Thesaurus

Référence complète : Grandjean, J.P., rapporteur, Rapport sur l'avocat chargé d'une enquête interne, Conseil de l'Ordre des Avocats, Paris, 8 mars 2016. 

 

Lire le rapport. 

 

Feb. 29, 2024

Editorial responsibilities : Direction of the collection "Regulations & Compliance", JoRC & Dalloz

🌐 follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on LinkedIn

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► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche & M. Boissavy (ed.), Compliance et droits de la défense. Enquête interne – CJIP – CRPC ("Compliance and due process - internal investigations and DPA")Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", to be published

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► General presentation of the book:  We do not have an overall view of the relationship between Compliance and the rights of the defence in the continuum of internal investigations and DPA, or in the French legal system the convention judiciaire d'intérêt public (CJIP) and the comparution immédiate avec reconnaissance de culpabilité (CRPC), in particular because the texts, whether hard law or soft law, decisions and academic analyses segment them, making it difficult to build a pertinent appreciation of each one. This is made all the more difficult by the fact that we know little about how each of them is applied in practice, both within each of them and in relation to each other.  As a result, it is difficult to express overall satisfaction, or total rejection, or to suggest some specific reforms and to precise on what points, to identify the appropriate source of these improvements, legislation, case law, professions, or spontaneous ways of doing. The first ambition of this book is therefore to restore an overall vision, because this is the vision of practice. If shortcomings are found to exist, then they can be more easily denounced.

However, some of the situations described may be described as flawed, or even dramatic, by some, while others may consider that they should be approved as they stand. This applies, for example, to the question of whether or not the investigation report should be secret from the prosecuting authority, which may propose a DPA (or in the French legal system a CJIP), whether or not this CJIP should be extended to individuals, whether or not a lawyer should be present from the internal investigation stage onwards, whether or not the lawyer should support the interests of the company he/she is investigating and continue to do so before the regulator or the prosecutor, whether or not the investigation is delegated from the public authorities to the company, whether or not the lawyer-investigator and then the lawyer-defendant are both lawyers, whether or not the victims are represented in the the CIPC process, etc. Depending on what one thinks the relation between Compliance and due process should be in principle and in practice, one expresses a more or less approving or severe judgement on the state of the texts, the soft law nature of most of them making the exercise complicated, and then if there is a gap between them and what one thinks should be the right standard, one asserts that in practice things happen differently from what the texts say, or one considers that the texts should be changed. From point to point, a veritable kaleidoscope emerges in this book.

Indeed, the result is a series of contributions that sometimes clash with one another, with a sort of contradictionary principle creeping into the very structure of this book, thus establishing the readesr as a sort of judges themselves , that character who is so absent. He/she will be able to do so, since the book lists texts, describes practices and gives an illustration of everything that can be thought of, in visions that are sometimes analytical and sometimes global, with proposals of reforms of texts, jurisprudence or conduct.

The aim of the book is to enable readers to form their own opinions and to take part in what is undoubtedly being strongly debated today: the confrontation between Compliance and the rights of the defence.

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🧮 this book follows a conference organised by the Conseil national des barreaux - CNB (French National Council of Lawyers), which took place on 20 and 21 April 2023: Avocats et droits de la défense dans les enquêtes internes et la justice négociée..

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This volume is the continuation of the books dedicated to Compliance in this collection.

► Read the presentations of the other books on Compliance in this collection:

  • further books:

🕴️M.A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📕Le système probatoire de la compliance, 2025

🕴️M.A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📕Compliance et Contrat, 2024

🕴️M.A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📕L'obligation de compliance, 2024

  • previous books :

🕴️Frison-Roche, M.-A. (ed.), 📕 Les buts monumentaux de la Compliance2022

🕴️Frison-Roche, M.-A. (ed.), 📕 Les outils de la Compliance2020

🕴️Frison-Roche, M.-A. (ed.), 📕 Pour une Europe de la Compliance2019

🕴️N. Borga, N., 🕴️J.-Cl. Marin & 🕴️J.-Ch. Roda (ed.), 📕 Compliance : Entreprise, Régulateur, Juge, 2018

🕴️Frison-Roche, M.-A. (ed.), 📕 Régulation, Supervision, Compliance2017

🕴️Frison-Roche, M.-A. (ed.), 📕 Internet, espace d'interrégulation, 2016

📕 Read the presentations of the other titles of the collection.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

COMPLIANCE AND RIGHTS OF DEFENCE: AN OVERVIEW 

Section 1 ♦️ Connaitre les pratiques pour redessiner les frontières et accroître les points de contact entre Compliance et droits de la défense dans l’enquête interne, la CJIP et la CRPC  (lignes de force de l'ouvrage) ("Understanding practices in order to redraw the boundaries and increase the points of contact between Compliance and the rights of the defence in the Internal Investigations, the CJIP and the CRPC - focus of the book")  by🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche  

Section 2 ♦️  Compliance  droits de la défense : toujours pour le respect des droits humains  ("Compliance and the rights of the defence: always in favour of the respect for human rights" ), by🕴️Matthieu Boissavy

Section 3 ♦️ Circuler dans le temps pour mettre en phase Compliance et droits de la défense, ("Moving through Time to bring Compliance and the rights of the defense into line"), by🕴️Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

 

TITRE I. 

LES ENJEUX PROCÉDURAUX DE L'ENQUETE INTERNE CONFRONTÉE AUX DROITS DE LA DÉFENSE

("THE PROCEDURAL CHALLENGES OF THE INTERNAL INVESTIGATION IN RELATION TO THE RIGHTS OF THE DEFENCE")

 

CHAPITRE I : VISION GÉNÉRALE DES DROITS DE LA DÉFENSE DANS L'ENQUÊTE INTERNE  ("GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE RIGHTS OF THE DEFENCE IN INTERNAL INVESTIGATIONS")

 

Section 1 ♦️ Approche doctrinale de l’enquête interne et de l’enquête pénale privée, par 🕴️Benjamin Fiorini

Section 2 ♦️ Regards critiques sur le guide AFA/PNF au regard de la place des droits de la défense dans l’enquête interne, par 🕴️Margaux Durand-Poincloux, 🕴️David Apelbaum et 🕴️Paola Sardi-Antasan

Section 3 ♦️ Les conditions de réussite de l'enquête interne dans les rapports entre le Parquet national financier et l’entreprise mise en cause. L’enquête interne au soutien de la défense de l’entreprise, par🕴️Jean-François Bohnert

 

