Legal Insights

Ordinance No. 2020-321 of March 25, 2020 adopted in furtherance of Law No. 2020-290 of March 23, 2020 has adapted the rules governing the holding and deliberations of meetings of shareholders and meetings of governing bodies of private law businesses and entities without legal personality to deal with the Covid19 pandemic.

Decree No. 2021-255 of March 9, 2021 extends until July 31, 2021 the application of the rules derived from said Ordinance and its Implementing Decree No. 2020-418 of April 10, 2020.

The entry into force of Decree No. 2021-255 is a good opportunity to review the various changes that have occurred since our last article on the subject published on our Blog on September 29, 2020.

Pursuant to Article 35 of the Brussels I recast Regulation, the local judge may order provisional or protective measures, even though another judge has been given – or has accepted – jurisdiction to rule on the merits of the case, in particular under the terms of a jurisdiction clause.

In a decision handed down on January 27, 2021, the Court de Cassation (French Supreme Court) ruled on the French judge’s power to order preparatory inquiries in futurum (literally for the future) and aligned its position with the autonomous notion of “provisional, including protective, measures” provided for by European Law.

When visiting a website or using mobile apps, users must be informed and give their consent before cookies or other trackers are deposited or read, unless these trackers benefit from one of the exemptions provided for by law.

Following the publication of its guidelines and recommendation on October 1, 2020, the French Data Protection Authority has given until March 31, 2021 to bring websites and mobile apps into compliance with the new rules.

In a fully reasoned ruling dated November 25, 2020, the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de Cassation (French Supreme Court) has reversed a case law that had been established for more than twenty years in “merger by acquisition” transactions (i.e., when a company is merged into another): The acquiring company may now, under certain conditions, be held criminally liable for an offence committed by the acquired company prior to the merger and for which it had not been convicted.

On January 12, 2021, the French Anti-Corruption Agency published its new guidelines which will serve as the reference framework for its investigations, effective from July 13, 2021.

These new guidelines, which are both more demanding and pragmatic because they have been adapted to take into account the inspections and audits carried out by the AFA since the entry into force of the former guidelines, deserve, in our opinion, the full attention of entities subject to Article 17 of the Sapin II Law.

In a deliberation No. 2021-006 issued on January 19, 2021, the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (French Data Protection Authority, hereinafter the “CNIL”) gave its opinion on a draft Decree aimed at strengthening the system for tracing the chains of COVID-19 transmission, known as the “Contact Covid” information system, as part of the French Government’s strategy to fight against the spread of the virus.

This article outlines the CNIL’s main observations and recommendations which aim at maintaining the protection of often sensitive personal data while the draft Decree foresees a considerable and substantial extension of the information collected.