{"id":112621,"date":"2023-12-15T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mafr.fr\/actualites\/devoir-de-vigilance-comment-progresser-2\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T12:24:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T12:24:44","slug":"duty-of-vigilance-the-way-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mafr.fr\/en\/publications\/working-papers\/duty-of-vigilance-the-way-forward\/","title":{"rendered":"\ud83d\udea7Duty of vigilance: the way forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

1<\/span>. The European entrée<\/em><\/span><\/strong> <\/span>\ud83c\udfaf In 2017 in France, the so-called Vigilance <\/em>law1<\/a><\/sup>French law No. 2016-1691 of December 9, 2016 relative à la transparence, à la lutte contre la corruption et à la modernisation de la vie économique (on transparency, fight against corruption and modernisation of economic life)<\/em><\/a><\/span> expressed great ambition. So did the draft directive2<\/a><\/sup>French law No. 2017-399 of March 27, 2017 relative au devoir de vigilance des sociétés mères et des entreprises donneuses d'ordre (on the duty of vigilance of parent companies and ordering companies)<\/em><\/a>.<\/span>. But in 2024 the European institutions moderated this ambition by increasing neither the type of companies subject to it nor the constraints to which the duty of vigilance is associated. Essentially, the directive has halted what was for some the "march of progress"3<\/a><\/sup>In this respect, the "duty of vigilance", insofar as it deploys "Western values" throughout value chains that cross different systems of thought, is seen by some as a form of "neo-colonialism". See generally in this way \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>A. Boukerche, \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>L'universalisme contesté. L'Occident sous le feu de la critique<\/em><\/a> (Contested universalism. The West under fire<\/em>), 2024.<\/span>. Does the driving ambition no longer exist? Does the future lie in an extension of the duty of vigilance philosophy, i.e. companies that should always be more concerned about others? This would undoubtedly lead to the "age of maturity", where others see the age of madness, because it would be a contradiction in terms to ask a company to be concerned about anything other than its own development.<\/p>\n

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2. <\/span>Construction of the study<\/em><\/span><\/strong> <\/strong>\ud83c\udfaf It is therefore appropriate to consider this very hypothesis of an "age of maturity" as being an ambition maintained despite a directive which, in its adopted version, is weakened, whiles opposition are intact (I<\/strong><\/span>). First of all, it must be admitted that the notion of "maturity" most often conceals a value judgement when applied to a legal concept (I.A.<\/strong><\/span>) and that this is blatantly obvious with regard to the duty of vigilance which is considered by some, by nature,  as a good and by others as an evil (I.B.<\/strong><\/span>). <\/p>\n

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In order not to remain in what appears to be trench warfare, we must not become excessively locked into the reference French legislation of 2017 and what appears to be a European stutter in 2024, arguing so loudly that we can hear them reasoning in print, by paying attention to less visible and now more promising avenues for progress (II<\/strong><\/span>). Indeed, the duty of vigilance can progress simply by the passage of time (II.A<\/strong><\/span>), by a better definition of the vocabulary (II.B<\/strong><\/span>), by the consolidation of the principles of Responsibility, Sustainability and Dialogue (II.C<\/strong><\/span>), by the uniqueness of the jurisdictional route (II.D<\/strong><\/span>).<\/p>\n

This last perspective of progress, which will be made possible by the uniqueness of the judicial route, leads to a final avenue of progress. By their very nature, laws are jolts, all the more violent for being disputed. At the moment, if progress is to be made, these two other sources – contracts and the courts – must be encouraged (III<\/strong><\/span>). The directive is rightly concerned with access to the courts and takes a measured view of the effectiveness of contracts as a means of making the duty of vigilance effective, with the courts having to ensure that the contract does not destroy the spirit of the system. This is what the law already knows about the relationship between the contract, the judge and the general duty of compliance (III.A)<\/strong><\/span>. What is new in 2024 is the introduction of a Supervisory Body, reinforcing the link between Regulation, Compliance and Supervision (III.B<\/strong><\/span>). Here again, Vigilance is the "cutting edge" of Compliance Law, as it is an extension of Regulatory Law.<\/p>\n

From this overall study, it is clear that it is the judge who, through the interpretation of texts, the handling of principles, the control of contracts and the recognition of practices, maintains and will maintain the balance of the duty of vigilance.<\/p>\n

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I. ENVISAGING THE "AGE OF MATURITY" : AN AMBITION MAINTAINED DESTPITE A WEAKENED EUROPEAN DIRECTIVE AND INTACT OPPOSITION<\/strong><\/span><\/u><\/p>\n

3. <\/span>The ideal of maturity<\/em><\/span><\/strong> <\/strong>\ud83c\udfaf <\/em><\/strong> It is difficult to measure the "maturity" of a legal mechanism (A<\/strong><\/span>). The difficulty is compounded here because this assessment of maturity includes an element of value judgment, which applies here to a notion of vigilance that for some is in itself beneficial and for others in itself harmful (B<\/strong><\/span>).<\/p>\n

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A. THE CONCEPT OF "MATURITY" APPLIED TO A LEGAL MECHANISM: THE INPLICIT NOTION OF "PROGRESS" <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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4. <\/span>From decade to decade, to each law a candle<\/em><\/span><\/strong> \ud83c\udfaf Like the one of maturity\ud83d\udcce4<\/a><\/sup>On the use of maturity <\/em>in Law, see infra <\/em>No.<\/em>7.<\/span>, the image of age is usually wielded for laws, from the "old tax\ud83d\udcce"! 5<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>D. Gutmann, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Du droit à la philosophie de l'impôt (From Law to Philosophy of the Tax)<\/a>, in<\/em> Archives de Philosophie du Droit (APD)<\/em>, \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>L'impôt<\/a><\/em>, 2002.<\/span>, adequate because old, to the "young law", suspected of imperfection because recent\ud83d\udcce6<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>J. Carbonnier, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span><\/span>Toute loi en soi est un mal ?<\/em> (Every law in itself is evil?)<\/a>, <\/span>in<\/em> \ud83d\udcd7<\/span><\/span>Essai sur les lois<\/em><\/a>, 1995.<\/span><\/span>, perhaps due to the fact that the Law, always conservative\ud83d\udcce7<\/a><\/sup>Ripert asserting that "tout juriste est un conservateur<\/em>" ("every lawyer is a conservative),\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>G. Ripert, \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>Les forces créatrices du droit<\/em><\/a>, 1955.<\/span>, has the reputation of preferring the established to the new8<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74<\/span>B. Lehaire, \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>L'innovation hors-la-loi. Les origines de la techno-normativité<\/em><\/a> (Innovation outlawed. The origins of techno-normativity<\/em>), 2022.

\r\n\r\nOn the more specific question of climate change, which interferes with the duty of care, in which “legal innovation” would be required, v. \ud83d\udd74<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83c\udfa4<\/span>Les voies d'innovations juridiques face aux nouveaux “défis climatiques”<\/em> (Innovative legal solutions to the new "climate challenges")<\/a>, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74<\/span>Ph. Aghion, \ud83d\udd74<\/span>B. Deffains et \ud83d\udd74<\/span>S. Hoynck (ed.), \ud83e\uddee<\/span>Innovations économiques et juridiques face aux défis climatiques. Nouveaux défis regards croisés : Droit Économie et Finance<\/em>, Banque de France et CRED\/Université Paris Panthéon-Assas<\/em>, Paris, April 2, 2024.<\/span>. By dint of celebrating the anniversaries of laws and institutions, let us bet that 2027 will be favourable to multiple more or less scientific events, of the 10 years of the French 2017 law known as "Vigilance", because we are moreover parameterized in decimals\ud83d\udcce9<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>R. Étiemble, Quelques essais de littérature universelle <\/em>(A few essays on universal literature<\/em>), Gallimard, coll. « Blanche », 1982, 456 p.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

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5<\/span>. The prospect of maturity through <\/span>consensus <\/span>on the concept and the system of vigilance: for the time being remote<\/span><\/em><\/strong> \ud83c\udfafIf we leave imagery, how can we define the maturity of a legal concept, since we are invited to do so here, with a question mark? Consulting the dictionaries\ud83d\udcce10<\/a><\/sup>Académie française, Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française <\/em>(Dictionary of the French Academy)<\/strong>, 9th ed.: 1.<\/strong> État où sont les fruits, les grains, les légumes quand ils sont mûrs. Ces fruits ne viendront pas à maturité avant plusieurs jours. Ce raisin est à son point de maturité. Par analogie. SYLVICULTURE. État du bois bon à couper. 2.<\/strong> En parlant d’une personne. État de développement complet des forces physiques et intellectuelles. La maturité de l’âge. Maturité d’esprit ou, absolument, maturité, fermeté, autorité dans le jugement, auxquelles on parvient avec l’âge ou l’expérience. Il manque encore de maturité. Par extension. Son talent est en pleine maturité. Il a atteint la pleine maturité de son style. 3. <\/strong>En Suisse. Maturité fédérale, diplôme de fin d’études secondaires." (“Free translation:<\/strong> 1.<\/strong> the state of fruits, grains and vegetables when ripe. These fruits will not ripen for several days. This grape is at the point of ripeness. By analogy. SYLVICULTURE. The state of wood that is good for cutting. 2.<\/strong> In reference to a person. State of complete development of physical and intellectual powers. The maturity of age. Maturity of mind or, absolutely, maturity, firmness, authority in judgment, attained with age or experience. He still lacks maturity. By extension. His talent is fully mature. He has reached full maturity of style. 3. <\/strong>In Switzerland. Maturité fédérale, high school diploma”). 

\r\n\r\nDictionnaire Larousse<\/em> (Larousse dictionary):<\/strong> "1.<\/strong> État des fruits quand ils sont mûrs. 2.<\/strong> Période de la vie caractérisée par le plein développement physique, intellectuel et affectif. 3.<\/strong> État de l'esprit, d'un talent qui est parvenu à la plénitude de son développement. 4.<\/strong> Sûreté dans le domaine du jugement, de la réflexion (en particulier en fonction de l'âge)  5.<\/strong> Caractéristique d'un écosystème ayant atteint un état d'équilibre" (“Free translation: 1.<\/strong> state of fruit when ripe. 2.<\/strong> period of life characterized by full physical, intellectual and emotional development. 3. <\/strong>State of mind, of a talent that has reached the fullness of its development. 4. <\/strong>Reliability of judgment and reflection (particularly in relation to age) 5.<\/strong> Characteristic of an ecosystem that has reached a state of equilibrium").

\r\n\r\nDictionnaire Littré<\/strong><\/em>:<\/strong> "1<\/strong> État des fruits ou des graines qui sont parvenus au développement qu'ils doivent acquérir sur la plante mère. La maturité des blés, des poires, du raisin. Époque à laquelle les fruits deviennent mûrs. Terme d'eaux et forêts. <\/em>État des bois qui ont atteint leur limite d'accroissement et qui sont bons à couper. 2<\/strong> Terme de brasseur.<\/em> On dit que le levain est en maturité, lorsque la mousse de la fermentation commence à s'affaisser. 3<\/strong> Terme de médecine. <\/em>État d'un abcès dans lequel le pus est complétement formé. Cet abcès n'est pas à sa maturité. 4<\/strong> Fig. <\/em>État d'une chose qui approche du point où elle a toutes ses qualités. La maturité d'une découverte. Cette affaire est en sa maturité, elle est en état d'être achevée. 5<\/strong> Fig.<\/em> L'état de consistance ou de force où sont communément les hommes à un certain âge. Il se dit, en un sens analogue, des animaux. En un sens qui n'est plus un éloge, maturité se dit poliment d'une femme qui a passé l'âge de la jeunesse. 6<\/strong> Fig.<\/em> État où le sens et la réflexion ont toute leur vigueur. Maturité d'esprit, l'état d'un esprit mûr et solide. Avec maturité, avec circonspection, jugement et avec le temps nécessaire. 7<\/strong> En parlant du style, justesse d'expression, solidité de raisonnement. Son style acquerra de la maturité." (“Free translation: 1<\/strong> State of fruits or seeds that have reached the development they should acquire on the mother plant. The ripeness of wheat, pears, grapes. Time at which fruit becomes ripe. Forestry term. The state of wood that has reached its growth limit and is ready for cutting. 2 <\/strong>Brewing term. Leaven is said to have reached maturity when the fermentation foam begins to subside. 3<\/strong> Medical term. The state of an abscess in which the pus is completely formed. This abscess is not mature. 4<\/strong> Fig. The state of a thing approaching the point where it has all its qualities. The maturity of a discovery. This affair is in its maturity; it is in a state to be completed. 5<\/strong> Fig. The state of consistency or strength in which men are commonly found at a certain age. In a similar sense, of animals. In a sense that is no longer praise, maturity is politely said of a woman who has passed the age of youth. 6<\/strong> Fig. The state in which sense and reflection have all their vigor. Maturity of mind, the state of a mature and sound mind. With maturity, with circumspection, judgment and the necessary time. 7 <\/strong>Speaking of style, accuracy of expression, soundness of reasoning. His style will acquire maturity”).<\/span> leads to references made to both a fullness of development and a balance in what has resulted from it, as well as to the correctness of the assessment. There is "maturity" of a concept or a system when few people question the concept, the system and their effects, in particular because they have all understood and assimilated them\ud83d\udcce11<\/a><\/sup>See in this way, for instance \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>A. Banck, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>The maturity of the Compliance tool’s user, first criterion of the choice of the salient tool<\/a>, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Tools<\/em><\/a>, 2021.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

