Public law / private law

► Full Reference: J.-B. Racine, "Obligation de Compliance et droits humains" ("Compliance Obligation and Human Rights"), in M.-A. Frison-Roche (dir.), L'Obligation de Compliance, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, "Régulations & Compliance" Serie, 2025, pp. 83-95. - 📕read a general presentation of the book, L'Obligation de Compliance, in which this article is published - ► English Summary of the article (done by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance – JoRC) : The author asks whether human rights can, over and above the many compliance obligations, form the basis of the Compliance Obligation. The consideration of human rights corresponds to the fundamentalisation of Law, crossing both Private and Public Law, and are considered by some as the matrix of many legal mechanisms, including international ones. They prescribe values that can thus be disseminated. Human rights come into direct contact with Compliance Law as soon as Compliance Law is defined as "the internalisation in certain operators of the obligation to structure themselves in order to achieve goals which are not natural to them, goals which are set by public authorities responsible for the future of social groups, goals which these companies must willingly or by force aim to achieve, simply because they are in a position to achieve them". These "Monumental Goals" converge on human beings, and therefore the protection of their rights by companies.  In a globalised context, the State can either act through mandatory regulations, or do nothing, or force companies to act through Compliance Law. For this to be effective, tools are needed to enable 'crucial' operators to take responsibility ex ante, as illustrated in particular by the French law on the Vigilance Obligation of 2017. This obligation takes the form of both a "legal obligation", expression which is quite  imprecise, found for example in the duty of vigilance of the French 2017 law, and in a more technical sense through an obligation that the company establishes, in particular through contracts. Legal obligations are justified by the fact that the protection of human rights is primarily the responsibility of States, particularly in the international arena. Even if it is only a question of Soft Law, non-binding Law, this tendency can be found in the Ruggie principles, which go beyond the obligation of States not to violate human rights, to a positive obligation to protect them effectively. The question of whether this could apply not only to States but also to companies is hotly debated. If we look at the ICSID Urbaser v. Argentina award of 2016, the arbitrators accepted that a company had an obligation not to violate human rights, but rejected an obligation to protect them effectively. In European Law, the GDPR, DSA and AIA, and in France the so-called Vigilance law, use Compliance Lools, often Compliance by Design, to protect human rights ex ante. Contracts, particularly through the inclusion of multiple clauses in often international contracts, express the "privatisation" of human rights. Care should be taken to ensure that appropriate sanctions are associated with them and that they do not give rise to situations of contractual imbalance. The relationship of obligation in tort makes it necessary to articulate the Ex Ante logic and the Ex Post logic and to conceive what the judge can order. The author concludes that "la compliance oblige à remodeler les catégories classiques du droit dans l’optique de les adosser à l’objectif même de la compliance : non pas uniquement un droit tourné vers le passé, mais un droit ancré dans les enjeux du futur ; non pas un droit émanant exclusivement de la contrainte publique, mais un droit s’appuyant sur de la normativité privée ; non pas un droit strictement territorialisé, mais un droit appréhendant l’espace transnational" ("Compliance requires us to reshape the classic categories of Law with a view to bringing them into line with the very objective of Compliance: not just a Law turned towards the past, but a Law anchored in the challenges of the future; not a Law emanating exclusively from public constraint, but a Law based on private normativity; not a strictly territorialised Law, but a law apprehending the transnational space". - 🦉Cet article est accessible en texte intégral pour les personnes inscrites aux enseignements de la Professeure Marie-Anne Frison-Roche

► Full Reference: J.-B. Racine, "Compliance Obligation and Human Rights​", in M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), Compliance Obligation, Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Bruylant, "Compliance & Regulation" Serie, to be published - 📘read a general presentation of the book, Compliance Obligation, in which this article is published - ► Summary of the article (done by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance – JoRC): The author asks whether human rights can, over and above the many compliance obligations, form the basis of the Compliance Obligation. The consideration of human rights corresponds to the fundamentalisation of Law, crossing both Private and Public Law, and are considered by some as the matrix of many legal mechanisms, including international ones. They prescribe values that can thus be disseminated. Human rights come into direct contact with Compliance Law as soon as Compliance Law is defined as "the internalisation in certain operators of the obligation to structure themselves in order to achieve goals which are not natural to them, goals which are set by public authorities responsible for the future of social groups, goals which these companies must willingly or by force aim to achieve, simply because they are in a position to achieve them". These "Monumental Goals" converge on human beings, and therefore the protection of their rights by companies.  