France's Due Diligence Law – Loi sur le devoir de vigilance

On April 24, 2013, more than 1,000 people in Bangladesh lost their lives when the textiles factory they worked at collapsed. At that time, a number of big European clothing companies had products manufactured there. Following this disaster, France saw demands for companies to exercise a greater degree of social responsibility and to be subject to a statutory obligation to exercise due diligence become ever louder – an obligation other countries and states had already adopted in relevant legislation (see, for example, the UK Modern Slavery Act or the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act).

Loi sur le devoir de vigilance

By passing the Due Diligence Act ("Loi sur le devoir de vigilance") on February 21, 2017, France took a decisive step toward enshrining social responsibility in corporate policy and conduct. The law, officially promulgated as Loi n° 2017-399 du 27 mars 2017, applies to companies meeting the relevant French legal scope criteria and employing, together with their direct and indirect subsidiaries, at least 5,000 employees in France or at least 10,000 employees in France and abroad.

As of January 1, 2018, such enterprises are obliged to draw up and publish a due diligence plan that contains verifiable measures they have put in place to prevent human rights violations and damage to the environment from taking place along their production chains. The process also encompasses the systematic identification and appraisal of the impacts a company and its suppliers can have on affected third parties.

France's Due Diligence Law – More Comprehensive than the UK Modern Slavery Act or the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act

In the original wording of the law passed on February 21, 2017, failure by such businesses to fulfil their due diligence obligation would have exposed them to litigation and a potential fine of up to €30 million. This section of the law was, however, amended by France's Constitutional Council on March 23, 2017. Nevertheless, any person with a legitimate interest may bring an action against a company that fails to meet its vigilance obligations.

Although the amended version of this French law that came into force on March 23, 2017, has lost some of its bite as a financial deterrent, its binding nature is more comprehensive than that of, for example, the UK Modern Slavery Act or the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act. Corporations covered by these two pieces of legislation are primarily obliged to submit relevant reports.

The French law, on the other hand, requires the companies bound by it to establish and effectively implement a series of preventive measures. It is not enough simply to publish a report on the actions being taken – or not being taken – in this area.

The law's enforcement reach has become increasingly tangible. In December 2023, a French court issued the first major decision on the merits under the law, ordering a major company to revise an inadequate vigilance plan. The Court of Appeal of Paris upheld this finding in June 2025, setting a significant jurisprudential precedent and signaling that courts now actively enforce due diligence obligations.

A Global Movement: How Other Countries Have Followed Suit

France was a pioneer, but other jurisdictions have since followed – and the regulatory landscape has accelerated dramatically since 2017.

Australia enacted its Modern Slavery Act in 2018, which took effect on January 1, 2019. The Netherlands passed a Child Labor Due Diligence Law in May 2019. Germany followed with the Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz (LkSG), adopted in 2021 and in force since January 1, 2023, covering companies with 1,000 or more employees operating in Germany.

Most significantly, the European Union adopted the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in May 2024, which entered into force on July 25, 2024. The CSDDD drew direct inspiration from the French Loi de vigilance and established a binding EU-wide framework for supply chain due diligence.

However, the regulatory landscape shifted through the Omnibus I simplification initiative. The EU significantly narrowed the CSDDD's scope compared with the original 2024 text. The revised directive applies to large EU companies with more than 5,000 employees and a net worldwide turnover exceeding €1.5 billion, and to large non-EU companies with at least €1.5 billion net turnover generated in the EU. Compliance is required from July 2029, with transposition into national law due by July 2028.

France's national law remains in force unchanged. Companies already subject to the Loi de vigilance must continue to meet its requirements regardless of how the CSDDD evolves at the EU level.

What Should Be Disclosed in the Vigilance Plan?

The annual public vigilance plans must include:

• A mapping of the risk (risk identification and prioritization)
• Procedures to regularly assess how subsidiaries, suppliers, and subcontractors are performing against this risk mapping
• Measures to prevent and mitigate serious violations
• A functioning alert mechanism that collects reporting of existing or actual risks
• Monitoring mechanisms to evaluate implementation and effectiveness of measures implemented

Companies must disclose the systems they have in place to identify, prioritize, prevent, and mitigate infringements that might happen in their supply chains and need to be able to explain the rationale behind their measures.

Companies may cross-reference relevant sustainability information where appropriate, but CSRD reporting does not replace the obligation to establish, publish and effectively implement a vigilance plan.