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Devoir de Vigilance in France – An Introduction
Passed in 2017, the French Devoir de Vigilance law (LOI n° 2017-399 du 27 Mars 2017) is the only “legislative example to date which imposes a general mandatory due diligence requirement for human rights and environmental impacts.”*
This legislation notably obliges large, publicly-traded companies above a certain threshold of employees to undertake mandatory due diligence comprising five specific measures (risk mapping, evaluating commercial partners for risks, risk prevention and mitigation, setting up an alert mechanism, and monitoring and evaluating implementation). Furthermore, companies’ Vigilance plans must be developed in association with civil society stakeholders and be published along with an implementation report (compte rendu). Moreover, the law strengthens the accountability of parent companies for the actions of subsidiaries, imposes civil liability in case of non-compliance, and allows stakeholders with a legitimate interest to seek remedy or injunctive relief in the case of a violation of the law.
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* The Study On Due Diligence Requirements Through The Supply Chain was conducted by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law on behalf of the European Commission (p. 19).
The Report
With funding by iPoint-systems, in June of 2020, not-for-profit organization Development International e.V. released the most systematic study to-date assessing the 134 confirmed in-scope French corporations under the law. Each statement, published in 2019 and concerning 2018, was subject to rigorous analysis on the basis of 42 key performance indicators comprising 3 dimensions: the degree of legal compliance (17 indicators), UN Guiding Principles conformance (14 indicators), and disclosure transparency (11 indicators).
The study found that while many of the essential requisites of the law are met, most companies were identified to have legal compliance gaps that could, inter alia, leave them vulnerable to legal challenges. Generally, corporate duty of care reporting is still immature, especially with regard to UNGP performance and disclosure transparency. While the study detects a reforming effect due to the law, it simultaneously points to the need for improvement. In light of the considerable public interest, subject companies would do well to address the shortcomings identified in this study.
The Webinar
In collaboration with iPoint, Dr. Chris Bayer and Juan Ibanez from Development International presented the highlights of their study in an interactive webinar.
In addition, Dr. Claire Bright, Associate Professor in Private Law at the Nova School of Law in Lisbon, discussed the relevance of the French law Devoir de Vigilance for the current legislative developments at the EU level concerning mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence, as well as the significance of the study in this respect.
Date: Thursday, October 15, 2020
Corporate Scorecard
For each evaluated company, a Corporate Scorecard has been created, showing how the evaluated companies scored on key performance indicators in each of the three dimensions:
Legal compliance;
UN Guiding Principles conformance;
Disclosure transparency.
Has my company been evaluated?
Check the list of evaluated brands:
| # | Company | URL |
| 1 | Accor SA | URL to report |
| 2 | Air France-KLM SA | URL to report |
| 3 | Airbus Group SE | URL to report |
| 4 | Alstom SA | URL to report |
| 5 | Alten SA | URL to report |
| 6 | Altice France SA | URL to report |
| 7 | Altran Technologies SA | URL to report |
| 8 | ArcelorMittal Atlantique et Lorraine SAS | URL to report |
| 9 | Arkema SA | URL to report |
| 10 | Atos SE | URL to report |
| 11 | Auchan Holding SA | URL to report |
| 12 | Axa SA | URL to report |
| 13 | Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel SA | URL to report |
| 14 | bioMérieux SA | URL to report |
| 15 | BNP Paribas SA | URL to report |
| 16 | Bolloré SA | URL to report |
| 17 | Bonduelle SA | URL to report |
| 18 | Bouygues SA | URL to report |
| 19 | Bureau Veritas SA | URL to report |
| 20 | Burelle Participations SA | URL to report |
| 21 | Caisse D'epargne et de Prevoyance Ile-de-France SA | URL to report |
| 22 | Capgemini SA | URL to report |
| 23 | Carrefour SA | URL to report |
| 24 | Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA | URL to report |
| 25 | Catering International & Services SA | URL to report |
| 26 | Christian Dior SA | URL to report |
| 27 | Club Med SAS | URL to report |
| 28 | Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA | URL to report |