In a globalised context, the State can either act through mandatory regulations, or do nothing, or force companies to act through Compliance Law. For this to be effective, tools are needed to enable 'crucial' operators to take responsibility ex ante, as illustrated in particular by the French law on the Vigilance Obligation of 2017. This obligation takes the form of both a "legal obligation", expression which is quite  imprecise, found for example in the duty of vigilance of the French 2017 law, and in a more technical sense through an obligation that the company establishes, in particular through contracts. Legal obligations are justified by the fact that the protection of human rights is primarily the responsibility of States, particularly in the international arena. Even if it is only a question of Soft Law, non-binding Law, this tendency can be found in the Ruggie principles, which go beyond the obligation of States not to violate human rights, to a positive obligation to protect them effectively. The question of whether this could apply not only to States but also to companies is hotly debated. If we look at the ICSID Urbaser v. Argentina award of 2016, the arbitrators accepted that a company had an obligation not to violate human rights, but rejected an obligation to protect them effectively. In European Law, the GDPR, DSA and AIA, and in France the so-called Vigilance law, use Compliance Lools, often Compliance by Design, to protect human rights ex ante. Contracts, particularly through the inclusion of multiple clauses in often international contracts, express the "privatisation" of human rights. Care should be taken to ensure that appropriate sanctions are associated with them and that they do not give rise to situations of contractual imbalance. The relationship of obligation in tort makes it necessary to articulate the Ex Ante logic and the Ex Post logic and to conceive what the judge can order. The author concludes that "la compliance oblige à remodeler les catégories classiques du droit dans l’optique de les adosser à l’objectif même de la compliance : non pas uniquement un droit tourné vers le passé, mais un droit ancré dans les enjeux du futur ; non pas un droit émanant exclusivement de la contrainte publique, mais un droit s’appuyant sur de la normativité privée ; non pas un droit strictement territorialisé, mais un droit appréhendant l’espace transnational" ("Compliance requires us to reshape the classic categories of Law with a view to bringing them into line with the very objective of Compliance: not just a Law turned towards the past, but a Law anchored in the challenges of the future; not a Law emanating exclusively from public constraint, but a Law based on private normativity; not a strictly territorialised Law, but a law apprehending the transnational space". - 🦉This article is available in full text to those registered for Professor Marie-Anne Frison-Roche's courses -

► Full Reference : M.-A. Frison-Roche, "Conclusion. Compliance et contrats publics : une alliance naturelle" ("Conclusion. Compliance and Public Contracts: a natural alliance"), in M.-A. Frison-Roche, C. Gilles & A. Oumedjkane (dir.), Compliance et contrats publics (Compliance and public contracts), Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC), Centre de recherches et d’études administratives de Montpellier (CREAM) and Centre d’Études et de Recherches Comparatives Constitutionnelles et Politiques (CERCOP) of the Montpellier University, Faculté de droit et de science politique de Montpellier, 39 rue de l’Université, Amphiteatre C Paul Valéry, January 12, 2024 - 🧮see the full programme of this event - ✏️read the notes taken on the spot to draw up the symposium conclusion - 🌐consult on LinkedIn a general presentation of this event, which links to a presentation of each speech (in French) - 🧱consult the co-organisation sheet of this event, giving an account of the various speakers - ► English Summary of the conference: Firstly, it would appear that, as with all the contracts studied in the area of Compliance, public contracts are, for the public authorities or public companies, an instrument through which they implement the Compliance Obligation imposed on them by the laws and regulations. Public bodies involved in public contracts are particularly concerned because of the points of contact, even intimacy, between Compliance Law and the general interest. But the contract, whether public or private, remains in its classic conception what results from the expression of two wills which exchange their consents📎¹🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche, 🚧Compliance contract, Compliance clauses, 2022..   Secondly, in terms of free will, public contracts can be the means by which public bodies and their co-contractors express their conception of what needs to be done to preserve the future, for example in environmental and social matters. On the contrary, the seemingly technical issue of exclusions from public contracts, whether they be automatic exclusions or optional exclusions, expresses the extent to which economically powerful players (public authorities, municipalities, public companies) take care of each other. In this respect, Compliance Law runs counter to Competition Law📎²🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche, 🚧Competition Law and Compliance Law, 2018. and profoundly affects Public Procurement Law.   