CHAPITRE II : LES DROITS DE LA DÉFENSE À CHAQUE ÉTAPE DE L'ENQUÊTE INTERNE

Section 1 ♦️ La réception des alertes par l'avocat, par🕴️Maria Lancri

Section 2 ♦️ Collecte et traitement des informations dans les enquêtes internes à l'ère numérique : processus et enjeuxpar🕴️Uriel Goldberg

Section 3 ♦️ L’apport de la psychologie pour l'effectivité des droits de la défense dans l'enquête interne pour harcèlement au travailpar🕴️Nathalie Leroy & 🕴️Danièle Zucker

Section 4 ♦️ Le respect des droits de la défense lors des auditions des enquêtes internes : un gage d’efficacitépar🕴️Ghita Khalid Rouissi et Emmanuel Daoud

Section 5 ♦️ L’enquête interne au cœur des enjeux de conformité et de justice négociée : analyse de la position de l'AFA et du PNFpar🕴️Éric Russo

Section 6 ♦️ Le rapport d’enquête interne à l’épreuve des droits de la défensepar🕴️Samuel Sauphanor

 

CHAPITRE III : LA SPÉCIFICITÉ DES ENQUÊTES INTERNES DANS LES ENTREPRISES INTERNATIONALES ET LA PLACE DES DROITS DE LA DÉFENSE

Section 1 ♦️ La spécificité des enquêtes internes pratiquées par les groupes internationauxpar 🕴️Olivier Catherine

Section 2 ♦️ Garantir la valeur probatoire d’un rapport dans le cadre d’une enquête interne opérée dans une entreprise internationalepar 🕴️Monique Figueiredo

Section 3 ♦️ La responsabilité de l'entreprise dans la conception et la menée de l'enquête internepar 🕴️Lydia Meziani

Section 4 ♦️ Enquêtes internes, enquêtes pénales et droits de la défense : que nous disent les jurisprudences américaine et anglaise (l’affaire Connolly et l’affaire ENRC) ?par 🕴️Victoire Chatelin

 

CHAPITRE IV : LE RÔLE SINGULIER DE L'AVOCAT DANS L'ENQUÊTE INTERNE

Section 1 ♦️ La méthodologie propre à l'avocat enquêteurpar 🕴️William Feugère

Section 2 ♦️ L'enquête interne façonnée par la déontologie de l'avocatpar 🕴️Stéphane De Navacelle, Julie Zorrila et Laura Ragazzi

Section 3 ♦️ Préserver le secret professionnel de l'avocat dans l'enquête interne et son résultatpar 🕴️Bénédicte Graulle et Y. Rahim

Section 4 ♦️ L’avocat-enquêteur en droit du travail : un janséniste au milieu du Far Westpar 🕴️Richard Doudet

Section 5 ♦️ La défense des personnes physiques dans les enquêtes internespar 🕴️Dorothée Hever

 

 

TITRE II.

LES ENJEUX PROCÉDURAUX DE LA CJIP ET DE LA CRPC 

CONFRONTÉES AUX DROITS DE LA DÉFENSE

 

CHAPITRE I : VISION GÉNÉRALE DES DROITS DE LA DÉFENSE DANS LA CJIP ET LA CRPC

Section 1 ♦️ Théorie et pratique de la négociation dans la justice pénalepar 🕴️Sarah-Marie Cabon

Section 2 ♦️ La lutte anti-corruption : l’emprunt au modèle américain et à ses récentes évolutionspar 🕴️Stephen L. Dreyfuss

Section 3 ♦️ Justice pénale négociée : avantages présents, risques à venirpar 🕴️Alexis Bavitot

 

CHAPITRE II : FORMES ACTIVES DES DROITS DE LA DÉFENSE, LES DIALOGUES À L'OEUVRE OU À PARFAITE DANS LA CJIP ET LA CRPC

Section 1 ♦️ Combinaison des CRPC et des CJIP : le cas particulier des affaires de fraude fiscalepar 🕴️Marion David

Section 2 ♦️ Pour une justice négociée plus équitable, par🕴️Astrid Mignon Colombet

Section 3 ♦️ Les impacts sur les droits de la défense des disparités de la justice pénale négociée dans l’Union européennepar 🕴️Emmanuel Moyne

Section 4 ♦️ L'évolution des rapports entre l'avocat et le parquet dans la CJIP, par 🕴️Thomas Baudesson

 

CHAPITRE III : LE RÔLE SINGULIER DE L'AVOCAT DANS LA CJIP ET LA CRPC 

Section 1 ♦️ Quand se justifie et quand s'arrête la collaboration ? A propos de la CJIPpar 🕴️Philippe Goossens

Section 2 ♦️ Le dialogue de l’avocat et de son client, chef d’entreprise, face à la proposition d’une CRPC et d’une CJIPpar 🕴️François Saint-Pierre

Section 3 ♦️ Le dilemme de l'avocat pénaliste face à la CRPC, par 🕴️Jean Boudot

Section 5 ♦️ Défendre les intérêts des victimes dans la justice pénale économique négociéepar 🕴️Jérôme Karsenti

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Dec. 15, 2023

Publications

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 Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche, "Adjusting General Procedural Law to Compliance Law by the nature of things", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), Compliance Jurisdictionalisation, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant, coll. "Compliance & Regulation", to be published. 

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📝read the article

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🚧read the bilingual Working Paper which is the basis of this article, with additional developments, technical references and hyperlinks

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📘read a general presentation of the book, Compliance Jurisdictionalisation, in which this article is published

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The principal elements of this articles had been presented during the scientific manifestation held on September 23, 2021, at Dauphine University in Paris, coorganised by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and the Institute Droit Dauphine. 

In the book this article is placed in the chapter II about the General Procedural Law in the Compliance Law.  

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 Summary of the article (done by the Journal of regulation & Compliance - JoRC): General Procedural law is an invention, essentially due to professor Motulsky, going well beyond the gain that one always has in comparing types of procedures with each other. As he asserted, there is Natural Law in General Procedural Law, in that as soon as there is the Rule of Law Principle there cannot be, whatever the "procedure", even the "process" such and such way of doing things: for example, to decide, to seize the one who decides, to listen before deciding, to contest the one who has decided.

General Procedural Law therefore depends on the nature of things. However, Compliance Law organizes things in a new way. Therefore, both the simple and iron principles of General Procedural Law creep in where we do not expect them at first sight, because there is no judge, this character around whom ordinary procedures fit together. The principles of General Procedural Law are essential in companies. Even if the regulations do not breathe a word about it, it is up to the Judges, in particular the Supreme Courts, to recognize this nature of things because on this effect of nature that  General Procedural Law is built: when compliance mechanisms oblige companies to strike, General Procedural law must oblige, even in the silence of the texts, to arm those who can be hit, even stand up against devices that would set aside too much these defenses that are easily considered contrary to efficiency (I).