For example, if it turns out that few question the mechanism as such or in its conception, then the mechanism is mature unless one wants to operate a "revolution", often called "Copernican" since this then amounts to changing the world, as Copernicus did with the new description he made of the cosmos, which no one subsequently contested, the description of a system in which the Earth revolves around the Sun therefore being a mature description. Kuhn\ud83d\udcce12<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>Th. S. Khun, \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>The Structure of Scientific Revolutions<\/em><\/a>, 1962.<\/span> described this for systems that were more detached from reality, which could thus concern legal notions. Numerous studies have focused on this phenomenon, which destroys certainties that can then crumble and disappear, or give rise to battles, the trick always being to present oneself as the "modern" and to describe the other as "old", or even, if we leave legal academic publications for more turbulent forums, to describe them as "reactionary". This is why Gérald Bronner is right to assert in the social sciences that there are truths\ud83d\udcce13<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>G. Bronner, \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>L'empire de l'erreur. Éléments de sociologie cognitive<\/em><\/a> (The empire of error. Elements of cognitive sociology<\/em>), 2007 ; see also the Commission put in place by the Présidence de la République<\/em> (French Republic Presidency), chaired by Gérard Bronner, "Les Lumières à l’ère Numérique<\/em>" ("Enlightenment in the Digital Age"), and the resulting report \ud83d\udcd3<\/span>Rapport de la Commission. Les Lumières à l'ère numérique<\/em><\/a>, 2022.<\/span>. It also happens in Law\ud83d\udcce14<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>The Adventure of Compliance law<\/a>, 2020 ; \ud83d\udea7B<\/span>irths of a branch of Law: Compliance Law<\/a>, 2024.<\/span>. In the same way, in art and as René Sève\ud83d\udcce15<\/a><\/sup>Director of the Archives de Philosophie du Droit (APD).<\/em><\/span> shows, a new notion and\/or practice becomes mature when it is taken as a reference. For example, when perspective was adopted in Western painting, for which we can consider that it appeared in the Renaissance, it reached maturity in its practice and conception when everyone found it ordinary to proceed in this way. Then came Marcel Duchamp, who lowered a staircase in 1912<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Reading the ones et the others, we can only conclude that the legal concept of Vigilance is still a long way from reaching the "age of maturity", if one wants to express his\/her satisfaction by this expression. No, the child is not yet standing upright.<\/p>\n

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6<\/span>. The prospect of maturity so that the concept of vigilance and the vigilance system constitute a sufficiently solid <\/em><\/span>foundation <\/em><\/span>for reinforcing other systems<\/em><\/span><\/strong>: a distant prospect for the moment \ud83c\udfaf Another way of testing maturity, which is also all about images, is to measure its "solidity", i.e. the point at which it ceases to be vague and can only be grasped by lengthy developments, and can be captured in a few words. This is often linked to the earlier phenomenon of consensus, because a concept is all the more solid when everyone, or almost everyone, understands the same thing under the same word. But here it means that Vigilance becomes a "standard"\ud83d\udcce16<\/a><\/sup>On the notion of "standard" in Law, see \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>J.-Ch. Roda, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Le standard de preuve : réflexions à partir du droit de la concurrence<\/a> <\/em>(The standard of proof: reflections on competition law), 2021.<\/span>. This is possible if we proceed backwards: insofar as the duty of Vigilance is the advanced point of the Obligation of Compliance\ud83d\udcce17<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Systemic articulation between Vigilance, Due Diligence, conformity and Compliance: Vigilance as a full part of the Compliance Obligation<\/a>, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), <\/em>\ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance<\/em> Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>, which is the extension of the Regulatory Law\ud83d\udcce18<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>The Judge required for an effective Compliance Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2023.<\/span>, Vigilance irrigates regulated systems.<\/p>\n

But it is remarkable that, depending on the different regulated systems, the obligation of vigilance does not have the same intensity, depending on whether it concerns, for example, the financial system\ud83d\udcce19<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>A.-Cl. Rouaud, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>The intensity of the Vigilance Obligation in different sectors: the case of financial operators, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), <\/em>\ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>,, the banking system\ud83d\udcce20<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M. Françon, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>The intensity of the Vigilance Obligation in different sectors: the case of banking and insurance operators, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), <\/em>\ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>, the financial system, the digital system\ud83d\udcce21<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>G. Loiseau, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>The intensity of the Vigilance Obligation in different sectors: the case of digital operators, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), <\/em>\ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>  or the energy system\ud83d\udcce22<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M. Lamoureux, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>The intensity of the Vigilance Obligation in different sectors: the case of energy operators, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), <\/em>\ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span> .<\/p>\n

This foundation is strengthened if we consider that Vigilance techniques are now being deployed beyond sectors by Compliance Law, via Vigilance, which incorporates all the compliance techniques, including risk mapping\ud83d\udcce23<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Anchor points of the Risk Mapping Process in the Legal System<\/a>, 2019.<\/span>, internal investigation\ud83d\udcce24<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> & \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M. Boissavy (eds.), \ud83d\udcd5<\/span>Compliance et droits de la défense. Enquête interne – CJIP – CRPC <\/em>(Compliance and rights of the defence. Internal investigation – French Judicial Public Interest Agreement – French guilty plea procedure<\/em>)<\/a>, 2024.<\/span> and whistleblowing\ud83d\udcce25<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Assessment of Whistleblowing and Vigilance Obligation with regard to International Competitiveness<\/a>, in <\/em>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Monumental Goals<\/em><\/a>, 2023.<\/span>. <\/p>\n

But the link between Compliance and Vigilance is contested by authors who fail to see the identity of the techniques used, and reduce Compliance Law to the mechanical obedience of conformity,\ud83d\udcce26<\/a><\/sup>On the difference between "conformity" and Compliance Law, \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Compliance and conformity: distinguishing them to articulate them<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>, seeing Vigilance as the "extra soul" that Compliance would lack (which would be sustainable if Compliance Law were confused with conformity techniques). In the same way, the link between Vigilance and the liability system has been the subject of verbal and written confrontations, of which this very book is a trace, and which the adoption of the European directive (CS3D<\/em>) will not have calmed down, with some wanting to go further and others pointing out that the text refers to the general conditions of liability, i.e. a generator event, damage and a causal link between the two.<\/p>\n

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B. THE DIFFICULTY OF MEASURING THE "AGE OF MATURITY" OF THE DUTY OF VIGILANCE, BECAUSE CONSIDERED BY SOME AS A GOOD THING AND BY OTHERS AS A BAD ONE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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7<\/span>. Thinking in terms of "<\/em><\/span>Maturity<\/em><\/span>" is often a matter of giving satisfaction<\/em><\/span> <\/strong>\ud83c\udfaf Taking as  topic The Duty of Vigilance: the age of maturity? <\/em><\/span>is an appropriate but singular way of posing the subject, since it presupposes knowing what the "maturity" of a notion, or a technique, or a corpus, is in Law. The book's first and most general instruction is to take as the criterion for assessing the duty of vigilance<\/span><\/em> what must therefore be its ideal level of maturity<\/span><\/em>, thus making it possible to give its level of maturity, a maturity more or less attained. The title of the book links this state of maturity to age<\/span><\/em>, referring to the biological image of that which is born, grows, and then undoubtedly disappears. To designate by image is a figure of speech, an eloquence of which Law, lover of dry precision, is wary.<\/p>\n

The expression is certainly often used in academic doctrine\ud83d\udcce27<\/a><\/sup>For example, \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>Ph. Brun, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Les trente ans de la loi Badinter : entre maturité et perfectibilité <\/em>(Thirty years of the Badinter law: between maturity and perfectibility), 2015 ; \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>P.-Y. Verkindt,  \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Un signe fort de la maturité de la jurisprudence sur l’obligation de sécurité de résultat <\/em>(A strong sign of the maturity of jurisprudence on the obligation of safety of result), 2016 ; \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>V. Brenot, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Investissements Contrôle des investissements étrangers en France : le temps de la maturité ?<\/em> (Investments Controlling foreign investment in France: time for maturity?), 2019 ; \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>D. Fasquelle, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>L’heure de la maturité pour le droit européen de l’insolvabilité ? <\/em>(Time for European insolvency law to come of age?), 2019 ; \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>Ph. Dupichot, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>15 ans après, une réforme des sûretés à sa maturité<\/em> (15 years on, a security reform at its maturity), 2021 ; \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>J.-P. Camby & J.-E. Schoefflt, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>65e anniversaire de la Ve République : âge de la maturité ou âge de la retraite ?<\/em> (65th anniversary of the Fifth Republic: age of maturity or age of retirement), 2023.<\/span>, but it then refers more to satisfaction with the state of a law or corpus than to a precise state of what the expression is attached to: reading the works, sometimes between their lines, the author seems to consider a legal mechanism "mature" when he\/she is satisfied with it, whereas he\/she will say it is "immature" when he\/she has criticisms to make of it and wants changes to be made. The idea of progress <\/em><\/span>is therefore implied, either because it has been achieved and the "age of maturity" has thus been reached, or because it remains to be achieved because the author is dissatisfied with the current state of affairs. Just as it was said in the 19th century that there were "savage" and "pre-logical" societies, because we disapproved of them, which the French book Tristes tropiques<\/em>\ud83d\udcce28<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>Cl. Lévi-Strauss, \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>Tristes tropiques<\/em>, <\/em>1955; this book is itself controversial, see on that topic \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>V. Debaene, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Les multiples lectures de Tristes Tropiques<\/em><\/a> (The multiple readings of Tristes Tropiques<\/em>), 2008.<\/span> in particular cast doubt on. None of this, then, is self-evident\ud83d\udcce29<\/a><\/sup>That's why Michel Foucault, who is often made to say what he did not say, believes that the legal "l'ordre du discours<\/em>" ("order of discourse") is not a discourse of truth, as is scientific discourse, but belongs to the political order. The terms used are therefore not scientific but political. We refer to his Inaugural Lesson at the Collège de France<\/em>, which made this clear, but which has been distorted by an excessively sociologising presentation. Primary sources are always preferable to commentaries on commentaries.