But thirdly, the public contract, in that it expresses the general interest by its very nature, its ex ante nature reinforces regulatory action and the nature of Compliance as an extension of Regulation📎³🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📕Régulation, Supervision, Compliance (Regulation, Supervision, Compliance), 2017.. It appears to be the most appropriate instrument for this new branch of Law, without the need for it to be transformed. This underlines the extent to which Compliance Law must draw on classical Law, in this case Administrative Law.   Moreover, fourthly, the public contract appears to be the model for the Compliance Contract. The public contract is a model first of all because of the central place of the general interest. The "Monumental Goals" in which the substantive definition of  Compliance Law is anchored📎⁴🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📝Compliance Monumental Goals, beating heart of Compliance Law, in 🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📘Compliance Monumental Goals, 2022. are a development of this. Admittedly, this concern for the general interest drives the public entity, but the "raison d'être" of companies more generally also incorporates it through "governance", profoundly renewed by Compliance. The public contract is also a model because the contract is handled by a powerful party, in this case the public entity. The subject of Compliance Law is the powerful company, and only that company, chosen because it is powerful and because it uses that power to achieve the Monumental Goals. In this respect, the "exorbitant powers" that characterise the public contractor are reconstituted either by Compliance laws or by stipulations, which confer on all obliged or voluntary companies – by virtue of CSR, which has many points of contact with Compliance Law as long as it is not confused with obeying the applicable regulations (which is what "conformity" is)📎⁵🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📝Reinforce the Judge and the Lawyer to impose Compliance Law as a characteristic of the Rule of Law, in 🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📘Compliance Jurisdictionalisation, 2023. – a power over the co-contractor, or even over third parties, equivalent to that of the public entity📎⁶🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche, 🚧Use of private companies by Compliance Law to serve Human Rights, 2023..  The judge is the one who, through contractual litigation, both public and private, will bring to life these Monumental Goals desired by the State, carried by powerful entities (administration, companies), pledge of the Rule of Law📎⁷🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📝Reinforce the Judge and the Lawyer to impose Compliance Law as a characteristic of the Rule of Law, in 🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📘Compliance Jurisdictionalisation, 2023.. These include contractual mechanisms for information, audit, disclosure, control, collaboration, supervision, etc., through which the company, whether private or public, takes charge of the structure it has created, for example the value chain it masters📎⁸🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche, 📝Assessment of whistleblowing and the obligation of vigilance regarding International Competitiveness, in 🕴️M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), 📘Compliance Monumental Goals, 2022..   It can therefore be concluded that this logic of a public contract as an instrument of administrative action to achieve goals of general interest, now fully taken up in Compliance Law, must be acculturated into the Ordinary Contract Law and must be preserved in Public Contract Law, which presupposes a new balance with Competition Law, which for a long time carried within Public Law a contract model without concern for sustainability or the collective interest. To achieve this, dialogue between judges is essential. The Conseil d'État (French Council of State) and the Cour de cassation (French Court of cassation) set the example📎⁹Conseil d'État (French Council of State) and Cour de cassation (French Court of cassation), 📗Du droit de la régulation au droit de la compliance : quel rôle pour le juge ?, La Documentation Française, 2024 (to be published).. - 📝This conference will be followed by an article, "The public contract, model of the Compliance Contract", which will be published in the book 📘Compliance and contract. - 🌐follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on LinkedIn 🌐follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on Instagram 🌐subscribe to the Newsletter MAFR Regulation, Compliance, Law

► Full Reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche, C. Gilles and A. Oumedjkane (dir.), Compliance et contrats publics (Compliance and public contracts), Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC), Centre de recherches et d’études administratives de Montpellier (CREAM) and Centre d’Études et de Recherches Comparatives Constitutionnelles et Politiques (CERCOP) of the Montpellier University, Faculté de droit et de science politique de Montpellier, January 12, 2024 - 🌐consult a general presentation of this event on LinkedIn, linking to a presentation of each speech (in French) - 🏗️This symposium takes place in the cycle of symposiums organised by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and its partners Universities, focusing in 2023-2024 on the general theme of the Compliance Obligation - 📚The works will then be inserted in the books:  📕Compliance et contrat, to be published in the 📚Régulations & Compliance Serie, co-published by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, published in French. 