But because it is a question of making room for this nature of the things of which the Rule of Law Principle entrusts the custody to the Judge and the Lawyer, the General Procedural Law must also adjust itself to what the extraordinary new branch of Law Compliance Law is. Indeed, Compliance Law is extraordinary in that it expresses the political pretention to act now so that the future will not be catastrophic, by detecting and preventing the realization of systemic risks, or even that it is better, by building effective equality or real concern for others. Because it is the Monumental Goals that defines this new branch of Law, a disputed systemic issue, possibly disputed by several parties before a judge, the procedural principles used by the court must be broadened considerably: they must then include civil society and the future (II).

General Procedural Law thus naturally acquires an even more place than in the classic branches of Law since on the one hand it imposes itself outside of trials, particularly in companies and on the other before the courts it involves people who had hardly any place to speak and thinks themselves, especially the systems entering the "causes" of Compliance now debated before the Judge.

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Nov. 16, 2023

Thesaurus : Doctrine

► Référence complète : H. Ruiz Fabri, V. Rosoux et A. Donati (dir.), Representing the Absent, Nomos, coll. "Studies of the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law", vol. 27, 2023, 496 p.

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► lire la 4ième de couverture

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► lire la table des matières

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► Résumé de l'ouvrage (fait par l'éditeur) : "The ‘absent’ is a notion known in most legal systems. As a legal notion, primarily used in civil law, it refers to one who has left, either temporarily or permanently, their domicile or usual place of residence or business, or whose whereabouts are not known and cannot be ascertained by diligent effort. And yet, the absent may have a family, own a business or property, for whom or which life has to go on. Being absent does not mean having no interest or stake. However, one recurring related issue is determining who can legally speak in the name of, or represent the absent. The book takes root in this idea and widens it by considering the issue of the representation of all those who are not there now, stretching from those who are not there anymore because they have disappeared, to those who are not there yet, because they have not yet appeared. Past and future generations are not only emblematic of both ends of the spectrum but also of the fact that absents can indeed have interests and would therefore need someone to speak in their name/represent them."

(Free translation : "L'absent est une notion connue dans la plupart des systèmes juridiques. En tant que notion juridique, principalement utilisée en droit civil, elle désigne celui qui a quitté, temporairement ou définitivement, son domicile ou son lieu habituel de résidence ou de travail, ou dont le lieu de séjour n'est pas connu et ne peut être déterminé par des efforts diligents. Pourtant, l'absent peut avoir une famille, posséder une entreprise ou un bien, pour lequel ou laquelle la vie doit continuer. Être absent ne signifie pas n'avoir aucun intérêt ou d'enjeu. Cependant, une question récurrente est de savoir qui peut légalement parler au nom de l'absent ou le représenter. Le livre prend racine dans cette idée et l'élargit, en considérant la question de la représentation de tous ceux qui ne sont pas là aujourd'hui, depuis ceux qui ne sont plus là parce qu'ils ont disparu, jusqu'à ceux qui ne sont pas encore là, parce qu'ils ne sont pas encore apparus. Les générations passées et futures ne sont pas seulement emblématiques des deux extrémités du spectre, mais aussi du fait que les absents peuvent en effet avoir des intérêts et auraient donc besoin de quelqu'un pour parler en leur nom/les représenter.")

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Sept. 28, 2023

Thesaurus : 01. Conseil constitutionnel

 Référence complète : Conseil constitutionnel, 28 septembre 2023, n° 2023-1062 QPC

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🏛️lire la décision

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June 21, 2023

Publications

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► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-RocheConditions required to promote the "contractualisation" of the Law, Working Paper, June 2023.

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🎤This Working Paper has been done as a basis for the closing conference of the colloquia La contractualisation du droit. Acte II, organised by the Société de législation comparée (SLC) and the Procuradoria Geral do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (PGE-RJ), on 19, 20 and 21 June 2023.

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📝It is also the basis of the article that will be published.

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► English Summary of the Working Paper : 

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🔓read the Working Paper⤵️

June 21, 2023

Conferences

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 Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche, "Favoriser ou pas la « contractualisation » du Droit" ("To favour or not the "contractualisation" of the Law"), final speech in Société de législation comparée (SLC) and Procuradoria Geral do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (PGE-RJ)La contractualisation du droit. Acte II, Paris, 21 June 2023.

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🧮See the full programme of this event (in French).

The conference is held in French

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April 6, 2023

Newsletter MAFR - Law, Compliance, Regulation

♾️ follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on LinkedIn

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► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche, "La "rationalité délibérative" et l'usage adéquat de l'impératif de vigilance" (""Deliberative rationality" and the proper use of the vigilance imperative"), Newsletter MAFR - Law, Compliance, Regulation, 6 April 2023.

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📧Read by freely subscribing other news of the Newsletter MAFR - Law, Compliance, Regulation

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🔴The deliberative public space, a model method for the implementation of the duty of vigilance

In this new article of April 6, 2023 of the Newsletter MAFR - Law, Compliance, Regulation, the political philosophy construction that Habermas exposes about social networks and the method that the implementation of the duty of vigilance requires are correlated. Indeed, Habermas continues to advocate a space for discussion, contradiction, deliberation, opinion that can act with rationality. Communication and mediation are essential to ensure that the future, which is the object of vigilance, will not be a catastrophe: this monumental goal of compliance, of which Vigilance is a part, implies it.

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📧read the article ⤵️ 

Feb. 2, 2023

Publications

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 Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche, "Le juge, l'obligation de compliance et l'entreprise. Le système probatoire de la Compliance" ("The judge, the compliance obligation, and the company. The Compliance probationary system"), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), La juridictionnalisation de la Compliancecoll. "Régulations & Compliance", Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, 2023, p 409-442.

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📝read the article (in French)

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🚧read the bilingual Working Paper which is the basis of this article, with additional developments, technical references and hyperlinks 

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📕read a general presentation of the book, La juridictionnalisation de la Compliance, in which this article is published

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 Summary of the article (done by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance): the article aims to identify the link that must be established between the company in its relationship with the compliance obligations it assumes and the judges to whom it is accountable in this respect: this link is established by evidence. The evidentiary system of proof has yet to be constructed, and it is the purpose of this long study to lay the groundwork. 

