Devoir de Vigilance in France

Reforming Corporate Risk Engagement: Corporate Compliance with the Devoir de Vigilance Law, UNGP Conformance, and Transparency in Vigilance Plans published in 2019.

Find out where your company stands.

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

Watch the webinar recording

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.

Request your company scorecard

Has my company been evaluated?

Check the list of evaluated brands:

   #   CompanyURL
1Accor SAURL to report
2Air France-KLM SAURL to report
3Airbus Group SEURL to report
4Alstom SAURL to report
5Alten SA    URL to report
6Altice France SA    URL to report
7Altran Technologies SA    URL to report
8ArcelorMittal Atlantique et Lorraine SAS    URL to report
9Arkema SA    URL to report
10Atos SE    URL to report
11Auchan Holding SA    URL to report
12Axa SA    URL to report
13Banque Fédérative du Crédit Mutuel SA URL to report
14bioMérieux SA    URL to report
15BNP Paribas SA    URL to report
16Bolloré SA    URL to report
17Bonduelle SA    URL to report
18Bouygues SA    URL to report
19Bureau Veritas SA    URL to report
20Burelle Participations SA    URL to report
21Caisse D'epargne et de Prevoyance Ile-de-France SA    URL to report
22Capgemini SA    URL to report
23Carrefour SA    URL to report
24Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA    URL to report
25Catering International & Services SA    URL to report
26Christian Dior SA    URL to report
27Club Med SAS    URL to report
28Compagnie de Saint-Gobain SA    URL to report
29Compagnie Générale des Établissements Michelin SCA    URL to report
30Constantia Flexibles Group GmbH    URL to report
31Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank SA    URL to report
32Crédit Industriel Et Commercial SA - CIC    URL to report
33Crédit Mutuel Arkéa SA    URL to report
34Cromology SAS    URL to report
35Danone SA    URL to report
36Dassault Aviation SA    URL to report
37Dassault Systemes SE    URL to report
38Decathlon SA    URL to report
39Derichebourg Propreté SA    URL to report
40EGIS SA    URL to report
41Eiffage Infrastructures SAS    URL to report
42Electricite de France SA    URL to report
43Elior Group SA    URL to report
44Elis SA    URL to report
45Enedis SA    URL to report
46Engie SA    URL to report
47Eramet SA    URL to report
48Essilor International SA    URL to report
49Europcar Group SA    URL to report
50Faurecia Automotive Holdings SE    URL to report
51Financière de l’Odet SA    URL to report
52FNAC Darty SA    URL to report
53Galeries Lafayette Haussmann SA    URL to report
54GFI Informatique SA    URL to report
55GRDF SA    URL to report
56Groupama Assurances Mutuelles SA    URL to report
57Group Crit SA    URL to report
58Groupe ADP SA    URL to report
59Groupe BPCE SA    URL to report
60Groupe LDC SA    URL to report
61Groupe SNEF SA    URL to report
62Hermès International SA    URL to report
63HSBC France SA    URL to report
64ID Logistics Group SA    URL to report
65Iliad SA    URL to report
66Imerys SA    URL to report
67IPSOS Group SA    URL to report
68JCDecaux SA    URL to report
69Keolis SA    URL to report
70Kering SA    URL to report
71Kiabi Europe SAS    URL to report
72Korian SA    URL to report
73La Poste SA    URL to report
74Lagardere SCA    URL to report
75L'air Liquide SA    URL to report
76La Banque Postale SA    URL to report
77Legrand SA    URL to report
78Les Mousquetaires SA    URL to report
79Lisi Aerospace SAS    URL to report
80L'Oréal SA    URL to report
81LVMH Moët Hennessy - Louis Vuitton SE    URL to report
82Maisons du Monde SA    URL to report
83Mobivia Groupe SA    URL to report
84Natixis SA    URL to report
85Naval Group SA    URL to report
86Nexans SA    URL to report
87Nexity SA    URL to report
88Onet SA    URL to report
89Orange SA    URL to report
90Orano SA    URL to report
91Orpea SA    URL to report
92Pernod Ricard SA    URL to report
93Pierre & Vacances SA    URL to report
94Plastic Omnium SA    URL to report
95PSA Automobiles SA    URL to report
96Publicis Groupe SA    URL to report
97Rallye SA    URL to report
98Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens SA    URL to report
99Renault SA    URL to report
100Rexel Electrical Supply & Services Holding Limited    URL to report
101RTE Reseau de Transport d'electricité SA    URL to report
102Safran SA    URL to report
103Sanofi SA    URL to report
104Savencia SA    URL to report
105Schneider Electric SE    URL to report
106SEB SA    URL to report
107Société Bic SA    URL to report
108Société Générale SA    URL to report
109Sodexo SA    URL to report
110SOMDIAA SA (Société d'Organisation de Management et de Développement des Industries Alimentaires et Agricoles)    URL to report
111Sopra Steria Group SA    URL to report
112Spie Batignolles SA    URL to report
113STmicroelectronics SA    URL to report
114Stahl GmbH    URL to report
115STEF SA    URL to report
116Suez Water Technologies and Solutions SA    URL to report
117Tarkett SA    URL to report
118Technicolor SA    URL to report
119Teleperformance SE    URL to report
120Thales SA    URL to report
121Total SA    URL to report
122Transdev Group SA    URL to report
123Tsebo Solutions Group Proprietary Limited    URL to report
124Ubisoft Entertainment SA    URL to report
125Unibel SA    URL to report
126Valeo SA    URL to report
127Vallourec SA    URL to report
128Veolia Environnement SA    URL to report
129Vinci SA    URL to report
130Vivarte SAS    URL to report
131Vivendi SA    URL to report
132Wendel SA    URL to report
133Worldline SA    URL to report
134XPO Logistics Europe SADIR    URL to report

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