📘Compliance & Contract, to be published on the 📚Compliance & Regulation Serie, co-published by the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) and Dalloz, published in English. - ► General presentation of the symposium: Compliance is developing throughout the legal system, through both Public and Private Law techniques. Public Contract Law bears witness to this in two ways: through its scope, in that Compliance applies to economic relationships entered into by public bodies, and through its object, which internalises a reconciliation between their economic interests and a set of other general interest objectives, or "Monumental Goals", a reconciliation for which public bodies have traditionally been responsible. In addition to unilateral acts, contracts have their rightful place as a practical means of achieving this reconciliation. Its flexibility allows for negotiation and adjustment of the burdens to be placed on the co-contracting parties. The aim of this symposium is to link the different manifestations of the Compliance Obligation in public contracts and thus give coherence to policies which are still too often considered in a watertight manner because they relate to very different aims and areas. Firstly, at the procurement stage, the promotion of responsible or innovative procurement, particularly from an environmental point of view, is one of the signs of Compliance's presence. On a completely different note, the same is true of the CJEU's challenge to the automatic application of bans on tendering, which prevent contracting authorities from ruling on a candidate's reliability by taking into account the compliance programmes implemented by companies since their conviction. Secondly, at the litigation stage, the Conseil d'État's (French Council of State) recent broad recognition of the illegality of an administrative contract on the grounds of a breach of ethical obligations has tempered the drive to make contracts more secure, drawing the consequences of the major drive for transparency in public life that has been underway since 2013. The aim of the morning session will be to understand the various forms of the Compliance Obligation in public contracts. This overview will make it possible, in the afternoon, to aim to unify the Compliance Obligation in public contracts. - - ► Speakers:  🎤Ugo Assouad, PhD student at the Montpellier University, CREAM 🎤Philippe Augé, President of the Montpellier University 🎤Clémence Ballay-Petizon, PhD student at the Montpellier University, CREAM  🎤Yannisse Benrahou, PhD student at Paris-Nanterre University, CRDP 🎤Léon Boijout, PhD student at the Montpellier University, CREAM 🎤Julien Bonnet, Full Professor at the Montpellier University, CERCOP 🎤Guylain Clamour, Dean of the Montpellier Faculty of Law and Political Science 🎤Marie-Anne Frison-Roche, Professor of Regulatory and Compliance Law, Director of the Journal of Regulation & Compliance (JoRC) 🎤Pierre-Yves Gadhoun, Professor at the Montpellier University, CERCOP 🎤Pascale Idoux, Professor at the at the Montpellier University, CREAM 🎤Nedjma Kontoukas, PhD student at the Montpellier University, CREAM 🎤Valentin Lamy, Senior Lecturer at the Lorraine University, IRENEE 🎤Antoine Oumedjkane, Senior Lecturer at Lille University, ERDP 🎤Lucien Rapp, Emeritus Professor at Toulouse Capitole University 🎤Marion Ubaud-Bergeron, Full Professor at the Montpellier University, CREAM  - 🧮Read a detailed presentation of the event below⤵️ - 🌐follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on LinkedIn 🌐follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on Instagram 🌐subscribe to the Newsletter MAFR Regulation, Compliance, Law

► Full reference: M.-A. Frison-Roche, Use of private companies by Compliance Law to serve Human Rights, Working Paper, May 2023. - This Working Paper is the basis of: 🎤a conference done in French in Toulouse on June 16, 2023 📝an article previously written before and for this conference, and subsequently published in the book Puissances privées et droits de l'homme ("Private Powers and Human Rights") - ►Summary of this Working Paper: Following the legal tradition, Law creates a link between power with a legitimate source, the State, public power being its prerogative, while private companies exercise their power only in the shadow of this public power exercised ex ante.  The triviality of Economic Law, of which Competition Law is at the heart, consisting of the activity of companies that use their power on markets, relegates the action of the State to the rank of an exception, admissible if the State, which claims to exercise this contrary power, justifies it.  The distribution of roles is thus reversed, in that the places are exchanged, but the model of opposition is shared. This model of opposition exhausts the forces of the organisations, which are relegated to being the exception. However, if we want to achieve great ambitions, for example to give concrete reality to human rights beyond the legal system within which the public authorities exercise their normative powers, we must rely on a new branch of Law, remarkable for its pragmatism and the scope of the ambitions, including humanist ambitions, that it embodies: Compliance Law. Compliance Law is thus the branch of Law which makes the concern for others, concretised by human rights, borne by the entities in a position to satisfy it, that is to say the systemic entities, of which the large companies are the direct subjects of law (I). The result is a new division between Public Authorities, legitimate to formulate the Monumental Goal of protecting human beings, and private organisations, which adjust to this according to the type of human rights and the means put in place to preserve them. Corporations are sought after because they are powerful, in that they are in a position to make human rights a reality, in their indifference to territory, in the centralisation of Information, technologies and economic, human, and financial means. This alliance is essential to ensure that the system does not lead to a transfer of political choices from Public Authorities to private companies; this alliance leads to systemic efficiency. The result is a new definition of sovereignty as we see it taking shape in the digital space, which is not a particular sector since it is the world that has been digitalised, the climate issue justifying the same new distribution of roles (II).  -   🔓read the full developments below⤵️ - 🌐 follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on LinkedIn 🌐follow Marie-Anne Frison-Roche on Instagram 🌐 subscribe to the Newsletter MAFR Regulation, Compliance, Law 