To this end, the article begins with a description of what is designated here as the "probatory square" in a "probatory system" that is superimposed on the system of rules of substantive legal system. This is all the more important because Compliance seems to be in frontal collision in its very principles with the general principles of the evidentiary system, in particular because it seems that the company would have to prove the existence of the Law or that it would have to bear in a definitive way the burden of proving the absence of violation, which seems to be contrary not only to the presumption of innocence but also to the principle of the freedom of action and of undertaking. In order to re-articulate Compliance Law, the obligations of compliance which legitimately weigh on the company, it is necessary to return to the probatory system specific to Compliance, so that it remains within the Rule of Law. This presupposes the adoption of a substantial definition of Compliance, which is not only compliance with the rules, which is only a minimal dimension, but implies that Compliance Law should be defined by the Monumental Goals on which the public authorities and the companies are in substantial alliance.

The evidentiary system of principle makes play between its four summits that are the burden of proof, the objects of proof this evidentiary square of principle, between the burden of proof, the means of proof and their admissibility. Compliance Law does not fall outside this evidential square, thus marking its full membership of the Rule of Law

In order to lay the foundations of the evidential system specific to Compliance Law, the first part of the article identifies the objects of proof which are specific to it, by distinguishing between the structural devices, on the one hand, and the expected behaviours, on the other. The first involves proving that the structures required to achieve the Monumental Goals of Compliance have actually been put in place. The object of proof is then the effectiveness of this implementation, which presents the effectiveness of the system. As far as behavioral obligations are concerned, the object of proof is the efforts made by the company to obtain them, the principle of proportionality governing the establishment of this proof, while the systemic efficiency of the whole reinforces the evidential system. However, the wisdom of evidence lies in the fact that, even though the principle remains that of freedom of evidence, the company must establish the effectiveness, efficiency, and effectiveness of the whole, independently of the burden of proof.

The second part of the article concerns those who bear the burden of proof in Compliance Law. The latter places the burden of proof on the company in principle, in view of its legal obligations. This burden comes from the legal origin of the obligations, which blocks the "round of the burden of proof". But in the interference of the different vertices of the evidentiary square, the question becomes more delicate when it comes to determining the contours of the compliance obligations that the company must perform. Moreover, the burden of proof may itself be the subject of proof, just as the company's performance of its legal obligations may also be the subject of contracts, which brings us back to the evidentiary system ordinarily applicable to contractual obligations. The situation is different when it comes to a "compliance contract" or when it comes to one or more compliance stipulations, concepts that are still not very well developed in Contract Law. 

Furthermore, as all branches of Law belong to a legal system governed by the Rule of Law, other branches of law interfere and modify the methods and solutions of proof. This is the case when the fact, which is the object of proof, can give rise to a sanction, the Law of repression imposing its own solutions in the matter of the burden of proof. 

In the third part of the article, the relevant means of proof in Compliance Law are examined, used in that Compliance Law is above all a branch of Law whose object is on the one hand information and on the other hand the Future. Open questions remain, such as whether companies could be forced by the Judge to build technologies to invent new means of proof. To show that they are indeed achieving the Monumental Goals they are charged with. 

In the fourth part, the vital character of the pre-constitution of evidence is shown, which is the reflection of the Ex-Ante nature of Compliance Law: evidence must be pre-constituted to avoid the very prospect of having to use it, by finding all the means to establish the effectiveness, efficiency and even the effectiveness of the various Compliance Tools. 

If companies do all this methodically, the Compliance evidence system will be established, in harmony with the general evidence system, Compliance Law and the Rule of Law.

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Feb. 2, 2023

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Full Reference: A. Bavitot, "Le façonnage de l'entreprise par les accords de justice pénale négociée" ("Shaping the company through negotiated Criminal Justice Agreements"), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), La juridictionnalisation de la Compliance, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, 2023, p. 187-198.  

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📕read a general presentation of the book, La juridictionnalisation de la Compliance, in which this article is published

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 Summary of the article (done by the author): Negotiated justice is "the situation in which the criminal conflict is the object of a trade in the etymological sense of the term negotio, i.e. a debate between the parties to reach an agreement".

Thus, the French legislator has succumbed to globalized mimicry by creating the Convention judiciaire d'intérêt public (Public Interest Judicial Agreement), first in matters of probity and then in environmental matters. What is the nature of this deal of justice? Validated by a judge's order, it does not entail any declaration of guilt, has neither the nature nor the effects of a judgment of conviction and is not registered in the judicial record. Possible at the investigation stage as well as at the pre-trial stage, the Public Interest Judicial Agreement is original in that it makes it possible to avoid either the prosecutor's proceedings or the judge's wrath.

A detailed study of the agreements signed shows that in order to negotiate in the best possible way, the company can and must shape itself. The company will shape the facts of its agreement, shape its charge and, finally, shape its sentence. The article offers a concrete analysis of these three dimensions of corporate shaping to better approach understanding the legal nature of negotiated criminal justice agreements.

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Updated: Feb. 2, 2023 (Initial publication: June 23, 2021)

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Full Reference: J. Heymann, "La nature juridique de la "Cour suprême" de Facebook" ("The legal nature of Facebook's "Supreme court""), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), La juridictionnalisation de la Compliancecoll. "Régulations & Compliance", Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, 2023, p. 151-167. 

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📕read a general presentation of the book, La juridictionnalisation de la Compliance, in which this article is published

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 The summary below describes an article following the colloquium L'entreprise instituée Juge et Procureur d'elle-même par le Droit de la Compliance , co-organized by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and the Faculté de Droit Lyon 3. This manifestation was designed under the scientific direction of Marie-Anne Frison-Roche and Jean-Christophe Roda and took place in Lyon on June 23, 2021.

In the book, the article will be published in Title I, devoted to: The Entreprise instituted Judge and Prosecutor of itself by Compliance Law.

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 Summary of the article (done by the author): Taking place in the general theme aiming at making “words and things coincide”, the article offers some thoughts on the “conditions of the discourse” – in the sense in which Foucault understood it in his Archéologie des sciences humaines – relating to the phenomenon of “jurisdictionalization” of Compliance.

            The thoughts are more specifically focusing on the nature of the so-called “Supreme Court” that Facebook instituted to hear appeals of decisions relating to content on the digital social networks that are Facebook and Instagram. Is this really a “Supreme Court”, designed in order to “judge” the Facebook Group?

