Introduction

Scope of application

Compliance program

Protection of whistleblowers

Audit and sanctions

Rules arising from the Sapin II Law

EU law

French law

Rules derived from competition law

Sapin II Law/Competition

Scope ratione personae

Scope ratione materiae

Scope

Development of plan

Measures included in plan

Inclusion in management report

Vigilance plan

Injunctions

Civil liability

Sanctions

Duty of vigilance (devoir de vigilance)

CSR programs

Reporting

Communication

Reporting and communication

Judicial sanctions

Risk to reputation, strategy and stability

Corporate Social Responsability (CSR)

Middlenext Code

IFA Corpus

AFEP - MEDEF Code

Types

Principles of governance

Principles incorporating CSR values

Principles

Comply or explain

Binding force

Private codes of conduct

Compliance

To be granted whistleblower status, individuals, whether employees or public servants, who have been the recipients of information in the course of their professional activities must either report it internally or externally, or make it public .
Initially, the Sapin II Law provided for a graduated procedure, by virtue of which external reporting could only take place after internal reporting had h …

Procedure

To be granted whistleblower status, individuals, whether employees or public servants, who have been the recipients of information in the course of their professional activities must either report it internally or externally, or make it public .

Initially, the Sapin II Law provided for a graduated procedure, by virtue of which external reporting could only take place after internal reporting had had no effect. Public disclosure was to be a last resort, in the event of inaction on the part of the judicial authority, the administrative authority or professional bodies . The Waserman Law of 21 March 2022 , which transposed Directive No 2019/1937  into domestic law, put an end to the “graduated” nature of the whistleblowing procedure, as it was contrary to EU Law . Henceforth, whistle-blowers will be granted the protections set out in Article 1132-3-3 of the Labor Code, which refers to Articles 10-1 and 12 to 13-1 of the Sapin II Law, regardless of the reporting channel chosen .

While the internal channel should in principle be preferred, since it is deemed to best reconcile employees' duty of loyalty with the public interest in the information in question , the order of priority between internal and external reporting channels is not absolute , and the whistle-blower is free to choose the reporting channel that proves most appropriate to his or her situation. The Rights Defender specifies that, if the whistle-blower deems it useful, he or she can even make an external report at the same time as an internal report . Granting the whistle-blower the freedom to make this choice requires that internal reporting mechanisms exist within the professional structure, that they are appropriate and that the individual circumstances of each case make it possible to determine the most appropriate channel .

Law 2016-1691 of 9 December 2016, relating to transparency, the fight against corruption and the modernization of economic life, OJ of 10 December 2016, known as the Sapin II Law, Art. 7 and 8.

Sapin II Law, former Art. 8: The report of an alert is brought to the attention of the employer's direct or indirect hierarchical superior or a referent designated by the latter. In the absence of diligence on the part of the person to whom the alert referred to in the first paragraph of this I is addressed to verify, within a reasonable time, the admissibility of the alert, it shall be forwarded to the judicial authority, the administrative authority or the professional orders. As a last resort, if none of the bodies mentioned in the second paragraph of this I has dealt with the alert within three months, the alert may be made public.

Law 2022-401 of 21 March 2022, aimed at improving the protection of whistle-blowers, OJ of 22 March 2022, known as the Waserman Law.

Directive No 2019/1937 of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report violations of EU law, OJ L 305 of 26 November 2019, 17.

See Directive No 2019/1937, Art. 10, according to which “whistle-blowers shall report information on breaches using the channels and procedures referred to in Articles 11 and 12, after having first reported through internal reporting channels, or by directly reporting through external reporting channels”.

Cass. soc., 15 February 2023, LawLex202300007980JBJ, which exempts a whistle-blower from compliance with the graduated procedure.

Court of Human Rights, 14 February 2023, LawLex202300012189JBJ.

Cour EDH, 14 February 2023, LawLex202300012189JBJ.

Compliance

72. Procedure

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Sous parties

Les notions juridiques connexes

72. Procedure

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Sous parties

Les notions juridiques connexes

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