Duty of vigilance
French Duty of Vigilance Law (2017)
The French Duty of Vigilance Law (Law No. 2017-399 of March 27, 2017) requires large French companies to publish and implement a vigilance plan covering human rights, health and safety, and environmental risks in their group, their suppliers and their subcontractors.
It applies to companies with at least 5,000 employees in France (including French subsidiaries) or at least 10,000 employees worldwide, for two consecutive financial years.
The vigilance plan has five measures: a risk map, procedures to regularly assess subsidiaries, suppliers and subcontractors, mitigation and prevention actions, a whistleblowing mechanism built with trade unions, and a system to monitor the measures. Courts can order a company to comply, and the company can be held liable for harm a proper plan would have avoided.
France was the first country to pass such a law. The European CSDDD extends the same logic across the EU.