            A careful examination of the Oversight Board – i.e. the so-called “Supreme Court” created by Facebook – reveals that the latter, in addition to its advisory mission (which consists of issuing policy advisory opinions on Facebook’s content policies), exercises some form of adjudicative function. This is essentially conceived in terms of compliance assessment, of the content published on the social networks Facebook or Instagram with the standards issued by these corporations on the one hand, of content enforcement decisions taken by Facebook with the Law on the other hand. The legal framework of reference is yet rather vague, although its substantial content seems to be per se evolutive, based on the geographical realm where the case to be reviewed is located. An adjudicative function can therefore be characterized, even if the Oversight Board can only claim for a limited one.

            The author can ultimately identify the Oversight Board as a preventive dispute settlement body, in the sense that it seems to aim at avoiding any referral to state courts and ruling before any court’s judgement can be delivered. Some questions are thus to be raised, relating with both legitimacy and authority of such a Board. But whatever the answers will be, the fact remains that the creation of the Oversight Board by a private law company already reveals all the liveliness of contemporary legal pluralism.

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Feb. 2, 2023

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Full Reference: F. Ancel, "Le principe processuel de compliance, un nouveau principe directeur du procès ?" (The procedural principle of compliance, a new trial leading principle?), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), La juridictionnalisation de la Compliancecoll. "Régulations & Compliance", Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, 2023, p. 225-230. 

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📕read a general presentation of the book, La juridictionnalisation de la compliancein which this article is published

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 Summary of the article (done by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance): Through this article, the author formulates a proposal: elevating the principle of compliance to the rank of leading principle of the trial. To support this, the author firstly emphasizes the convergence of the aims of compliance and the purpose of the trial. Indeed, emphasizing that Compliance Law does not oust either the State or the judge, as soon as compliance means that the person must keep their commitments and that the trial is also based on this principle that the parties must conform to the principles and to their own "speech", compliance thus becomes a trial leading principle.

In a second part of the article, the author illustrates his point in a very concrete way. First, the protocols of procedure which are drawn up by the courts and the bars are commitments which should justify a form of constraint which, if it should not have the same form and nature as that of the law, must all the same even have consequences when a party fails to do so. Secondly, relying on French case law which sanctions a party which had accepted the principle of an arbitration and then systematically hinders its implementation, the author suggests that under the principle of compliance can be grouped the notions for the instant scattered of loyalty, consistency (estoppel) and efficiency.

Thus, this "open practice" echoing the "open way" of a procedural principle of compliance brings out this one.

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Updated: Feb. 2, 2023 (Initial publication: March 31, 2021)

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Full Reference: F.-X. Train, "Arbitrage et procédures parallèles exercées au titre de la compliance" ("Arbitration and parallel proceedings exercised in Compliance Procedure"), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), La juridictionnalisation de la Compliancecoll. "Régulations & Compliance", Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, 2023, p. 355-368. 

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📕read a general presentation of the book, La juridictionnalisation de la Compliance, in which this article is published

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 The summary below describes the article that follows an intervention in the scientific manifestation Compliance et Arbitrage, co-organised by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and the University Panthéon-Assas (Paris II). This conference was designed by Marie-Anne Frison-Roche and Jean-Baptiste Racine, scientific co-directors, and took place in Paris II University on March 31, 2021. 

In the book, the article will be published in the Chapter III, devoted to: Compliance et Arbitrage international.

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 Summary of the article (done by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance): Firstly, the article insists on the principle of the autonomy of the international arbitration procedure, in relation to which parallel procedures remain watertight, whether they are criminal or done under Compliance Law. In the arbitral proceedings taking place independently, the arbitrators before whom the facts also referred to in these parallel proceedings, in particular the facts of corruption, are alleged before them as facts through their unlawful nature: it is at this title that they can and must apprehend them, using the standard of proof which is the bundle of clues.

Secondly, the article highlights the limits of the autonomy of international arbitration. These may be de facto limits because in the search for evidence by arbitrators, red flags are often insufficiently consistent evidence to establish a sentence, especially since this sentence may be subject to control by the judge of its conformity to international public order, the annulment by the judge being able to be based on external elements, even after the arbitration procedure. It may then be wise for the arbitrators, who are not forced to do so, to suspend their proceedings to wait the results of the parallel proceedings initiated under Compliance Law, so that the procedures and their results could be harmonious.

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Dec. 8, 2022

Thesaurus : Doctrine

Full reference: N. Cayrol, "L'amicus curiae, mesure d'instruction ordinaire", Chronique de Procédure civile, D. 2022, p.2181-2183.

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► Summary of the article (done by the author, in French) : Les mesures d'instruction sont généralement présentées comme des mesures tendant uniquement à l'administration de la « preuve de faits dont dépend la solution du litige ».

À cette conception stricte, on préfère une conception large, englobant toutes les mesures tendant à instruire le tribunal.

Cela présente l'intérêt de donner un cadre procédural connu à la désignation d'un amicus curiae par les juges, aidant ainsi à lever les ambiguïtés qui entourent encore ce procédé.

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Oct. 23, 2022

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Full Reference: F. Ancel, "Compliance Law, a new guiding principle for the Trial?", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), Compliance Jurisdictionalisation, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant, coll. "Compliance & Regulation", to be published.  

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📘read a general presentation of the book, Compliance Jurisdictionalisation, in which this article is published

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 Summary of the article (done by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance): Through this article, the author formulates a proposal: elevating the principle of compliance to the rank of leading principle of the trial. To support this, the author firstly emphasizes the convergence of the aims of compliance and the purpose of the trial. Indeed, emphasizing that Compliance Law does not oust either the State or the judge, as soon as compliance means that the person must keep their commitments and that the trial is also based on this principle that the parties must conform to the principles and to their own "speech", compliance thus becomes a trial leading principle.

In a second part of the article, the author illustrates his point in a very concrete way. First, the protocols of procedure which are drawn up by the courts and the bars are commitments which should justify a form of constraint which, if it should not have the same form and nature as that of the law, must all the same even have consequences when a party fails to do so. Secondly, relying on French case law which sanctions a party which had accepted the principle of an arbitration and then systematically hinders its implementation, the author suggests that under the principle of compliance can be grouped the notions for the instant scattered of loyalty, consistency (estoppel) and efficiency.

Thus, this "open practice" echoing the "open way" of a procedural principle of compliance brings out this one.

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🦉This article is available in full text to those registered for Professor Marie-Anne Frison-Roche's courses

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Oct. 20, 2022

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Full Reference: F.-X. Train, "Arbitration and parallel proceedings exercised in Compliance Procedure", in M.-A. Frison-Roche, M.-A. (ed.), Compliance Jurisdictionalisationseries "Compliance & Regulation", Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant, to be published. 

