Publications

► The European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO), a major weapon for the Compliance Law.   The European Union's prosecutor comes out of its cradle : the "European Public Prosecutor's Office" starts its activities. Long to set up, this European judicial body is linked to delegated prosecutors in the Member States. It is not a simple emanation of national bodies networked; of autonomous competence, it is the organ in the name of which the action is carried out. In addition to this institutional revolution, there is a substantial revolution: this European Public Prosecutor's Office can prosecute any attack to the "financial interests of the European Union". These "attacks on financial interests" are conceived broadly, including in particular acts of corruption or embezzlement. First of all, Didier Reynders emphasizes that this puts the rule of Law at the center. It is no longer Europe supporting actions to be coordinated between States, the national prosecution having technical difficulties to cooperate effectively with each other, but the European Public Prosecutor's Office which will allow unified and effective European action between delegated prosecutors. Secondly, it continues the string of effectiveness between Compliance, located in Ex Ante, Compliance Law consisting in "preventing" and "detecting" such behavior, and the Ex Post, because a judge is sometimes necessary so that the disregard of these Ex Ante obligations is sometimes sanctioned (➡️📝Frison-Roche, M.-A., Compliance and International Public Order: the French conception preserved by the Paris Cour of Appeal, 2021) but also a prosecution: the prosecutor is a major figure in Compliance Law. Indeed, being able to prosecute, the prosecutor can also not prosecute and change its decision to close the file in returns for commitments (Ex Ante) from the company: the "public interest judicial agreements" – CJIP. In fact, through the opportunity to prosecute, will such powerful flexibility be found at European level? Thirdly, the prospect of prosecution by the European Public Prosecutor's Office will incent in Ex Ante companies to prevent, or to prosecute themselves (➡️🎤Frison-Roche, M.-A. et Roda, J.-C. (dir.), The firm instituted prosecutor and judge of itself by Compliance Law, Lyon, June 23, 2021) the perpetrators of fraud in the interests of the Union European. At a time when the Union is engaging in direct loans to lend still more, this role of the company, sometimes qualified as "private prosecutor", linked to a prosecutor, now European, is necessary. Are we moving towards the alliance of all prosecutors?

Full Reference: Frison-Roche, M.-A. Place and Role of Companies in the Creation and Effectiveness of Compliance Law in Crisis, Working Paper, May 2021.  -   This Working Paper has been elaborated as basis for a conference in the colloquium of Mai 17, 2021 (done in French: Normes publiques et Compliance en temps de crise : les buts monumentaux à l'épreuve. This video is made with English substitutes.  It is also the basis for an article in the book Compliance Monumental Goals, the English version of which is co-published by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant. Summary: This article has a very topic: the place of private Companies, with regard to the chapter's issue: "the ordeal of a crisis". The crisis constitutes a "test", that is to say, it brings evidence. Let us take it as such. Indeed, during the health crisis, it appears that Companies have helped the Public Authorities to resist the shock, to endure and to get out of the Crisis. They did so by force, but they also took initiatives in this direction. From this too, we must learn lessons for the next crisis that will come. It is possible that this has already started in the form of another global and systemic crisis: the environmental crisis. In view of what we have been able to observe and the evolution of the Law, of the standards adopted by the Authorities but also by the new case law, what can we expect from Companies in the face of this next Crisis, willingly and strength    Lire ci-dessous les développements.

Academics did a study on how people who work in investment banks kill themselves on the job. The death of a 21-year-old intern, having worked three days without sleeping, in the Goldman Sachs bank, the testimonies of young people explaining that they work non-stop, undoubtedly contributed to testimonies, relayed in the press, specialized or generalist, but also university studies. Indeed, two academics published a research no longer on the rules applicable within investment banks, which took measures to force their employees and their interns (since the victim was an intern) to rest on Sundays but on journeys based on data accessible by taxi companies. As a result, the reaction of the people was not to rest: it was to increase the daily working time, to leave even later after dark. Research shows that this phenomenon increases during the summer, that is to say precisely when the people who work are more trainees, that is to say those who want to "prove themselves": As the authors say: "Cette analyse, menée avec mon ex-collègue de doctorat de la Aalto University School of Business (Finlande), montre que, lorsque les banques ont mis en place des politiques de travail sans samedi, cela a incité les employés à travailler tard le soir en semaine pour compenser. Ces résultats sont plus marqués pendant les semaines de stages d’été, lorsque les banques d’investissement emploient un grand nombre d’étudiants désireux de faire leurs preuves en travaillant dur." (“This analysis, conducted with my ex-doctoral colleague from Aalto University School of Business (Finland), shows that when banks implemented work policies without Saturday, it prompted employees to work late nights on weekdays to compensate. These results are most marked during the summer internship weeks, when investment banks employ large numbers of students eager to prove themselves by working hard. ") -   Let's go back to the Industry series. An expert has shown all the points on which it does not correspond to "reality", on such and such a point. The cinema is reality — not even in the reconstitution of such or such a point, it reproduces it by throwing on the screen what is the idea which moves in the facts. This series begins with the death of a trader, who died of work. It tells exactly the life, how to qualify it …, let's say "the crazy life" of those who work there. It is hardly bearable to watch. In any case, it is exactly the image of what these two academics are saying.