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\r\n\r\nRead the Inaugural Lesson (in French): \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M. Foucault, \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>L'ordre du discours<\/em><\/a>, 1971

\r\n\r\nListen to the Inaugural Lesson (in French): France culture<\/em>, \ud83c\udf99\ufe0f<\/span>Leçon inaugurale de Michel Foucault<\/a><\/em>, in Les Cours du Collège de France<\/em>, serie "Huit leçons lues<\/em>", 2017.<\/span> ; il will merit prior explicitation\ud83d\udcce30<\/a><\/sup>See developments in this study supra<\/em> No. 4 and seq.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

8<\/span>. The value judgment of progress supposedly achieved by the adoption of France's so-called Vigilance law in 2017<\/em><\/span><\/strong>\ud83c\udfaf Indeed, the statement of such a title, "The Duty of vigilance, the age of maturity?", contains the underlying idea of progress, a technical notion but also a political one. A progress that would have already been made by what would be the "birth" of the device, undoubtedly by the French law of March 27, 2017  sur le devoir de vigilance des sociétés-mères et des entreprises donneuses d'ordre ("<\/em>on the duty of vigilance of parent companies and ordering companies"), even if we find, as with any "new law"\ud83d\udcce31<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>J. Carbonnier, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Toute loi en soi est un mal ?<\/a> <\/em>(Is all law evil in itself?), in<\/em> \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>Essais sur les lois (Essays on laws)<\/em>, 1995.<\/span>, lineaments of the notion before the adoption of this law\ud83d\udcce32<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Thinking and using Vigilance through its Compliance Monumental Goals<\/a>, 2023.<\/span>.  We therefore assume that in 2017 this law was itself the bearer of progress, either bringing it or translating it, notably in the new conception of the company and its corporate social responsibility\ud83d\udcce33<\/a><\/sup>A great deal of work has been done in this area. See for instance \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>B. Deffains, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Debt, an economic concept underpinning the Compliance Obligation<\/a>, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Obligation<\/a>, <\/em>2024.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

This, however, is disputed by those who see the adoption of this law as weakening the competitive position of French companies subject to it in relation to those, foreign, that are not\ud83d\udcce34<\/a><\/sup>On the question of Compliance regulations as a competitive advantage or disadvantage, see \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>B. Deffains, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Compliance and International competitiveness<\/a> and \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>L. Benzoni, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>International Trade, Competitivity and Sovereignty: Towards a Political Economy of Compliance<\/a>, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Monumental Goals<\/a>, <\/em>2023; particularly about the French law of 2017, \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Thinking and using Vigilance through its Compliance Monumental Goals<\/a>, 2023.<\/span>. The competitive perspective was indeed one of the justifications for the proposal of the European directive and its extraterritorial effect. One of the questions posed today is whether the very difficult adoption of this directive and its weak scope, since so much had to be trimmed to get it through, reinvigorates this criticism. <\/p>\n

It is possible that it was these differences, which have not been resolved – the adoption of the notion of "Vigilance" and its transformation into a "Duty" constituting for some a "burden" and for others "progress" -, that almost cost this directive its return to limbo and only saved it in tatters, since the banking and financial sector is excluded, only very large companies are subject to it, the climate transition plan is no longer accompanied by specific sanctions and the considerations on contracts had already been acquired elsewhere. So it could be said that what remains of the directive is the 2017 law, just put up to a European level which through its reference to the value chain has an extraterritorial scope. The issue that remains is mainly that of the creation of a national supervisory authority, which the national Legislator could have created by his own will and for the configuration of which his margins are important\ud83d\udcce35<\/a><\/sup>in this way, \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcfa<\/span>Le juge dans les contentieux de vigilance <\/em>(The Judge in the Vigilance Litigations)<\/a>, participation to the "table ronde sur le devoir de vigilance<\/em>" ("roundtable on the duty of vigilance"), audition by the Commission d'enquête du Sénat sur les moyens mobilisés et mobilisables par l'État pour assurer la prise en compte et le respect par le groupe TotalEnergies des obligations climatiques et des orientations de la politique étrangère de la France <\/em>(French Senate Committee of Inquiry on the resources mobilised and available to the State to ensure that the TotalEnergies Group takes account of and complies with France's climate obligations and foreign policy orientations), February 26, 2024.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

But it is fair to say that the so-called Vigilance Law is all the more "progress" in that it constitutes the "advanced edge of the Compliance Obligation"\ud83d\udcce36<\/a><\/sup>On the Vigilance Obligation, spearhead of the Compliance Obligation, see \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Obligation<\/a>, <\/em>2024.<\/span>. Indeed, Compliance Law is normatively anchored in its Monumental Goals\ud83d\udcce37<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Compliance Monumental Goals, beating heart of Compliance Law<\/a>, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Monumental Goals<\/a>, <\/em>2023.<\/span>, in that the preservation of human beings in the face of and within systems, for example the climate system, is the very object of this new branch of Law\ud83d\udcce38<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Rights, primary and natural Compliance Tools<\/a>, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance<\/em> <\/a>Tools<\/a>, <\/em>2021.<\/span>. The 2017 law illustrates this, with the duty of vigilance being the "leading edge" of the Compliance system, since the introduction in 2017 of the duty of vigilance mechanism on the one hand made the general Compliance system, which did not yet appear to all in its uniqueness and strength, more clearly visible, and on the other spread this Compliance mechanism throughout the value chains, vigilance thus constituting and in this a double advance: advance in visibility and substantial advance\ud83d\udcce39<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Vigilance, an Integral Part of the Compliance Obligation<\/a>, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Obligation<\/a>, <\/em>2024.<\/span>. <\/p>\n

Relying on this explicit formulation explicit of "maturity" and implicit of "progress", a value judgment that pays homage to this new French 2017 law which is methodically assumed to therefore constitute progress in relation to the old law, referring moreover to the more general methodological postulate of transitional Law which posits that the new law is progress in relation to the old law since it has been adopted\ud83d\udcce40<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>P. Roubier, \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>Le droit transitoire. Conflits des lois dans le temps<\/em><\/a> (Transitional law. Conflicts of laws over time)<\/em>, 1960. <\/span>, we can in a second step measure the progress made since then. And if we leave it at that, we can lament the a minima adoption of the CS3D<\/em> directive, which, in order not to be rejected in its very adoption and for example, now targets only large companies. Some, who would have liked a text equivalent to the GDPR<\/em> in its scope in that it affects all companies, will lament.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

9.<\/span> The value judgement of <\/em><\/span>progress supposedly thwarted <\/em><\/span>by the adoption of a European CS3D directive of limited scope<\/em><\/span> <\/strong>\ud83c\udfaf What hasn't been said about this draft directive…. To praise it, to criticize it. Now adopted with a limited scope, since the change in relation to French law was to extend the scheme to ITOs and SMEs, to extend it to the banking and financial sector, and to adopt stronger sanctions, which had to be abandoned unless adopted, the change will come rather from the evolution of Contract Law and Tort Law, which is more in the hands of the judges, whose case law is in the process of being built up.<\/p>\n

This no doubt explains why authors write numerous articles on current cases, to explain to judges what they should do. When it comes to the European directive, authors may be positioning themselves as if after a battle, some lamenting their broken spears, others counting their reported banners, all of them anticipating their victory in the next legislative confrontation. This may be the somewhat hypothetical stage resulting from the Commission's report to the European Parliament on the prospect of applying the scheme to the banking and financial sector.<\/p>\n

Above all, this is the national moment of transposition, with discussions destined to focus primarily on the institutional stakes of the Supervisory Authority and on the possible substantive stakes of interference with the jurisprudential construction that has begun\ud83d\udcce41<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>Fr. Ancel, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Quel rôle pour le juge aujourd’hui dans la compliance ? Quel office processuel du juge dans la compliance ?<\/a><\/em>, in<\/em> \ud83c\udfdb\ufe0f<\/span>Conseil d'État<\/em> (French Council of State) and \ud83c\udfdb\ufe0f<\/span>Cour de cassation <\/em>(French Court of cassation), \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>De la régulation à la compliance : quel rôle pour le juge ?<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>. For whether a battle has been lost, or won, each will no doubt claim to have won it, each will no doubt and alas assert that the war continues, and so on. Indeed, warlike imagery is very much in vogue when it comes to Compliance, as in the frequent reference to the "war" between the Civil Law and Common Law systems. Another figure of speech.<\/p>\n

If we remain within the perspective of the age of maturity,<\/em><\/span> those hostile to adoption and satisfied with a restricted European text will be able to say "at last, the Law is reasonable", referring to what would have been an initial legislative desire paved with childish intentions to do good for all at the expense of all European companies, including small ones which are already struggling, the European legislator having thus returned to the soil of competitive realities, the age of adolescence having passed… Meanwhile, those who had hoped for the adoption of a Directive as originally intended will be able to say "but when will you grow up, to live up to ambitions worthy of the land of Human Rights? When will you leave the stage where we're only interested in money, bosses and the here and now, and start caring about others, future generations and acquiring that second nature of the civilised being we call Human, and which Europe must bear?".  If we get on these high and low horses, we'll have to wait for the next legislative confrontations, now national ones, with each side blaming the other for the "immaturity" of the Law, and in reality claiming that the other's thinking is immature.<\/p>\n

If we take a more technical look at the subject and stick to legal rules , undeniably composed by the French 2017 law which expressly targets goals, since it requires major corporations to "detect and prevent" environmental and human rights abuses, so that such abuses in the future do not occur or are diminished, a teleological law\ud83d\udcce42<\/a><\/sup>Teleological Law is Law built around one or more goals, in relation to which everything has the status of means. Thus, in such a branch of law, normativity is lodged in the goals, with the letter of the legal rule to be understood as a means to these ends.. V. \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Teleological Law<\/a>, in <\/em>\ud83d\udcd5<\/span>Compliance and Regulation Law bilingual dictionnary<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span> therefore, aiming at "Monumental Goals", as the Paris Judicial Court emphasized in its judgments of February 28, 2023\ud83d\udcce43<\/a><\/sup>\ud83c\udfdb\ufe0f<\/span>Tribunal judiciaire de Paris <\/em>(Paris First Instance Civil Court), summary judgements, February 28, 2023, No. RG 22\/53943 and 22\/53942, Total Ouganda<\/em><\/a>.<\/span> in decisions also commented on from all sides\ud83d\udcce44<\/a><\/sup>See notably Dalloz actualité<\/em>, 7 mars 2023, obs. C. He\u0301laine ; JCP E<\/em>, 2023, 1086, note J.-B. Barbiéri ; JCP G<\/em>, 2023, act. 373, obs. M. Hautereau-Boutonnet et B. Parance ; Dalloz actualité<\/em>, 13 avril 2023, obs. A.-M. IIcheva ; Énergie - Env. - Infrastr.<\/em>, 2023, 34, obs. A. Gossement ; Juris associations<\/em>, 2023, p. 13, note X. Delpech ; RD bancaire et fin.<\/em>, mars-avril 2023, 61, note J.-M. Moulin ; Rev. int. compliance<\/em>, avril 2023, p. 6 ; LPA<\/em>, mai 2023, p. 47, note L. Martinet, V. Rouer et L. Bocquillon ; RLDA<\/em>, 2023, 7766, obs. H. Guyader ; Bull. Joly<\/em>, juin 2023, p. 7, note V. Mercier ; RTD com.<\/em>, 2023, p. 369, obs. A. Lecourt.<\/span> , we note that if there is progress, it is measured not so much in terms of the political ambitions that one carries in a general way, because otherwise one could say that the failure of a law that one disapproves of is "progress" in that it is a sign of the "maturity" of a legal system that recognises its errors, it's more a question of looking for methods to ensure that the Monumental Goal of the 2017 law, to which the now narrowly worded directive adds little (except concerning the Supervisory Authority), are achieved, notably through case law and practices, notably contracts, since companies have long since contractualised the duty of vigilance\ud83d\udcce45<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Compliance contract, compliance clauses<\/a>, 2022 ; \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Contrat<\/em> and Contract<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

10<\/span>. The methodology implied by a need to know the progress already made with regard to a Goal <\/em><\/span>not yet achieved by French law <\/em><\/span>and practices<\/em><\/span> that are being deployed internationally and that the CS3D hardly exceeds<\/em><\/span><\/strong>\ud83c\udfaf Indeed, the French 2017 law has begun to produce its legal effects because its object covers value chains\ud83d\udcce46<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>L. Rapp, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Compliance Obligation in Value Chains, in <\/em>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance<\/em> Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span> and extends its effects through the contracts in all international trade\ud83d\udcce47<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Contrat<\/em> and Contract<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>. As a result, its scope goes beyond the national space, the relay by the European directive which will be transposed in 2 years and will only concern the same companies thus not changing this.  The exercise is more an exercise in knowledge, that of practices and case law, of which there are currently very few, but which has been made famous on the one hand by an effervescence of doctrine and on the other hand because the courts have spontaneously organised themselves to deal with this new type of litigation, in particular the Paris Court of Appeal\ud83d\udcce48<\/a><\/sup>On the creation of the new Chambre 5-12<\/em> (5-12 Chamber) to hear about it, \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>J. Boulard, \ud83d\udcac<\/span>Contentieux systémique : "Il est important, pour les magistrats, de rester au plus près des réalités"<\/a> <\/em>(Systemic litigation: “It's important for judges to stay as close to reality as possible”), March 28, 2024.