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 the summary below describes the article that follows an intervention in the scientific manifestation Compliance et Arbitrage, co-organised by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and the University Panthéon-Assas (Paris II). This conference was designed by Marie-Anne Frison-Roche and Jean-Baptiste Racine, scientific co-directors, and took place in Paris II University on March 31, 2021. 

In the book, the article will be published in the Chapter III, devoted to: Compliance et Arbitrage international.

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 Article Summary:  Firstly, the article insists on the principle of the autonomy of the international arbitration procedure, in relation to which parallel procedures remain watertight, whether they are criminal or done under Compliance Law. In the arbitral proceedings taking place independently, the arbitrators before whom the facts also referred to in these parallel proceedings, in particular the facts of corruption, are alleged before them as facts through their unlawful nature: it is at this title that they can and must apprehend them, using the standard of proof which is the bundle of clues.

Secondly, the article highlights the limits of the autonomy of international arbitration. These may be de facto limits because in the search for evidence by arbitrators, red flags are often insufficiently consistent evidence to establish a sentence, especially since this sentence may be subject to control by the judge of its conformity to international public order, the annulment by the judge being able to be based on external elements, even after the arbitration procedure. It may then be wise for the arbitrators, who are not forced to do so, to suspend their proceedings to wait the results of the parallel proceedings initiated under Compliance Law, so that the procedures and their results could be harmonious.

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📘 read the general presentation of the book, Compliance Jurisdictionalisation, in which this article is published

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Sept. 1, 2022

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Full Reference: F. Marty, "L'apport des programmes de conformité à la compétitivité internationale : une perspective concurrentielle" ("The contribution of compliance programmes to international competitiveness: a competitive perspective"), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), Les Buts Monumentaux de la Compliance, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, 2022, p. 381-400.

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📕read a general presentation of the book, Les Buts Monumentaux de la Compliance, in which this article is published

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► Summary of the article (done by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance): The author analyzes economically the question of whether the compliance programs set up to respect competition rules are for the sole purpose of avoiding sanctions or also contribute to the goal of increasing the international economic performance of companies. which submit to them.

The author explains that companies integrate by duplication external standards to minimize the risk of sanctions, developing a "culture of compliance", which produces their competitiveness increase and the effectiveness of the legal and economic system. In addition, it reduces the cost of investment, which increases the attractiveness of the company.

In this, this presentation based on the postulate of the rationality of companies and investors, compliance programs can fall under self-regulation. The duplication of the law that they operate takes place largely according to "procedural" type methods.

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July 12, 2022

Thesaurus : 02. Cour de cassation

Référence complète : Crim., 12 juillet 2022, pourvoi n° 21-83.820 (publié au bulletin).

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Lire l'arrêt

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June 19, 2022

Law by Illustrations

► Référence complète : Frison-Roche, M.-A., Phil Spector : Avant tout une fiction ..., qui raconte par les noms et dates précises la préparation du procès de Phil Spector, 2022

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Qui connait l'histoire et l'industrie de la musique connait Phil Spector, celui qui dans les années 60 fut le plus grand producteur de disques, innova, lança et gagna des fortunes. Puis, il disparut parce que dans un système qui se nourrit de modes l'on disparait aussi ; il resta avec ses souvenirs et son argent. C'est plutôt sous l'angle d'un procès retentissant que les médias lui redonnèrent la couverture, puisqu'il fut poursuivi pour le meurtre d'une actrice. Proclamant d'une façon spectaculaire son innocence, il fût reconnu coupable par le jury et finit sa vie en prison. Lorsqu'il mourut en 2021 en prison à plus de 80 ans, ruiné et seul, la presse titra ainsi : "savez-vous que Phil Spector a été interprété au cinéma par Al Pacino ?". 

Car dans l'autre monde qu'est non plus le monde des amateurs de musique mais le monde des amateurs de cinéma, de Phil Spector, l'on n'avait pas entendu parler. Ainsi du film qui sortit en 2013, qui retrace semble-t-il pas à pas les quelques jours précédant sa comparution devant le tribunal, ceux qui admirent celui qui est qualifié de "légende" n'ont pas entendu parlé. Et sans doute les cinéphiles ne connaissent pas cette personne. 

Il faut dire que le film débute par cet avertissement : "ce film est une pure fiction qui n'a aucun rapport avec des faits qui se seraient déroulés". Et pourtant le titre même du film est : Phil Spector , c'est-à-dire un titre réduit à l'identification de la personne, pour que nul ne s'y trompe. Les noms sont exacts, les dates aussi, les faits allégués sont reproduits, les lieux également. Les perruques qu'il portait, notamment celle qu'il choisit, ainsi que l'habit, au bouton près, de mettre pour le jour où le procès s'ouvrit.

Pourquoi avoir fait cela ?

Sans doute pour ne pas avoir d'ennui, dans une affaire où la personne concernée fut condamnée pour un meurtre alors qu'il affirmait avoir été témoin d'un suicide. En effet, des personnes avaient par exemple menacé Helen Mirren de s'opposer à l'attribution de toute récompense pour jouer dans un film pour présenter d'une "façon sympathique" un personnage diabolique... L'avantage d'une fiction est qu'on rend moins de compte des personnages qui ne vivraient que sur l'écran....

Pour pouvoir aussi ajouter autant de scènes que l'on veut où le personnage, désormais "de fiction" que serait ce Phil Spector qui n'aurait donc aucun compte à rendre à Phil Spector, peut apparaître dans toute sa démesure et sa rage, notamment contre la justice et la société.

Cela permet au spectateur de voir tout le travail de l'avocate, Linda Kenney Baden, interprétée par Helen Mirren :

L'on peut par exemple y voir les cross-examinations simulés par lesquelles l'avocat prépare le client ou bien, à l'intérieur même du cabinet, la façon dont à tour de rôle les avocats endossent la thèse de l'adversaire. 

Dans toutes ces scènes qui furent, dans la "réalité", si théâtrales dans ce procès hors-normes autour d'une personnalité hors-norme, prévenir dans ce film présenté par tous comme une biographie que tout cela ne serait que "fiction" nous montre en tant cas les effets de miroir qu'il existe toujours entre les procès et les films autour de la réalité et le récit qui en est fait.

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Feb. 7, 2022

Editorial responsibilities : Direction of the collection "Cours-Série Droit privé", Editions Dalloz (33)

Référence complète : Cayrol, N., Procédure civile, 4ième éd., Coll. "Cours Dalloz-Série Droit privé", Dalloz, 2022, 569 p.

