection throughout the territory of the European Union.

On October 16, 2023, the Internal Market and International Trade committees of the European Parliament adopted their position on the future EU Regulation “on prohibiting products made with forced labor on the Union market” (the “Regulation”).

This Regulation was proposed by the European Commission on September 14, 2022, with the aim of combating forced labor and promoting corporate sustainability standards.

On a global scale, the use of forced labor remains widespread, affecting some 27.6 million people worldwide, according to the International Labor Organization (“ILO”).

The French Constitutional Council received an application from the Conseil d’État (French Administrative Supreme Court) for a preliminary ruling on the issue of constitutionality relating to the conformity of Article L. 542-10-1 of the French Environmental Code, in its version resulting from Law No. 2016-1015 of July 25, 2016, specifying the terms and conditions for the creation of a reversible deep geological repository for long-lived high- and intermediate-level radioactive waste (the Cigéo project) with the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the French Constitution.

In a decision handed down on October 27, 2023, the French Constitutional Council, while recognizing that the legislator must ensure that choices intended to meet current needs do not compromise the ability of future generations and other peoples to meet their own needs, by preserving their freedom of choice in this respect, concluded that the Cigéo project does not infringe the rights of future generations.