\r\n\r\nOn the fact that this is justified as it is an Emerging Systemic Litigation, see \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>J. Boulard, \ud83c\udfa4Discours du Premier Président. Audience solennelle de rentrée<\/a><\/em>, January 15, 2024: "Une autre innovation majeure concerne la création à la cour d'une chambre spécialisée - la chambre 5-12 -<\/strong> qui sera dédiée aux actions relatives au devoir de vigilance de certaines sociétés, à leur obligation de publication d'informations en matière de durabilité et aux actions en responsabilité écologique dans les affaires présentant un caractère de grande complexité. <\/em>[...] Pourquoi cette nouvelle chambre ? Parce qu'il s'agit de contentieux émergents dont la dimension systémique impose, pour les magistrats qui en connaissent, qu'ils disposent de compétences juridictionnelles transversales, empruntant à diverses branches du droit, et, pour les parties au procès, qu'elles bénéficient de la garantie d'une plus grande prévisibilité de la jurisprudence. Dotée d'une compétence nationale en matière de devoir de vigilance, la cour d'appel de Paris se doit par ailleurs d'être à la hauteur des nouveaux enjeux de prévention des atteintes graves envers les droits humains et les libertés fondamentales, la santé et la sécurité des personnes ainsi qu'à l'endroit de l'environnement, pour reprendre les termes de la lois.<\/em>" (free translation: "Another major innovation concerns the creation at the court of a specialised chamber - Chamber 5-12 - <\/strong>which will be dedicated to actions relating to the duty of vigilance of certain companies, their obligation to publish sustainability information and actions for ecological liability in cases of great complexity. [...] Why this new chamber? Because these are emerging areas of litigation, the systemic dimension of which means that the judges dealing with them must have cross-disciplinary jurisdictional skills, borrowing from various branches of Law, and that the parties to the proceedings must be guaranteed greater predictability of case law. The Paris Court of Appeal, which has national jurisdiction in matters of vigilance, also has a duty to rise to the new challenges of preventing serious violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the health and safety of individuals and the environment, to quote the law").

\r\n\r\n 

\r\n\r\nOn the conference-debates organised accordingly by the Cour d'appel de Paris <\/em>(Paris Court of Appeal), the Cour de cassation (French Court of cassation) and the Cour d'appel de Versailles (Versailles Court of Appeal), with the support of the École nationale de la magistrature - ENM (French National School for the Judiciary) and the École de formation des barreaux du ressort de la Cour d'appel de Paris - EFB (Paris Bar School), under the scientific direction of Marie-Anne Frison-Roche, \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcac<\/span>"Nous voyons émerger aujourd’hui le contentieux systémique"<\/em> (""We are now seeing the emergence of the Systemic Litigation"")<\/a>, March 28, 2024 ; \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche, Coordination and animation of the cycle of conference-debates \ud83e\uddeeContentieux Systémique Émergent <\/em>(Emerging Systemic Litigation<\/em>)<\/a>. <\/span>. This very important institutional change owes nothing to Europe either, but to the awareness that at the centre of Compliance and Vigilance Law, it is above all the Judge who is placed, in dialogue with the other judges\ud83d\udcce49<\/a><\/sup>On this dialogue between judges, involved in Emerging Systemic Litigation, of which litigation relating to the duty of vigilance is a perfect example, see \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcac<\/span>You Porn : La CJUE face au défi de la protection des mineurs <\/em>(You Porn: The CJEU faces the challenge of protecting minors)<\/a>, March 11, 2024.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

It is therefore a kind of initial assessment, a few years after the enactment of the French law in 2017, to designate the stages, to give the dates and to measure the progress made, since the question mark in the title already raises doubts as to whether it has already achieved its objectives, i.e. whether practices have already been able to ensure that in an effective, and efficient way\ud83d\udcce50<\/a><\/sup>On this trilogy of "effective - efficacious - efficient" which characterises Regulatory and Compliance Law, see\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Definition of Proportionality and Definition of Compliance Law<\/a>, in <\/em>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Monumental Goals<\/em><\/a>, 2023 ; \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>The Judge, the Compliance Obligation and the Company. The Compliance Evidence System<\/a>, in <\/em>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Jurisdictionalisation<\/a>, <\/em>2024.<\/span>, environmental and human rights abuses are detected and prevented by the companies, subjects of law. Through their practices, their obedience to the law, the power of contracts, which alone can transform companies subject to the law into debtors and thus generate creditors\ud83d\udcce51<\/a><\/sup>As \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>Muriel Fabre-Magnan points out in \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Critique de la convergence des responsabilités contractuelle et délictuelle. L'exemple du devoir de vigilance<\/a> <\/em>(Criticism of the convergence of contractual and tortious liability. The example of duty of vigilance), in<\/em> \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>Mélanges en l'honneur du Professeur Loïc Cadiet<\/em><\/a> (In honor of Professor Loïc Cadiet<\/em>), 2023 ; see more generally, \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>  (ed.), \u200b\ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance and Contrat<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>, through liability lawsuits. This brings us back to the Compliance Obligation <\/em>\ud83d\udcce52<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), \ud83d\udcd5<\/span>L'Obligation de Compliance<\/em><\/a>, 2024 ; \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance<\/em> Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>.<\/em><\/p>\n

We can therefore imagine a concept that has entered the legal order but has not yet reached what would be its 'accomplished age'… The implicit reference is to the ancient Greek concept of acme, which expresses the apogee of both an illness and a technique, doctrine or civilisation. Conceived according to the cycle of life and in a positive sense, it refers to a state of fulfillment, to the marvelous moment that cannot last when one is both wise and powerful, i.e. adulthood in which mastery is at its peak because the mind has acquired knowledge while the body has not yet lost its grip.<\/p>\n

It is not certain that the Vigilance mechanism is neither wise nor powerful. For example, "wisdom" would consist in not using violence but rather in conciliating and educating (which is what we do when we are adults). When a company claims that Vigilance duty  will ruin the economic system, that's not wise; when an NGO claims that the directive voted through, because it doesn't target all companies, is the work of the extreme right political partisans, that's not wise.<\/p>\n

For example, "power" would mean not just obtaining money for particular people in a particular case, but obtaining a change in general culture in a globalised economy, in a new culture of the common good shared with Russia, China, etc. (that's what you get when you have authority).<\/p>\n

If this is how we conceive of the age of maturity of the duty of vigilance, requiring both wisdom and power, we should recognise that the child does not yet know how to walk. But we can have the ambition for this little legal concept.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

More technically, this would be the age when the company, also often compared to a large body with a brain, a heart and an "extra soul"\ud83d\udcce53<\/a><\/sup>We like to develop an organisational vision of the company, with the board of directors being the brains, etc. It is a question of knowing whether it is just an image (see below on the risk of using images in Law No. 4 and seq.) or whether the legal person can have feelings. According to British Law, companies, which legally express themselves through legal personality, do not have a soul or a heart. 

\r\n\r\nOn this question that has essential practical consequences, v. \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Will, Heart and Calculation<\/a>,  in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance<\/em> Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>, has achieved the goal set by Compliance Law: in this case "to detect and prevent breaches of the environment and human rights in the value chain" where the parent company or ordering company is located. Law, which is less warm-hearted than morality and is careful not to become confused with it, for example by not recognising in positive Law a prohibition on not causing damage to others, because by exercising our freedom we cause damage to others and we are only legally liable for it if we commit a fault or negligence or violate a precise legal requirement\ud83d\udcce54<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Compliance and Civil Liability: Understanding keep its head<\/a>, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), <\/em>\ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance<\/em> Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>, it is not a question of obtaining that in the future the risk of such harm be extinguished, for example by a perfect education of all and everywhere by a morally stoic enterprise which would make the whole world governed by an absolute and sufficient moral rule\ud83d\udcce55<\/a><\/sup>But if, for a Stoic, one is born a sketch and dies a statue, the education of a Stoic enterprise would certainly exhaust him to enable him to go to the limits of moral responsibility alone, but Law, as a practical art, does not require this.<\/span>: by means of a legal obligation that subjects certain companies covered by the law, which must obey the law and are not therefore liable, unless this legal obligation is incorporated into a contract\ud83d\udcce56<\/a><\/sup>In this way, see \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M. Fabre-Magnan, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Critique de la convergence des responsabilités contractuelle et délictuelle. L'exemple du devoir de vigilance<\/a> <\/em>(Criticism of the convergence of contractual and tortious liability. The example of duty of care), in<\/em> \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>Mélanges en l'honneur du Professeur Loïc Cadiet<\/em><\/a> (In honor of Professor Loïc Cadiet<\/em>), 2023. 

\r\n\r\nIt is therefore a misnomer to describe companies as "debtors" because of their legal obligation. It seems to be a frequent occurrence. It has consequences, because it allows many to present themselves as 'creditors', because if there are debtors then there are creditors, which on the one hand would considerably lighten the requirement of an interest in bringing an action for liability, and on the other hand would remove the conditions of liability, since the 'creditor' is simply asking for performance of the debtor's obligation. The authors who present companies as 'debtors' are moreover asking that fault be 'presumed' and that 'causality' be 'presumed', in short that a legal obligation be transformed into a right of claim for the benefit of all. <\/span> to obtain that companies equip themselves with the means to detect and prevent such risks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

11. <\/span>To measure the progress of the duty of vigilance towards maturity, agree <\/span>on what<\/span> the duty of vigilance applies<\/span><\/em> <\/strong>\ud83c\udfaf This presupposes that we have a good grasp of what the legal mechanism of the duty of vigilance was adopted for, in order to assess whether the ambition is being achieved.  If we have a clear and shared idea of what the duty of care was established for, then it is easy to measure the progress of the various legal tools in being "effective".  But it is not certain that we have a clear idea of these aims57<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Vigilance, a piece of the European puzzle<\/a>, 2023.<\/span>.  Is it just a duty to inform? What is the degree of transparency? Is it a duty to act? How demanding are the results of the actions taken? What standards are binding? Which standards can inspire companies? Which standards are binding on judges? Which standards can inspire judges? For the moment, there are as many answers as there are authors. We therefore need to identify the points of agreement; if they prove to be too weak, since the directive has not made much progress in relation to French law, and before the judge himself answers these questions, as he is more often than not greedily challenged by a doctrine that explains to him what it means to judge, we will no doubt have to turn our attention to the very ways in which progress is being made.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

12. <\/span><\/strong> Identify the <\/em><\/strong><\/span>points of agreement, procedural and substantive<\/em><\/strong><\/span>, the first sign of maturity of the duty of vigilance: for the moment, low maturity<\/em><\/strong><\/span> \ud83c\udfaf We will therefore be able to measure what can be described as the "maturity zones" of the duty of vigilance, because everyone would agree. When the legal mechanisms are new, the first points of agreement are procedural. This is even truer if the techniques concerned are procedural in the legal sense  themselves, which is obvious since the duty of vigilance leaves a lot of room for the Judge. However, the points of agreement are still rather weak because, while NGOs seek the support of the courts by building "litigation", thus contributing to the "jurisdictionalisation of Compliance"58<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Jurisdictionalisation<\/a>, <\/em>2024.<\/span>, companies undoubtedly still tend to rely on "compliance mechanisms" to gather information and process it using an algorithmic system ("Compliance by design"), still confusing Compliance Law and conformity techniques, which are only among the tools of the latter\ud83d\udcce59<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Compliance and conformity: distinguishing them to articulate them<\/a>, 2024.<\/span>. The processual elements therefore do not yet give rise to many points of agreement. Early case law is deciding disputes on processual issues, including those relating to the right to access to the judge\ud83d\udcce60<\/a><\/sup>On the right of associations to bring actions before the courts for failure by companies to comply with their duty of vigilance, see \ud83c\udfdb\ufe0f<\/span>Tribunal judiciaire de Paris<\/em> (Paris First Instance Civil Court), ord. of the pre-trial judge, July 6, 2023, TotalÉnergies<\/em><\/a>, Dalloz actualite\u0301<\/em>, July 13, 2023, obs. J.-B. Barbièri & A. Touzain, Revue des socie\u0301te\u0301s<\/em>, 2023, p.793, obs. A. Danis-Fatôme & N. Hoffschir, Bull. Joly sociétés<\/em>, November 2023, <\/span>E. Schlumberger. The Cour d'appel de Paris <\/em>(Paris Court of Appeal) is seized of this question.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

