French Anti-Corruption Law Reform -
Despite signing the OECD anti-corruption Convention in 1997, France has long been perceived as lacking necessary tools for domestic and international anti-corruption enforcement, particularly in comparison to the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (“FCPA”) or the UK Bribery Act of 2010 (“UKBA”). The perception that France is lax on corruption was underscored by the fining and monitoring of several French corporations under the FCPA in the recent past (e.g., Alcatel, Alstom, and Technip).
This perception may soon change. On December 9, 2016, France enacted Law No. 2016-1691, entitled “Loi relative à la transparence, à la lutte contre la corruption et à la modernisation de la vie économique” (Transparency, Fight against Corruption, and Economic Modernization Act, which is dubbed “Sapin II” after its primary advocate, the French Minister of Finance, Mr. Sapin (the “Sapin II Act” or “Sapin II”). Although some decrees accessory to the Sapin II Act have yet to be adopted by the executive branch, the act came into effect on December 10, 2016 (save for Article 17 regarding compliance programs, which will become effective on June 9, 2017).
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