Law is a reconstruction of the world through definitions and categories, expressed in words, to which are imputed rules. There is always a share of invention in Law, articulated to a share of fidelity to the concrete world that it retranscribes, a combination enabling Law to regulate the latter. Law is put in difficulty by what the term "data", quite new, is not easy to define. The fact that it is strangely formulated in Latin to show that there is plurality, the data, before associating it with an English adjective when there are many, the "big data", does not advance us more on what a "data" is. Law is a practical art that works well only if it manipulates categories whose definition is mastered. This is why, in a first stage, we must recognize the uncertainties of the very notions of "data" (I), in order to orientate the adequate rules in the second step towards what is a given, namely a "pure" value in our consumer information society (II).   Read the article written in French on the basis à this working paper

I propose to reflect on how the legal system requires companies to take into account the interests of those who aren't shareholders, for example the interests of employees and even the interests of those who don't yet exist, for example the interests of future generations, or interests that are traceable to group interests, for example the interests of "minorities" or interest that can't be attached to anyone in particular, such as interest of the Planet. It's like in the fairy tales. Dream or nightmare. The future will tell. The evolution of the law can be presented in three parts as souvenirs or wishes Christmas, which remain under each other like so many open roads choices and decisions for legislators and judges. Let slip into the clothes of the legendary usurer and talk about the first ghost of the three Christmas that made him famous: "Christmas past." At a time when the company built on the partnership agreement served the interests of the shareholders, the French judicial courts had  taken into account the interests of employees and the interest of the environment by Tort Law. The generality of this branch of law has allowed such judicial policy. It was much easier to build than Procedural Law opened the doors of the courthouse, for example by allowing works commitees to access the court for an expert analyse, to make their voices heard in moments of transformation of the company. The evolution of Law in favor of stakeholders has therefore taken form Ex post but in an imperative way. The "Christmas Present" comes from Financial Law. Influenced by economic thinking. A French author could say he prefers no translate "skateholders" because French Corporate Law is influenced directly be this economic theory now¹Trebulle, F.-G., Stakeholders Theory et droit des sociétés, 2006. He wrote that the French translation of "stakeholders" by "parties prenantes" is not convincing and prefers to keep the original term..  Laws require listed companies they and they alone to inform the market about what they have done and will do spontaneously in favor of employees, "minorities", diversity policy or the environment, and probably more generally in favor of the social group and the planet. These recent laws aren't prescriptive : they oblige to inform. By an feedback effect, they are an incentive for responsible investors, responsible shareholders, Legislator hoping that the company is rationally selfishness for "well" performing towards stakeholders at the end of the day. There are no legal sanctions, the European Commission referring to self-regulation. Calculation or ethical share the causal role, an issue to which the law doesn't lend relevance.   The "Christmas yet to come" is already showing its premises. An author writes Corporate Social Responsibity is "irresistible"²Malecki, C., L'irrésistible montée en puissance de la RSE : les impulsions européennes et françaises de l'année 2013,  2013.This article begins by : "Toujours plus ! (Always more!)".… It will be to turn these legal standards of information into legal norms with binding effect: laws require companies, not just listed companies but everyone to take into account the interests of employees, "minorities", environmental issues and future generations. Not only to inform what is done, but to oblige to do.This is the challenge, for example, the composition of the boards, or more radically the rewriting of Article 1833 of the Code civil (French Civil Code). Like any future, such rewriting promises possible changes, which converge to an increased power of the judge The question for the future is: "who will decide the consistency of these interests and will make the balance?". At less, it might be a "coregulation³Berns, T., Docquir, P.-F., Frydman, B., Hennebel, L and Lewkowicz, G., Responsabilités des entreprises et corégulation, 2007." between State and companies. At the end, it might be a transformation of companies into new legislators through soft law. Fairy tale or nightmare ?