From a more substantive perspective, the points of contact are still rather weak, since some stakeholders would like to see the duty of Vigilance as a form of co-management of the company, while some companies are not far from alleging that this demand for power-sharing would constitute some sort of infringement of the Nation's interests, particularly in view of the sector in which the company operates. It should come as no surprise that the draft directive, hiccup after hiccup, ended up in June 2024 with a version that imposes few constraints on companies compared with what the French 2017 law already generates, and targets only large companies, taking up the logic of Compliance Law, which targets only companies "in a position to act" and not all of them.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

13.<\/strong><\/span> Identifying <\/strong><\/em><\/span>avenues for progress<\/strong><\/em><\/span>, the second more immediate sign of the maturity of the duty of vigilance <\/strong><\/em><\/span>\ud83c\udfaf Rather than continuing what has been close to a pitched battle, and even though, contrary to this warlike tendency, the courts referred to are proposing mediation in matters of vigilance\ud83d\udcce61<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M. Chapuis, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Mediation, the way forward for an Effective Compliance Obligation, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance<\/em> Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>, it seems more fruitful to focus efforts on the very ways in which progress can be made. If only to restore a little calm to what is being said or written. After returning to the question of what constitutes the maturity of a legal concept, and rather than trying to win over one view to another, so that this sort of frozen conflict does not remain in that state, we can suggest 8 possible ways forward\ud83d\udcce62<\/a><\/sup>See supra <\/em>No.2.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

II. PAYING ATTENTION TO LESS VISIBLE AVENUES FOR PROGRESS THAN THE LAW AND THE COURTS<\/strong><\/span><\/u><\/p>\n

14. <\/strong><\/span>Exploiting other avenues too<\/strong><\/em><\/span> \ud83c\udfafThe duty of vigilance can in law and in fact progress simply by the passage of time (A<\/strong><\/span>) and by fixing the vocabulary (B<\/strong><\/span>).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A. ADVANCING THE DUTY OF VIGILANCE THROUGH THE PASSAGE OF TIME<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

15.<\/strong><\/span> <\/em><\/strong>Rediscovering the past depth of Vigilance to allow it to unfold in continuity tomorrow<\/strong><\/em><\/span> \ud83c\udfaf Legal historians affirm that they study "living Law", since Law carries within it its preserved History\ud83d\udcce63<\/a><\/sup>With many nuances, see for instance \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>J.-L. Halperin, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>L'histoire du droit constituée en discipline : consécration ou repli identitaire ?<\/a><\/em>, 2001.<\/span>. What appears to be a break is in fact nothing but continuity, for example the French Civil Code, as Carbonnier\ud83d\udcce64<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>J. Carbonnier, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Le Code civil<\/a><\/em>, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>P. Nora (ed.), Les lieux de mémoire, III. La Nation, 2. Le territoire, l’État, le patrimoine<\/em>, 1986.<\/span> showed. The same is true of the French law, in small comparison, of 2017. In a mechanism of vigilance in which "practices", "corporate cultures", the so-called "soft law", play such a large role\ud83d\udcce65<\/a><\/sup>See for instance the work of Véronique Magnier on on corporate governance and corporate social responsibility: \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>V. Magnier, \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>Déontologie et éthique de l'entreprise<\/em><\/a>, 2023; on the more specific question of vigilance, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>The transformation of governance and due diligence, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), <\/em>\ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>, that construction takes place in continuity, with the great legislative evenings taking up little space, even when they are European.<\/p>\n

This Vigilance, through which companies put in place instruments to manage risks, to care for people inside and outside\ud83d\udcce66<\/a><\/sup>This echoes the "double materiality" of non-financial information, with which Compliance and Vigilance Law has many points of contact. See in this way,\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Vigilance, a piece of the European puzzle<\/a>, 2023 ; \ud83c\udfa5<\/span>L'esprit des Lois en matière de vigilance<\/em> (Spirit of Law in Vigilance (Due Diligences) matters)<\/a>, in<\/em> \ud83e\uddee<\/span>Les Rencontres du Haut Conseil du Commissariat aux Comptes (H3C), Réalités et défis de la CSRD - Perspectives du devoir de vigilance<\/em>, conference of June 14th, 2023 at the H3C<\/em> (that since became the Haute autorité de l'audit - H2A<\/em> (High Audit Authority)).

\r\n\r\nAs the CSRD has since been transposed in the Member States of the European Union, its interference with the duty of vigilance puts into perspective the effect of the potential non-adoption of the CS3D, see supra<\/em> No.9.<\/span> , to anticipate and resolve conflicts, to participate in the so-called "global" society, can be found everywhere in previous laws and practices. Doubtless even more so in the case of a stated-owned company, which then becomes the paragon of the vigilant company\ud83d\udcce67<\/a><\/sup>This is technically perceptible in the case of contracts. See in this way \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>A. Oumedjkane, \ud83d\udcd3<\/span>Compliance et droit administratif<\/a><\/em>, 2022 and \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Can the Duty of Vigilance be incorporated into Public Contract Law?, in<\/em> \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance and Contract<\/a>, <\/em>2025.<\/span>, after having been the abnormal organisation under Competition Law.  <\/p>\n

Thus by the mere passage of time, modes of governance\ud83d\udcce68<\/a><\/sup>See for instance \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>A.-V. Le Fur, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Interest and “raison d’e\u0302tre” of the Company: How Does It Fit Together with the Compliance Monumental Goals?<\/a>, in <\/em>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Monumental Goals<\/em><\/a>, 2023.<\/span>, surrounding notions of "raison d'être<\/em>" by the so-called French Pacte <\/em>law of 2019, the refinement of compliance tools, such as whistleblowing by the European directive of 2019 aimed at improving the protection of whistleblowers, the contracts that will continue to be executed, in the shadow of arbitrations\ud83d\udcce69<\/a><\/sup>Arbitration will play an increasingly important role in Compliance and Vigilance mechanisms. See in this regard, \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> and J.-B. Racine, \ud83d\udcfa<\/span>International arbitration's acceptance of Compliance Law<\/em>, 2024, "...". \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), <\/em>\ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance<\/em> Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2024, of which a chapter is dedicated to "International Arbitration in support of the Compliance Obligation".<\/span>, will fuel a more general movement for which the "program"\ud83d\udcce70<\/a><\/sup>On the technical recognition of the "plan" as an economic policy and regulatory instrument, see \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>G. de Margerie, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>L'État et le Temps : Précaution, prospective et planification<\/a> <\/em>(The State and Time: Precaution, foresight and planning), in<\/em> Archives de Philosophie du Droit (APD)<\/em>, \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>Le principe de précaution<\/em><\/a> (Precautionary principle), 2020.

\r\n\r\nFor an analysis of what happens inside companies, see the thesis of \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>Sébastien Neuville, \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>Le plan en droit privé<\/em><\/a>, 1998. This needs to be set against two other phenomena, also studied by two other remarkable theses, the one of Gaillard, \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>E. Gaillard, \ud83d\udcd3<\/span>La notion de pouvoir en droit privé<\/em><\/a>, thesis Paris 2, 1981, published under the title \ud83d\udcd7<\/span><\/span>Le pouvoir en droit privé<\/a><\/em>, 1985 (see on this subject, \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Conceiving Power<\/a>, 2021) and the one of Neau-Leduc, \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>Ph. Neau-Leduc, \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>La réglementation de droit privé<\/a>, <\/em>1998.

\r\n\r\nIn this way, companies combine planning, the power to act on behalf of others and the enactment of standards, the triology required to achieve the Compliance Monumental Goals, of which Vigilance is the spearhead.<\/span> technique will develop, with the vigilance plan thus gaining strength in that it is merely a variety of the compliance programs, the importance of which can be measured in Competition Law, for example.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

16<\/span>. Laws about Vigilance are only the tip of a slow construction, in which contracts and practices, including judicial ones, weave the essential<\/span> <\/strong>\ud83c\udfaf Moreover, it takes only a short time to pass a law, whereas it takes so long to build a "jurisprudential policy", such as François Ancel, member of the Cour de cassation<\/em> (French Judicial Supreme Court) considers necessary in Compliance and Vigilance\ud83d\udcce71<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>Fr. Ancel, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Quel rôle pour le juge aujourd’hui dans la compliance ? Quel office processuel du juge dans la compliance ?<\/a> <\/em>(What role do judges play in compliance today? What is the judge's procedural role in compliance?), in<\/em> \ud83c\udfdb\ufe0f<\/span>Conseil d'État<\/em> (French Council of State) and \ud83c\udfdb\ufe0f<\/span>Cour de cassation <\/em>(French Court of cassation), \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>De la régulation à la compliance : quel rôle pour le juge ?<\/em><\/a> (From regulation to compliance: what role for the judge?<\/em>), 2024.<\/span>, and to forge contracts, including those of a structural and relational nature, which can lead to a common culture, the establishment of which is the Monumental Goal of the entire system\ud83d\udcce72<\/a><\/sup>On the path to reach this cultural change, see infra <\/em>No. 15 and seq. <\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

17. <\/span>Taking advantage of the long time taken by Vigilance jurisdictional procedures, which are part of Emerging Systemic Litigation also concerning the future<\/em><\/span> <\/strong>\ud83c\udfaf In this respect, jurisdictional procedures have the advantage of restoring a little calm, by their natural slowness and by the obligation for the "stakeholders" obliged to become "parties to the proceedings", to submit to the protocol which restricts the registers of vocabulary and claims admissible in a "space of justice"\ud83d\udcce73<\/a><\/sup>This makes it difficult to superimpose what the ECHR itself refers to as "media trials" on proper trials, as legal rules, particularly procedural rules, do not seem to govern the former. This is a subject for legal discussion in its own right, which will open up in terms of vigilance, since some plaintiffs immediately bring the dispute to the media and social networks, and legal doctrine immediately comments on court rulings that are nonetheless subject to appeal, and so on.

\r\n\r\nOn the notion of a 'justice area' and the specific jurisdictional practices that develop within it, see the cycle of conferences organised by the Cour de cassation <\/em>(French Court of cassation) in 2023 and 2024: Penser les pratiques juridictionnelles au service d'un espace de justice <\/em>(Thinking jurisdictional practices in the service of a justice area).<\/span> governed by the techniques linked to the principle of the Rule of Law. This long period of proceedings, adversarial debate and expert opinions, including legal opinions\ud83d\udcce74<\/a><\/sup>See the analysis of \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>Nicolas Cayrol about the amici curiae <\/em>before the Tribunal judiciaire de Paris <\/em>(Paris First Instance Civil Court), seised of the action against Total, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>L'<\/a><\/em>amicus curiae<\/a>, mesure d'instruction ordinaire<\/a> <\/em>(The amicus curiae,<\/em> an ordinary investigative measure), 2022.<\/span>, allows the development of this new branch of Law continuously. This is all the more beneficial as the Judge hearing a Vigilance claim, i.e. a claim based on a systemic risk, an element linked to Information about the future, must himself\/herself rule on the future\ud83d\udcce75<\/a><\/sup>On this new category of litigation concerning the future, see \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, scientific direction and coordination of the conference \ud83e\uddee<\/span>Dans l’espace de justice, les pratiques juridictionnelles au service du futur <\/a><\/em>(<\/a>In the Area of Justice, the Jurisdictional Practices at the service of the Future<\/a><\/em>)<\/a>, in<\/em> Cour de cassation <\/em>(French Court of cassation), Cycle of conferences "Penser les pratiques juridictionnelles au service d’un espace de justice<\/em>", November 21, 2024.<\/span>. <\/p>\n

In this way, Judges, encouraged to anticipate and find solutions beyond the jolts of punctual and multiple laws can build a body of legal principles over time in which balances are more likely to be found, since litigation tends to produce solutions in which the interests and doctrines of all parties are integrated.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

B. PROGRESS IN THE LEGAL MECHANISM OF VIGILANCE THROUGH THE DEFINITION OF TERMS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

18.<\/span> The lack of a common vocabulary<\/em><\/span><\/strong> \ud83c\udfafSince in Law words are part of the normative effect, one way forward is to adopt a common vocabulary, since at the moment everyone seems to be speaking in their own language… This is due to the fact that we navigate between French and English, with European legislators and regulators being the first to be caught in the pitfalls of translation, but also to the fact that terminology is not so new, having already developed effects in various branches of Law.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