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Présentation de l'ouvrage : L'étude de la procédure civile est indispensable à tous les étudiants désireux d'embrasser une « carrière judiciaire » : magistrat, avocat, huissier, etc. Par nombre d'aspects, la procédure civile est bien, en effet, un droit professionnel, un droit à l'usage des professionnels du procès. La matière figure d'ailleurs aux épreuves des concours et examens d'accès à ces professions.

Mais la procédure civile n'est pas seulement un droit professionnel : elle traite de problèmes qui intéressent tous les juristes, quels qu'ils soient, qu'ils pratiquent ou non la procédure. La connaissance des notions procédurales de base est nécessaire pour la bonne compréhension de nombreuses questions de droit.

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Lire la table des matières.

Lire la quatrième de couverture.

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📚Voir l'ensemble des ouvrages de la même collection "Cours Dalloz -Série Droit privé", créée et dirigée par Marie-Anne Frison-Roche,

et notamment ceux qui traitent des branches du Droit interférant avec la Procédure civile :

📕  Procédure pénale

📕  Procédures civiles d'exécution

📕  Institutions juridictionnelles

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Sept. 23, 2021

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Full Reference: S. Scemla & D. Paillot, "The difficulty for Compliance Enforcement Authorities to comprehend the Rights of the Defence in compliance matters", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.),  Compliance Jurisdictionalisation, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant, coll. "Compliance & Regulation", to be published.

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📘read a general presentation of the book, Compliance Jurisdictionalisation, in which this article is published

 

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 Summary of the article (done by the Authors): Since 2016, French companies subject to the provisions of the so-called “Sapin 2” Law must implement eight stringent anti-corruption measures, such as a risk mapping, a whistleblowing procedure or a third-party due diligence procedure.

To ensure their compliance with these obligations, the Sapin 2 law created the Agence française anticorruption - AFA (French Anti-Corruption Agency), which had been assigned three missions: firstly, to help any person prevent and detect corruption; secondly, to control the quality and effectiveness of the anti-corruption programs deployed by the companies; and thirdly, to sanction any breaches, through its Sanctions Committee.

As pointed out by the French Conseil d’Etat, the powers devolved to the administrations have multiplied and became stratified. While the Conseil d'Etat suggests to improve both the conduct and the effectiveness of administrative controls by harmonising their practices and simplifying their prerogatives, it is urgent to remedy the numerous procedural failures that undermine the rights of defence.

In fact, the AFA exercises various powers when undertaking its controls. Some of these powers are not provided for by the Law, and most of them infringe fundamental rights and freedoms among which the adversarial principle and the freedom not to self-incriminate. For instance, the AFA does not necessarily draft minutes of the interviews it conducts, thus depriving the interviewee of the possibility to challenge the statements reported by the AFA to the Sanctions Committee.

From a more structural point of view, the scope of the AFA's mission is extremely broad. The Law allows the AFA to request the communication of "any professional document or any useful information", without defining the notion of usefulness. Also, the AFA considers that the entity cannot benefit from the legal privilege that would cover their documents, and considers that an entity who voluntarily hands over a document, without expressing any reserves, waives its right to the benefit of its legal privilege.

Apart from the severe consequences that could arise if another proceedings was to be initiated by a foreign authority, the concept of "voluntary handover" does not faithfully reflect the reality. Indeed, the controlled entities only cooperate under the threat of being prosecuted on the basis of an obstruction to the control, which compels them to communicate documents even when facing the risk of contributing to their own incrimination.

These many procedural deficiencies encountered during AFA controls must therefore be reformed, as recommended by the Conseil d’Etat, so as to require the authorities to take into account the rights of the defence.

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🦉This article is available in full text to those registered for Professor Marie-Anne Frison-Roche's courses

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June 23, 2021

Thesaurus : Doctrine

 Full Reference: D. Latour, "Internal investigations within companies", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), Compliance Jurisdictionalisation Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant, coll. "Régulations & Compliance", to be published. 

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📘read a general presentation of the book, Compliance Jurisdictionalisation, in which this article is published

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 Summary of the article (): 

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🦉This article is available in full text to those registered for Professor Marie-Anne Frison-Roche's courses

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March 21, 2021

Compliance: at the moment

Updated: Jan. 14, 2021 (Initial publication: Dec. 14, 2020)

Conferences

  Full Reference : Frison-Roche, M.-A., The Economic Attractiveness of Impartiality ("L'attractivité économique de l'impartialité"), in ""Economic Attractiveness, Judge Office and Impartiality. Thinking the judge Office" ("L'attractivité économique, l'office du juge et l'impartialité. Penser l'office du juge"), 

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🎥 watch the conference (in French with English subtitles)

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📝 read the colloquium program ( in French)

📝 see the general program of the cycle on the Judge Office.

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📝 read François Ancel's article of 14th of January 2021 in the Receuil Dalloz and which report this colloquium (in French) 

 

 

📝 read the Working Paper, basis of this conference.

This Working Paper is significantly different from the conference because it was conceived befor the colloquia cycle beginning. In addition, since this manifestation was a Round Table, the conference has taken more into account previous conferences and what said the other two speakers.

 

📊 see the slides, basis of the conference (in French)

The slides could not be shown during the conference. Orally, it was appropriate to more develop the introductory remarks for emphasizing the human and unique dimension of the Judge Office, expected in economic matters. As a result, the second part of the conference was not given orally, so slides therefore remain the only media available.

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  Summary of the conference : To fit into the ambition of this general colloquia cycle, which is to "Think the Judge Office" and in this round table which apprehends the imperative of economic attractiveness of this office, firstly emerges the seemingly contradictory relationship between this imperative and the distance that the judge must maintain. Thus it is often asserted that the judge should be internalized at this point in the "places", - an economic concept of great scope (to which the first part of the introduction is devoted, defining the "place" at the same time as a closed and porous space and as a "systemic litigant" -, that he/she should ipso facto lose his/her distance, that is to say his/her impartiality. As places are in competition, even if weighing on one hand the effectiveness of the place, and on the other hand the impartiality of a judge who is external to this place - Judge referring to the Law , Impartiality would necessarily emerge weakened. It would then be necessary on a case-by-case basis to get the judge to give the desired concessions...

The conference aim is to take the opposite position and to state that the Place - in particular because they must be strongly distinguished from the Markets, of which they were the ancestors - require a Judge, who is at the same time "singular", that is to say with a personality, a face, opinions, and in distance so that his/her imagination does not surprise Place. Indeed, these require a human Justice, and a not mechanical one and singular judges, of whom the juge des référés or the arbitrator are the epigone, meets this need. But for reducing their "margins of discretion", how Economy qualifies the Impartiality of a person who can never be neutral, the singular Judge's Office must be inserted into mechanisms reducing these margins. In this way, the Place may reach a Judge who is always more impartial, and in doing so the Place becomes always more attractive.