| 29 | Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin SCA | URL to report |
| 30 | Constantia Flexibles Group GmbH | URL to report |
| 31 | Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank SA | URL to report |
| 32 | Crédit Industriel Et Commercial SA - CIC | URL to report |
| 33 | Crédit Mutuel Arkéa SA | URL to report |
| 34 | Cromology SAS | URL to report |
| 35 | Danone SA | URL to report |
| 36 | Dassault Aviation SA | URL to report |
| 37 | Dassault Systemes SE | URL to report |
| 38 | Decathlon SA | URL to report |
| 39 | Derichebourg Propreté SA | URL to report |
| 40 | EGIS SA | URL to report |
| 41 | Eiffage Infrastructures SAS | URL to report |
| 42 | Electricite de France SA | URL to report |
| 43 | Elior Group SA | URL to report |
| 44 | Elis SA | URL to report |
| 45 | Enedis SA | URL to report |
| 46 | Engie SA | URL to report |
| 47 | Eramet SA | URL to report |
| 48 | Essilor International SA | URL to report |
| 49 | Europcar Group SA | URL to report |
| 50 | Faurecia Automotive Holdings SE | URL to report |
| 51 | Financière de l’Odet SA | URL to report |
| 52 | FNAC Darty SA | URL to report |
| 53 | Galeries Lafayette Haussmann SA | URL to report |
| 54 | GFI Informatique SA | URL to report |
| 55 | GRDF SA | URL to report |
| 56 | Groupama Assurances Mutuelles SA | URL to report |
| 57 | Group Crit SA | URL to report |
| 58 | Groupe ADP SA | URL to report |
| 59 | Groupe BPCE SA | URL to report |
| 60 | Groupe LDC SA | URL to report |
| 61 | Groupe SNEF SA | URL to report |
| 62 | Hermès International SA | URL to report |
| 63 | HSBC France SA | URL to report |
| 64 | ID Logistics Group SA | URL to report |
| 65 | Iliad SA | URL to report |
| 66 | Imerys SA | URL to report |
| 67 | IPSOS Group SA | URL to report |
| 68 | JCDecaux SA | URL to report |
| 69 | Keolis SA | URL to report |
| 70 | Kering SA | URL to report |
| 71 | Kiabi Europe SAS | URL to report |
| 72 | Korian SA | URL to report |
| 73 | La Poste SA | URL to report |
| 74 | Lagardere SCA | URL to report |
| 75 | L'air Liquide SA | URL to report |
| 76 | La Banque Postale SA | URL to report |
| 77 | Legrand SA | URL to report |
| 78 | Les Mousquetaires SA | URL to report |
| 79 | Lisi Aerospace SAS | URL to report |
| 80 | L'Oréal SA | URL to report |
| 81 | LVMH Moët Hennessy - Louis Vuitton SE | URL to report |
| 82 | Maisons du Monde SA | URL to report |
| 83 | Mobivia Groupe SA | URL to report |
| 84 | Natixis SA | URL to report |
| 85 | Naval Group SA | URL to report |
| 86 | Nexans SA | URL to report |
| 87 | Nexity SA | URL to report |
| 88 | Onet SA | URL to report |
| 89 | Orange SA | URL to report |
| 90 | Orano SA | URL to report |
| 91 | Orpea SA | URL to report |
| 92 | Pernod Ricard SA | URL to report |
| 93 | Pierre & Vacances SA | URL to report |
| 94 | Plastic Omnium SA | URL to report |
| 95 | PSA Automobiles SA | URL to report |
| 96 | Publicis Groupe SA | URL to report |
| 97 | Rallye SA | URL to report |
| 98 | Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens SA | URL to report |
| 99 | Renault SA | URL to report |
| 100 | Rexel Electrical Supply & Services Holding Limited | URL to report |
| 101 | RTE Reseau de Transport d'electricité SA | URL to report |
| 102 | Safran SA | URL to report |
| 103 | Sanofi SA | URL to report |
| 104 | Savencia SA | URL to report |
| 105 | Schneider Electric SE | URL to report |
| 106 | SEB SA | URL to report |
| 107 | Société Bic SA | URL to report |
| 108 | Société Générale SA | URL to report |
| 109 | Sodexo SA | URL to report |
| 110 | SOMDIAA SA (Société d'Organisation de Management et de Développement des Industries Alimentaires et Agricoles) | URL to report |
| 111 | Sopra Steria Group SA | URL to report |
| 112 | Spie Batignolles SA | URL to report |
| 113 | STmicroelectronics SA | URL to report |
| 114 | Stahl GmbH | URL to report |
| 115 | STEF SA | URL to report |
| 116 | Suez Water Technologies and Solutions SA | URL to report |
| 117 | Tarkett SA | URL to report |
| 118 | Technicolor SA | URL to report |
| 119 | Teleperformance SE | URL to report |
| 120 | Thales SA | URL to report |
| 121 | Total SA | URL to report |
| 122 | Transdev Group SA | URL to report |
| 123 | Tsebo Solutions Group Proprietary Limited | URL to report |
| 124 | Ubisoft Entertainment SA | URL to report |
| 125 | Unibel SA | URL to report |
| 126 | Valeo SA | URL to report |
| 127 | Vallourec SA | URL to report |
| 128 | Veolia Environnement SA | URL to report |
| 129 | Vinci SA | URL to report |
| 130 | Vivarte SAS | URL to report |
| 131 | Vivendi SA | URL to report |
| 132 | Wendel SA | URL to report |
| 133 | Worldline SA | URL to report |
| 134 | XPO Logistics Europe SADIR | URL to report |