19<\/span>. The right word, between French and English<\/em><\/span><\/strong> <\/em><\/span>\ud83c\udfafAs with Compliance, which many mistakenly believe to be identical to "conformité"\ud83d\udcce76<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Compliance and conformity: distinguishing them to articulate them<\/a>, 2024.<\/span>,, many difficulties arise from the difficulty of translation. There are so many different ones: duty of vigilance\ud83d\udcce77<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Assessment of whistleblowing and the Vigilance Obligation with regard to International Competitiveness<\/a>, in <\/em>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Monumental Goals<\/em><\/a>, 2023; \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>A. Hatchuel & \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>B. Segrestin, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Devoir de vigilance : la norme de gestion comme source de droit ?<\/a>, 2020 ; \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>Cl. Cavicchioli, \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>El. Hannezo et \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>J.-Ch. Jaïs, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>French Duty of Vigilance Law: first decision on the merits rendered by a French Court<\/a>, Linklaters, December 6, 2023.<\/span>, duty of care\ud83d\udcce78<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>V. Lasserre, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Les sources textuelles internes et européennes du droit des affaires. L'exemple du devoir de vigilance<\/a> <\/em>(Domestic and European textual sources of business law. The example of the duty of vigilance), 2024.<\/span>\ud83d\udcce, due diligence\ud83d\udcce79<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>B. Querenet-Hahn & \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>L. Babst, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Due Diligence Obligations under German and French Laws, 2023.<\/span>. Positive law interferes in that the CS3D Directive in its English version uses the expression "due diligence", which refers rather to the active verification of Information during a transfer of assets or a takeover.<\/p>\n

However, the notion of vigilance is often translated in English as "duty of care". But Professor Muriel Fabre-Magnan rightly points out that the duty of vigilance does not correspond to this notion\ud83d\udcce80<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M. Fabre-Magnan, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Critique de la convergence des responsabilités contractuelle et délictuelle. L'exemple du devoir de vigilance<\/a> <\/em>(Criticism of the convergence of contractual and tortious liability. The example of duty of vigilance), in<\/em> \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>Mélanges en l'honneur du Professeur Loïc Cadiet<\/em><\/a> (In honor of Professor Loïc Cadiet<\/em>), 2023. This author highlights that: "C’est alors sans doute aussi une influence anglo-ame\u0301ricaine qui est a\u0300 l’œuvre, en particulier s’agissant du devoir de vigilance qui s’inspire clairement du me\u0301canisme de la compliance. On sait que la <\/em>common law ne connai\u0302t pas un principe ge\u0301ne\u0301ral de responsabilite\u0301 pour faute (ce que l’on appelle couramment la clause ge\u0301ne\u0301rale de responsabilite\u0301 de l’article 1240 – ex-art. 1382 – du Code civil) mais seulement un ensemble de <\/em>torts particuliers. Le <\/em>tort le plus ge\u0301ne\u0301ral et le plus connu – a\u0300 savoir le tort de negligence issu du fameux arre\u0302t <\/em>Donoghue v. Stevenson de 1932 – est tre\u0300s diffe\u0301rent de notre classique responsabilite\u0301 pour faute. Dans un passage ce\u0301le\u0301brissime de cette de\u0301cision, Lord Atkin posait ainsi le fameux <\/em>neighbour principle selon lequel une personne est tenue d’un <\/em>duty of care, en d’autres termes de prendre des pre\u0301cautions raisonnables, uniquement vis-a\u0300-vis des proches (<\/em>neighbours), c’est- a\u0300-dire des personnes « qui sont si e\u0301troitement et directement affecte\u0301es par mon acte que je devrais raisonnablement les avoir en te\u0302te comme e\u0301tant ainsi affecte\u0301es lorsque je dirige mon esprit vers les actes ou omissions en question ».<\/em>

\r\n\r\nLa loi sur le devoir de vigilance est impre\u0301gne\u0301e de cette me\u0302me fac\u0327on de penser, et c’est tout naturellement que plusieurs auteurs en ont propose\u0301 le rapprochement. Ce mode de raisonnement de type contractuel conduit a\u0300 rechercher qui serait « be\u0301ne\u0301ficiaire » ou prote\u0301ge\u0301 par ce devoir de vigilance, ce qui conduit a\u0300 relativiser la faute de\u0301lictuelle.<\/em>

\r\n\r\nOr si quelques re\u0300gles spe\u0301ciales ont sans doute pour objet de ne cre\u0301er de devoirs que dans un certain cercle ou a\u0300 l’e\u0301gard de personnes pre\u0301cises (ainsi, l’amant ou la mai\u0302tresse ne sont pas tenus d’une obligation de fide\u0301lite\u0301 ou de loyaute\u0301 envers l’e\u0301poux ou l’e\u0301pouse de\u0301laisse\u0301s), il en va autrement pour le devoir ge\u0301ne\u0301ral de prudence et de diligence qui prote\u0300ge e\u0301galement tout le monde.<\/em>" (p.554-555).

\r\n\r\nFree translation:<\/strong> "There is no doubt an Anglo-American influence at work here, particularly with regard to the duty of vigilance, which is clearly inspired by the compliance mechanism. As we know, common law does not recognize a general principle of liability for fault (commonly referred to as the general liability clause of article 1240 - ex-art. 1382 - of the Civil Code), but only a set of specific wrongs. The most general and best-known tort - namely, the tort of negligence arising from the famous Donoghue v. Stevenson of 1932 - is very different from our classic liability for fault. In a famous passage from this decision, Lord Atkin laid down the famous neighbour principle, according to which a person is bound by a duty of care, in other words to take reasonable care, only in relation to neighbours, i.e. persons “who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in mind as being so affected when I direct my mind to the acts or omissions in question”.

\r\n\r\nThe law on duty of vigilance is imbued with this same way of thinking, and it's only natural that several authors have proposed a similar approach.

\r\n\r\nThis contractual mode of reasoning leads to a search for those who would be “beneficiaries” or protected by this duty of vigilance, which puts delictual fault into perspective.

\r\n\r\nNow, while some special rules are undoubtedly intended to create duties only within a certain circle or in respect of specific persons (for example, a lover is not bound by an obligation of fidelity or loyalty towards a neglected husband or wife), the same cannot be said of the general duty of prudence and diligence, which protects everyone equally.”<\/span> , because the latter refers to the duty to take care of someone close to you, whereas the duty of vigilance refers to a distant situation. <\/p>\n

It is also remarkable that the expression "due diligence<\/em>" is used by the English-speaking European legislator, but should not be truncated, since the Directive refers to Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence<\/em>, i.e. it is based above all on the notion of "Sustainability", which is appropriate for environmental issues, and even more so for climate issues, but less so for human rights.<\/p>\n

This is why my preference is for a more literal translation of "devoir de vigilance \/ <\/em>duty of vigilance", because it is really a matter of continuously watching over an interest, a situation and persons who  are outside the person who is in charge of that duty, according to the definition of "power"\ud83d\udcce81<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Conceiving Power<\/a>, 2021 ; \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Use of private companies by Compliance Law to serve Human Rights<\/a>, 2023.<\/span> as Professor Gaillard developed it transversally through the different branches of Law\ud83d\udcce82<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>E. Gaillard, \ud83d\udcd3<\/span>La notion de pouvoir en droit privé<\/em> (The notion of power in private law)<\/a>, thesis Paris 2, 1981, published under the title \ud83d\udcd7<\/span><\/span>Le pouvoir en droit privé<\/a> <\/em>(Power in private law<\/em>), 1985.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

If we take the expression "due diligence" in isolation, it refers more to Investment Law, within which checks must be made on the Information to be provided and verified in structuring transactions, positing that the acquirer must verify the Information in asset disposals and takeovers (M&A)\ud83d\udcce83<\/a><\/sup>"Vigilance" in turn takes on its common meaning. In a presentation for practitioners (LexisNexis, "Due diligence : tout ce que vous devez savoir<\/em>"<\/a>, consulted on April 12, 2024), we find the following definition: "Définition<\/em>

\r\n\r\nLa due diligence est un concept emprunté à la jurisprudence des États-Unis, que l'on utilise en France dans le contexte du droit des achats. Dans la langue française, on parle d'obligation de vigilance, mais l'expression anglaise tend à se généraliser, en raison de sa spécificité juridique, liée au droit spécifique des États-Unis. En quelque sorte la diligence, qu'elle soit raisonnable ou renforcée, renvoie à l'obligation pour l'acheteur d'être vigilant, selon le principe juridique du caveat emptor. Son but est de sécurisé achats et transactions.<\/em>"

\r\n\r\n(Free translation : "Definition
\r\nDue diligence is a concept borrowed from US case law and used in France in the context of Sales Law. In French, the term is "obligation de vigilance<\/em>" ("vigilance obligation"), but the English expression is becoming more widespread because of its legal specificity, linked to the specific Law of the United States. In a way, due diligence, whether reasonable or reinforced, refers to the buyer's obligation to be vigilant, according to the legal principle of caveat emptor<\/em>. Its purpose is to secure purchases and transactions.").

\r\n\r\nIt's remarquable that it is not at all a question of ensuring the effectiveness of noms or the protection of human beings, but of securing the transfer of property.<\/span>, which shows that it is even more between branches of Law that distortions occur, due to tensions between Compliance Law and other branches of Law\ud83d\udcce84<\/a><\/sup>A complete title is devoted to this question in the book \ud83d\udd74<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2024, to be published, particularly with regard to civil liability : v. \ud83d\udd74<\/span>J.-S. Borghetti, "Tort Law and Compliance Obligation".<\/span>.<\/p>\n

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20.<\/span> The right word, between the many branches of Law involved<\/em><\/span><\/strong> <\/em><\/span>\ud83c\udfaf The duty of vigilance must not be confined to Company Law, unless we consider that Vigilance is only a matter for the company or for the transfer of assets, which would be too narrow a view. It is not only insofar as Vigilance is only the leading edge of Compliance Law that it can be articulated in a conception that will notably go beyond the summa divisio<\/em> on which French Law is traditionally based, namely the distinction between Private Law and Public Law. This distinction handicaps in particular the protection of human rights, which was originally conceived against the power of the State\ud83d\udcce85<\/a><\/sup>In this way, see \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>J. Andriantsimbazovina (ed.), \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>Puissances privées et droits de l'Homme. Essai d'analyse juridique<\/em><\/a> (Private powers and human rights. A legal analysis)<\/em>, 2024 ; \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Use of private companies by Compliance Law to serve Human Rights<\/a>, 2023.<\/span>, and means that what goes beyond the private interest always seems to return to the bosom of Public Law. Since Vigilance entrusts companies with the task of caring for a distant other\ud83d\udcce86<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M. Fabre-Magnan, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Critique de la convergence des responsabilités contractuelle et délictuelle. L'exemple du devoir de vigilance <\/em>(Criticism of the convergence of contractual and tortious liability. The example of duty of vigilance)<\/a>, in<\/em> \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>Mélanges en l'honneur du Professeur Loïc Cadiet<\/em><\/a>, 2023.<\/span> , many see it, as with Compliance of which it is a part, as an appropriation by companies of a State function, and a distortion of the latter, and not, as should be conceived, an alliance between the two. <\/p>\n

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21<\/span>. The right word, between legal vocabulary and everyday vocabulary<\/em><\/span> <\/strong>\ud83c\udfaf It is possible that a return to everyday vocabulary will be useful. This is the case, for example, with 'judge', 'liability' or even 'contract'. In fact, the "person responsible" is not so much the one who is "punished" as the one who takes charge of a situation in order to provide it with the right organisation with regard to a goal that a third party has set for it: effectively and as such, it is indeed a management task that is required of companies. It is therefore the company that draws up the vigilance plan, even if it does so in consultation with stakeholders whose interests and points of view it must take into account\ud83d\udcce87<\/a><\/sup>That's why stakeholders are not legally responsible for the vigilance plan, whereas the company is, because it is the author of the plan.