To achieve this in practice, the place expresses two legitimate expectations, as a "systemic litigant", whose satisfaction increases and the singular Judge's Impartiality and increases the Attractiveness of the Place as a space. This clearly shows that the Place's Attractiveness and the Judge's Impartiality, because judges are inserted into procedures, into institutions and into a "jurisdictional family", are not only not contradictory, but are on the contrary convergent, one fueling the other.

Concretely, and judicial practice shows it, it is necessary to consolidate the particular Judge's Impartiality by inserting him/her into collective processes. As it is necessary to promote a radiance of Impartiality by strengthening the "jurisdictional family".

To consolidate the singular Judge's Impartiality  by inserting him/her into collective processes, it is necessary to admit without hesitation the subjectivity of the judge, to seek it even. The reduction of the margins of discretion, definition of impartiality, being obtained by the inclusion of the judge in a procedure of which he /her alone is the master but in which he/her is not alone. This has the technical consequence that he/her is himself/herself in an adversarial debate, not only during the proceedings, but also before (in the media), inside the judgment (and the decision of the Criminal Chamber of 25 November 2020 is a model of that) and after the judgment. By that, the Judge shows that by his/her office he/she is in the future, as climate justice will show. In addition, to limit his/her margins of discretion, the singular judge must fit into a rational principle of coherence, vertical and horizontal. Vertical coherence, because he/she integrates what it is said and the technique of the "determining opinion" is to be encouraged, the singular judge having to avoid it only if he/she has "strong reasons" to do it. This is to follow  this general rule Comply or Explain (which is the very opposite of blind obedience). Horizontal coherence, because the singular judge either sticks to what he/she said, estoppel also being a rule of logic. But above all, the institution must extract as much as possible from " institutional doctrines", by all means, of which the annual reports are an example.

To consolidate the singular Judge's Impartiality by strengthening the notion and reality of the "Jurisdictional Family", it is necessary to have of it a broader conception, which could lead to "guidelines" common to various jurisdictions, and a stronger one, by integrating those surrounding the judge to lead to judgment. In this, the procedure before the Court of Justice of the European Union, working on a common file, is a model. If this community were even stronger, the Judge Office would be even more useful than it is already in the digital space.

Thus, Judges who are always human, always diverse, always singular, who listen, consider and adjust to the situation, who within a Jurisdictional Family fit into an Institutional Doctrine which transcends and supports them but which they transform if there is a strong reason to do so, a reason always expressed said: this is the embodied Impartiality that makes an economic and financial Place attractive.

 

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Nov. 1, 2020

Newsletter MAFR - Law, Compliance, Regulation

Full reference: Frison-Roche, M.-A., Due process and Personal Data Compliance Law: same rules, one Goal (CJEU, Order, October 29, 2020, Facebook Ireland Ltd v/ E.C.)Newsletter MAFR - Law, Compliance, Regulation, 1st of November 2020

Read by freely subscribing other news of the Newsletter MAFR - Law, Compliance, Regulation

Read Marie-Anne Frison-Roche's interview in Actu-juridiques about this decision (in French)

 

Summary of the news: 

As part of a procedure initiated for anti-competitive behaviors, the European Commission has three times requested, between the 13th of March and the 11th of November 2019, from Facebook the communication of information, reitarated in a decision in May 2020.  

Facebook contests it alleging that the requested documents would contain sensitive personal information that a transmission to the Commission would make accessible to a too broad number of observers, while "the documents requested under the contested decision were identified on the basis of wideranging search terms, (...) there is strong likelihood that many of those documents will not be necessary for the purposes of the Commission’s investigation". 

The contestation therefore evokes the violation of the principles of necessity and proportionality but also of due process because these probatory elements are collected without any protection and used afterwards. Moreover, Facebook invokes what would be the violation of a right to the respect of personal data of its employees whose the emails are transferred. 

The court reminds that the office of the judge is here constraint by the condition of emergency to adopt a temporary measure, acceptable by the way only if there is an imminent and irreversible damage. It underlines that public authorities benefit of a presumption of legality when they act and can obtain and use personal data since this is necessary to their function of public interest. Many allegations of Facebook are rejected as being hypothetical. 

But the Court analyzes the integrality of the evoked principles with regards with the very concrete case. But, crossing these principles and rights in question, the Court estimates that the European Commission did not respect the principle of necessity and proportionality concerning employees' very sensitive data, these demands broadening the circle of information without necessity and in a disproportionate way, since the information is very sensitive (like employees' health, political opinions of third parties, etc.). 

It is therefore appropriate to distinguish among the mass of required documents, for which the same guarantee must be given in a technique of communication than in a technic of inspection, those which are transferable without additional precaution and those which must be subject to an "alternative procedure" because of their nature of very sensitive personal data. 

This "alternative procedure" will take the shape of an examination of documents considered by Facebook as very sensitive and that it will communicate on a separate electronic support, by European Commission's agents, that we cannot a priori suspect to hijack law. This examination will take place in a "virtual data room" with Facebook's attorneys. In case of disagreement between Facebook and the investigators, the dispute could be solved by the director of information, communication and medias of the Directorate-General for Competition of the European Commission. 

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We can draw three lessons from this ordinance: 

  1. This decision shows that Procedural Law and Compliance Law are not opposed. Some often say that Compliance guarantees the efficacy and that Procedure guarantees fundamental rights, the protection of the one must result in the diminution of the guarantee of the other. It is false. As this decision shows it, through the key notion of sensitive personal data protection (heart of Compliance Law) and the care for procedure (equivalence between communication and inspection procedures; contradictory organization of the examination of sensitive personal data), we see once again that two branches of Law express the same care, have the same objective: protecting people. 
  2. The judge is able to immediately find an operational solution, proposing "an alternative procedure" axed around the principle of contradictory and conciliating Commision's and Facebook's interests has shown that it was able to bring alternative solutions to the one it suspends the execution, appropriate solution to the situation and which equilibrate the interest of both parties. 
  3. The best Ex Ante is the one which anticipate the Ex Post by the pre-constitution of evidence. Thus the firm must be able to prove later the concern that it had for human rights, here of employees, to not being exposed to sanctioning pubic authorities. This Ex Ante probatory culture is required not only from firms but also from public authorities which also have to give justification of their action. 

 

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