\r\n\r\n <\/span>, just as the French or German Legislator must do for future generations\ud83d\udcce88<\/a><\/sup>On the necessary "prise en considération des générations futures<\/em>" ("taking into consideration the futur generations") by the Conseil constitutionnel <\/em>(French Constitutional Council), see the decision \ud83c\udfdb\ufe0f<\/span>Cons. const., 27 octobre 2023, n°2023-1066 QPC, Association Meuse nature environnement et autres<\/em><\/a>.<\/span>. It is in this that we move from a legal situation of "liability" to one of "accountability"\ud83d\udcce89<\/a><\/sup>For instance on the notion of "procès en responsabilisation<\/em>" ("responsibilisation trials"), see \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>N. Cayrol, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Procedural Principles in Compliance Law<\/a>, in <\/em>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Jurisdictionalisation<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>, in which the company and the stakeholders are directly involved and must show the efforts made to achieve the Goals for which the Legislation has been adopted and in application of which plans have been drawn up.<\/p>\n

In the same way, the strict legal concept of "contract" needs to be replaced by that of "link", both between the company and the diverse entities about which it must be vigilant, and the solutions that can be found, such as  DPA, available in environmental matters, These are presented as 'judicial contractualisation' but strictly they are not contracts, and some present them, even more surprisingly, not as an agreement between the prosecutor and the company, but as an agreement between the NGO and the company at the instigation of the prosecutor. Legal concepts are disappearing and being replaced by everyday vocabulary. <\/p>\n

Everyday vocabulary is always less strict than legal vocabulary. The question is therefore who is legitimate in moving from one to the other. For example, companies may themselves decide to take responsibility for societal issues over and above their legal obligations\ud83d\udcce90<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>The Compliance Obligation, between Will and Consent: obligation on obligation works<\/a>, in <\/em>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), <\/em>\ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>.  The European Directive of 13 June 2024 expressly encourages them to do so, particularly when it details the way in which companies must respond to the "complaints" that interested parties address to it, i.e. exercise a jurisdictional-type activity\ud83d\udcce91<\/a><\/sup>On the firm established as the Judge of itself by Compliance Law, and the technical issues that result because it is difficult to be both judge and party, see \ud83d\udd74M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8Compliance Juridictionalisation<\/em><\/a>, 2024..<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The introduction of the concept of the "value chain" into the legal vocabulary converges towards such freedom for companies. If we take the concept developed by Michael Porter in 1985\ud83d\udcce92<\/a><\/sup>M. Porter, Value Chain. Competitive Advantage<\/em>, 1985.<\/span>, the value chain is a construct resulting from the company's free managerial choices, both internal and external. The fact that the 2024 European directive refused to adopt this vocabulary in favour of "chain of activities", which is more neutral in terms of the liberal conception of the free construction of value chains to increase the competitiveness of a company in relation to others, shows that the European Legislator, while including not only upstream but also downstream activities in the scope of the activities covered, does not intend to depend on a doctrine, or even an author, and limits the activities to those of suppliers of external goods and service.<\/p>\n

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C. THE PROGRESS OF THE LEGAL MECHANISM OF VIGILANCE THROUGH THE EMERGENCE OF THE 3 PRINCIPLES: RESPONSIBILITY, SUSTAINABILITY, DIALOGUE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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22. <\/span>The virtue of principles: making things predictable and clear<\/em><\/span><\/strong> \ud83c\udfafWhat has been said against principles, insofar as the Law should evolve step by step, with pragmatism, which would exclude any principle, since in the statement of the latter would be lodged "dogmatism", which would be the freezing of thought …. ? But Professor Alain Supiot has shown that formulating a few principles, such as the Primacy of the human being or the principle of Fraternity, was certainly political in nature, but it also gave permanence to the swarm of norms. Moreover, these are the same people who condemn the so-called dogmatic rigidity of those who do not think like them, who invoke to justify their position, for example, a duty to share or solidarity – in other words, dogmas. In fact, everyone refers to principles, 'pragmatism' being a principle like any other.<\/p>\n

Here, principles enable progress to be made because the vigilance mechanism covers an immense regulatory field, human rights being present in all branches of Law, while they do not have the same meaning depending on whether we are in a particular country, or even in a particular company, since we have a subjective definition of subjective rights. Principles give simplicity to the whole.<\/p>\n

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23<\/span>. Principles of behaviour that are still scattered but articulated: informing oneself, detecting, preventing, promoting, dialoguing, showing<\/em><\/span><\/strong> \ud83c\udfafWithin this outline of Vigilance, we find what Compliance Law requires of the companies subject to it: informing oneself about what is happening and what their actions produce, which will lead to curbing the harmful and preventing, improving, showing the state of things and projects, and dialoguing with others. Because 'responsibility', and its inseparable corollary 'power', are internalised into the companies, these principles of behaviour are observed in relation with them firstly. But we can also think of them for States, which, according to the Ruggie principles<\/em>93<\/a><\/sup>United Nations (UN), Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Implementing the United Nations “protect, respect and remedy” framework, 2011, 41 p.<\/span> often referred to in relation to Vigilance, are the first to make human rights effective. We must also think about the stakeholders, who must inform themselves about the risks and engage in dialogue, or at least respond to offers of dialogue. This principle of behaviour can also apply to judges, who must learn about this new world and also help to prevent conflicts, beyond the strict situation  of litigation. <\/p>\n

Because asking companies to follow these principles of behaviour enables others to progress: for example, as soon as a company behaves "responsibly" in Ex Ante terms, this should lead to equally responsible behaviour on the part of the stakeholders involved, in particular so that solutions can be found to the problems that are detected. This presupposes a certain Compliance and Vigilance "shared culture", over and above divergent interests, which requires dialogue. There are not creditors and debtors, there are companies subject to the Law and working to contribute to the achievement of Monumental Goals to which we ourselves must contribute.<\/p>\n

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24<\/span>. The "Responsibility Principle"<\/em><\/span><\/strong> <\/em><\/span>\ud83c\udfaf This is why the principle of responsibility is essential. This is undoubtedly an advance on which everyone agrees ,whether you are a company, an NGO, a State, or a commentator, Jonas now being one of the most quoted authors. In line with the movement in Law from Ex Post to Ex Ante, 'responsibility for the future', i.e. active responsibility, in that it presupposes action, Ex Ante, and has the future as its object, vigilance aims to make operators 'responsible'. <\/p>\n

The way forward undoubtedly lies in a concept of responsibility that is still very individual, since it is only one, the company, that bears responsibility for the others, whereas it would be conceivable for this responsibility to be shared. This would mean moving away from the impossible logic of the company as debtor to all the creditors that we would be, and adopting a more global concept, particularly with regard to a 'debt' that we all share\ud83d\udcce94<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>B. Deffains, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Debt, an economic concept underpinning the Compliance Obligation, in <\/em>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), <\/em>\ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Obligation<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>, whereas there would not necessarily be a creditor, because we are in debt to nature, as other legal systems, such as Kanak law\ud83d\udcce95<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcd3<\/span>Le transfert de la compétence normative d'édiction des lois et règlements en matière de droit civil, de la métropole aux institutions propres à la Nouvelle-Calédonie. Étude pour le Congrès de Nouvelle-Calédonie <\/em>(The transfer of the normative power to enact laws and decrees in the field of civil law from metropolitan France to institutions specific to New Caledonia. Study for the Congress of New Caledonia<\/em>)<\/a>, 2012.<\/span>\ud83d\udcce, see it, just as we may be in debt to a principle we do not have, such as human dignity.<\/p>\n

This means that in this transition from Ex Post to Ex Ante Criminal Law must take a less central role, since in its perspective the damage is done, and collaboration must rather be the principle. In this respect, the 2024 European directive stresses the importance of cooperation between companies, which must be coordinated with Competition Law\ud83d\udcce96<\/a><\/sup>It is thus recognised that the logics are different. Whereas Compliance techniques can be seen as a servant of Competition Law, Compliance, and in particular the Obligation of Vigilance, implying long-term collaboration, is a figure that is opposed to that of Competition Law. This is all the more understandable given that the structuration of value chain is an alternative to the mobility of the competitive market. On this aspect, see \ud83d\udd74M.-A. Frison-Roche, \ud83d\udcddCompetition Law and Compliance Law<\/a>, 2018; \ud83d\udcddBirths of a branch of Law: Compliance Law<\/a>, 2024.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

25<\/span>. The principle of Sustainability<\/em><\/span> <\/strong>\ud83c\udfafThe other principle on which all agree is the imperative to preserve the various systems so that they do not collapse ("Negative Monumental Goal"\ud83d\udcce97<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Compliance Monumental Goals, beating heart of Compliance Law<\/a>, in<\/em> M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Monumental Goals<\/em><\/a>, 2022.<\/span>), the climate system being just one example of this, this teleological reasoning being the bedrock of Compliance Law. This principle of Sustainability shows the essential points of contact between the European Extra-Financial Reporting Directive (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive – CSRD<\/em>)\ud83d\udcce98<\/a><\/sup>Directive (EU) 2022\/2464 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 14 december 2022, amending Regulation (EU) n° 537\/2014, Directive 2004\/109\/EC, Directive 2006\/43\/EC and Directive 2013\/34\/EU, as regards corporate sustainability reporting (called "CSRD" (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive)).<\/a><\/span> and the Duty of Vigilance (CS3D<\/em>)\ud83d\udcce99<\/a><\/sup>On the systemic litigation that 'sustainability' will generate, v. \ud83d\udd74<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, A. Gazzo et F. Peybernès, \ud83e\uddeeLe rapport de durabilité : Obligations et Contentieux Systémiques Émergents<\/em><\/a>, 9 September 2024.<\/span>. The judge himself\/herself must, as Judge François Ancel has shown, integrate the principle of Sustainability into his very way of conducting litigation and devising solutions\ud83d\udcce100<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>F. Ancel, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span><\/span>Compliance Law, a new guiding principle for the Trial?<\/a>, in <\/em>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a> (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance Jurisdictionalisation<\/em><\/a>, 2024 ; \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span><\/span>Le rôle du juge dans le déploiement du droit de la régulation par le droit de la compliance<\/em> (The role of the Judge in the deployment of Regulatory Law through Compliance Law)<\/a>, in<\/em> Conseil d'État<\/em> (French Council of State) and Cour de cassation <\/em>(French Court of cassation), \ud83d\udcd7<\/span>De la régulation à la compliance : quel rôle pour le Juge ?<\/em>,<\/a> 2024.<\/span>.  The European directive of 13 June 2024, by linking Vigilance and Sustainability in its very title, has sealed the union of these concepts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

26<\/span>. The principle of Dialogue, correlation of the principles of Responsibility and Sustainability<\/em><\/span><\/strong> <\/em><\/span>\ud83c\udfaf This is why the principle of Dialogue must be articulated with this principle of Responsibility. It is precisely because everyone does not have the same role or the same interests – NGOs, companies and States are not in the same positions – that dialogue must be promoted as a principle. There can only be dialogue because everyone is in a different position: for example, when drawing up the vigilance plan, which is done by the company writing down its projections as part of its general policy and strategic decisions, the principle of dialogue must nevertheless govern it, dialogue between the company and the stakeholders, because these stakeholders are "concerned", even if they are not co-authors. Trace must be kept of this principle of dialogue. It will come as no surprise to anyone if dialogue relations must be continued before the judge, since the procedure is governed by the Principle of Contradictory\ud83d\udcce101<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcd5<\/span>Généralités sur le principe du contradictoire. Étude de droit processuel <\/em>(Generalities about the Principle of contradictory, study of Procedural Law<\/em>)<\/a>, 1984, republished in 2014.<\/span>. But this principle of contradiction takes on a new resonance here, because the substantial dialogue between parties should lead to more adversarial procedures, where orality and publicity should have a large place.<\/p>\n

In the same way that the principle of Responsibility is moving from the Ex Post to the Ex Ante through the notion of "accountability", the principle of Dialogue is moving from the Ex Post of the trial to the Ex Ante of the "consideration" that the company, which is not at all dispossessed of its power, which is on the contrary increased so that it can fulfill these new obligations, must take in consideration to interests that are not necessarily its own immediately.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

D. PROGRESS IN THE LEGAL MECHANISM OF VIGILANCE BY CENTRALISING ITS DEVELOPMENT<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

27<\/span>. The French solution: centralisation of litigation, a way of ensuring the coherence of Vigilance Law<\/em><\/span> <\/strong>\ud83c\udfaf In 2021, the French legislator has imposed centralisation before a single judge: the Tribunal judiciaire de Paris<\/em> (Paris Judicial Court of first instance). Irrespective of whether the civil or commercial courts are more or less well placed to hear vigilance litigation, depending on whether one considers that the purpose of the legal mechanism put in place by the previous 2017 French law is to protect the business, which leads to the commercial courts, or to protect individuals, which leads to the civil courts, considering that the judicial courts are the courts of general jurisdiction, all of which reinforces the teleological nature of the interpretation called for by this law\ud83d\udcce102<\/a><\/sup>On the teleological interpretation of the French law of 2017, see below <\/em>No.9.

\r\n\r\n.<\/span>, the very uniqueness imposed by the 2021 law of a single tribunal, and hence of a single Court of Appeal, is justified in order to unify litigation immediately.<\/p>\n

The geographical choice of Paris is all the more justified in that the subjects of Vigilance legal mechanism, insofar as it is the cutting edge of Compliance law, quite often have their registered offices within the jurisdiction of the Paris Court of Appeal\ud83d\udcce103<\/a><\/sup>The "place de Paris" also includes the La Défense <\/em>district, where so many international headquarters of international firms are located, area which comes under the territorial jurisdiction of first instance Court of Nanterre, referring to the Versailles Court of appeal.  But this Court articulates its jurisprudential policy with that of the Paris Court of Appeal.<\/span>, which means that appeals converge before the same Court of Appeal: the Cour d'appel de Paris <\/em>(Paris Court of Appeal). Indeed, since Compliance Law is itself an extension of Regulatory Law, and since this Court of Appeal hears most of the appeals against regulatory and supervisory bodies decisions, particularly in disputes relating to structural issues of Information, everything converges towards it and the unification of principles and interpretations can be achieved quickly, without always having to wait for the Cour de cassation<\/em> to intervene. It is this link between Regulation and Vigilance that best justifies this legislative choice, as the Regulatory Law transcends not only the distinction between Civil Law and Commercial Law but also that between Public Law and Private Law\ud83d\udcce104<\/a><\/sup>On what is now ancient history, the autonomy of Regulatory Law as branch of Law having been admitted by all, \ud83d\udd74<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Le Droit de la Régulation<\/a>, 2001 ; <\/a>\ud83d\udcdd<\/span>Définition du Droit de la régulation économique<\/a>, 2004 ;  on the link between Regulatory Law and Compliance Law, the book, which is remarkably co-published by the \ud83c\udfdb\ufe0f<\/span>Conseil d'Etat <\/em>(French Administrative Supreme Court) and the \ud83c\udfdb\ufe0f<\/span>Cour de<\/em> cassation <\/em>(French Judicial Supreme Court), \ud83d\udcd7De la régulation à la compliance: quel rôle pour le juge ?<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

What is more, and to use the proposed expression "emerging systemic litigation"105<\/a><\/sup>On the notion of "Systemic Cases", see \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span><\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>The hypothesis of the category of Systemic Cases brought before the Judge<\/a>, 2021; on the notion of "Systemic Litigation", \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche, \ud83c\udfa4<\/span>L'émergence du Contentieux Systémique <\/em>(Emergence of the Systemic Litigation)<\/a>, 2024; ont the articulation between Vigilance and the Emerging Systemic Litigation, see \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>J. Boulard, \ud83d\udcac<\/span><\/span>Contentieux systémique : il est important de rester au plus près des réalités<\/a><\/em>, interview with Olivia Dufour, ActuJuridique<\/em>, March 27, 2024.<\/span>, this institutional centralisation is a way forward that is all the more necessary because in the cases brought before the judge, factual cases in which a system is involved, the issues developed by the parties are of a systemic nature and the solutions that the judges of first and second instance provide have an impact that de facto<\/em> goes beyond this case, without the judge replacing the legislature, since the sector is a fact106<\/a><\/sup>On the articulation on the prohibition for the the Judge to rule as the Legislator does (French Civil Code, article 5) and the "Systemic cases", \ud83d\udd74<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udcdd<\/span>The Hypothesis of the category of Systemic Cases brought before the Judge<\/em><\/a>, 2021.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

This systemic nature of Vigilance litigation justifies dialogue all the more, particularly between the judges themselves\ud83d\udcce107<\/a><\/sup>La Vigilance, nouveau champ de contentieux systémique, 26 avril 2024.<\/span>. This will in no way constitute dispersion, even if it consists of one judge deferring a ruling to ask the other to rule: it will consist of different judges looking, each as far as they are concerned, at the same situation, that of the issue of the sustainability of systems, so that the people caught up in them are not crushed by it but, on the contrary, benefit from it. Preliminary rulings, stays of proceedings and requests for opinions are all ways of centralising litigation. This is going to multiply108<\/a><\/sup>Par exemple, F. Ancel, mafr, J.-Ch. Roda, L'incidence du devoir de vigilance sur les litiges commerciaux, 25 septembre 2024.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

III. IN THE FACE OF LEGISLATIVE UPHEAVAL, PROGRESSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF VIGILANCE DUTY THROUGH CONTRACTS AND JUDGES <\/strong><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n

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28<\/span>. The progressive construction of the legal mechanism of vigilance by contracts and judges<\/em><\/span><\/strong> \ud83c\udfaf The uniqueness of the jurisdictional route leads to a final prospect of progress, the contractual mesh being placed under the control of the judge (A<\/strong><\/span>). The novelty of the 2024 directive lies rather in the prospect of the institution of an administrative supervisory body, reinforcing the "Regulatory – Compliance – Vigilance" link (B<\/span><\/strong>).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A. THE CONTRACTUAL NETWORK UNDER THE JUDICIAL CONTROL  <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

29.<\/span> Contractual practices to implement legal obligations of vigilance and their control by the judge<\/span><\/em><\/strong> \ud83c\udfafCompanies have set up a multitude of contracts to directly detect and prevent breaches of the environment, climate and human rights, for example to outsource certain technical functions, such as audits or the construction of warning systems ("compliance contracts")\ud83d\udcce109<\/a><\/sup>Sur cet ensemble, v. \ud83d\udd74<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Compliance contract, compliance clauses<\/a>, 2022 ; M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), \ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance & Contract<\/em>,<\/a> to be published.<\/span> or to give rise to structural and behavioural obligations ("compliance clauses")\ud83d\udcce"!110<\/a><\/sup>Sur cet ensemble, v. \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Compliance contract, compliance clauses<\/a>, 2022 ; \ud83d\udd74\ufe0f<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche (ed.), \u200b\ud83d\udcd8<\/span>Compliance and Contrat<\/em><\/a>, 2024.<\/span>. The European Directive reiterates that this cannot be use to exclude the liability of the subject undertaking, as such a contractual arrangement must be wiped out. This impossibility of using contractual power to transfer liability to Ex Post is the result of a general principle of law, the French Constitutional Council having pointed out that the law has established a duty of vigilance which makes the company personally liable, a principle which the Directive takes up.<\/p>\n

The judge will be responsible for drawing the line, sometimes a fine one, between what is prohibited, i.e. the transfer of responsibility, and what is permitted, i.e. the practical organisation of implementation by third parties, via what is known today as the "compliance market" and on third parties, who may contractually undertake, for example, to collaborate to provide Information, to educate and be educated, to reinforce themselves, etc… The systemic dimension of this contractual network already in place and its assessment, which must also be systemic, must be considered by the judge.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

30<\/span>. Contractual practice to be vigilant beyond or alongside legal obligations and their control by the judge<\/em><\/span><\/strong> \ud83c\udfaf The judge's role is even more delicate when the company has expressed its will to go beyond its legal obligation, to oblige itself and\/or its supplier by a contract which, for example, states that both parties, for example the company and its supplier, must be "exemplary" in preventing human rights abuses. Such an obligation, which could be said to be "purely" contractual in nature, most often linked to an ethical charter which, for the judge, is only an element in the assessment of a factual situation and cannot be equated with a law or a vigilance plan adopted to implement it, will have to be interpreted by the Judge in the light of a general system of Vigilance which only becomes clear and unambiguous in the light of Compliance Law which is based on these Monumental Goals of preserving systems for the benefit of human beings\ud83d\udcce111<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>, \ud83d\udea7<\/span>Thinking and handling vigilance through its monumental compliance goals<\/a>, 2023.<\/span>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

B. LA PERSPECTIVE D'UN ORGANE ADMINISTRATIF DE SUPERVISION, RENFORCEMENT DE L'ARTICULATION "RÉGULATION – COMPLIANCE – VIGILANCE"<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 Pour l'organisation de cela, tous les paris sont ouverts. Si l'on insiste sur le rôle de l'information, l'on songera à étendre la compétence de la Haute Autorité de l'Audit (H2A), mais l'activité de la certification de l'information extrafinancière, si elle a de nombreux points de contact avec la Vigilance, n'a pas la même ampleur et si, contrairement à l'ancien Haut Conseil du Commissariat aux comptes (H3C), il s'agit désormais de superviser une activité et non plus une profession, les comportements et résultats attendus des entreprises sont d'une tout autre ampleur.<\/p>\n

31.<\/span> A return to the roots of Regulatory Law through the prospect of ex ante supervision by an independent administrative authority or agency<\/em><\/span> <\/strong>\ud83c\udfaf What remains of the long process of drafting the European directive is the obligation for every Member- State to establish or design an administrative "supervisory" authority or agency, i.e. the creation of such a body or the attribution of supervisory powers with the power to impose sanctions to an already existing entity. To take the example of France, all bets are off as to how this will be organised. If we insist on the role of Information, we will consider extending the competence of the French Supervisory Audit Body (Haute Autorité de l'Audit – H2A<\/em>), but the activity of certification of extra-financial information, while it has many points of contact with Vigilance, does not have the same scope and Vigilance duty goes beyond Information.<\/p>\n

Since Vigilance (French law of 2017\ud83d\udcce2<\/a><\/sup>French law No. 2017-399 of March 27, 2017 relative au devoir de vigilance des sociétés mères et des entreprises donneuses d'ordre (on the duty of vigilance of parent companies and ordering companies)<\/em><\/a>.<\/span>) and Probity (French law of 2016\ud83d\udcce1<\/a><\/sup>French law No. 2016-1691 of December 9, 2016 relative à la transparence, à la lutte contre la corruption et à la modernisation de la vie économique (on transparency, fight against corruption and modernisation of economic life)<\/em><\/a><\/span>) both come under Compliance Law, it is more natural to think of the French Anti-Corruption Agency (Agence française anticorruption – AFA<\/em>), either to extend its powers or to use it as a model. There are already moves afoot in the corridors to bend the French transposition law in one direction or another.<\/p>\n

One might think that, because it shall be a supervisory authority and not a regulatory authority, the authority's role being merely to support a system which entrusts companies with the 'responsibility' of ensuring that vigilance functions according to means of which they remain the masters, under the first and permanent control of this Supervisor, it will remain the Judge who will determine the overall picture. This will be all the more the case if the Judge is able, on the one hand, to express the Principles that provide clarity and, on the other hand, to express a balance in the context of individual confrontations that, for the time being, highlight still profound differences in conceptions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

CONCLUSION – THE JUDGE, THE PERSON WHO MAINTAINS THE CURRENT AND FUTURE BALANCE OF THE DUTY OF VIGILANC<\/strong><\/span>E <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

32. <\/span>Conclusion – The judge on the front line<\/em><\/span> <\/strong>\ud83c\udfaf It is clear from this study that the "maturity" of the duty of vigilance will come about not so much through laws and decrees but if the judge manages to apply clear principles to disputes which for the moment come before him\/her as heated. The 3 rulings handed down by the Paris Court of Appeal on 18 June 2024 clearly setting out the procedural principle of the link between the formal notice of the firm and the assignation before the court  are a very good start\ud83d\udcce112<\/a><\/sup>\ud83d\udd74<\/span>M.-A. Frison-Roche<\/a>,  <\/a>\ud83d\udea7Formal notice and summons in the implementation of Vigilance Duty: autonomy and linkage<\/a>, 2024<\/span>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dialogue between Judges must be combined with centralisation of litigation, which should not be seen as pathological but as the least risky way forward. The procedure must be particularly careful, particularly with regard to the rights of the defence and the adversarial process.<\/p>\n

This must be entrusted to specialised judges and\/or chambers, with specific and ongoing training, and institutional adjustment must take place at first and second instance.<\/p>\n

This is already happening, because this fundamental movement created by the Regulatory Law, Compliance Law and Vigilance, its cutting edge,  puts the Judge at the centre.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

________<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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