Corporate and Social Responsibility

Since 2001, France has required large companies to provide non-financial reports regarding social, environmental and governance aspects (NRE law of 2001).In 2009 and 2010 this was taken a step further when the French Parliament adopted two laws named the Grenelle Acts (Grenelle I and Grenelle II), which made the production of an annual report on CSR matters compulsory for all large companies with activities in France.

The implementation decree was published on April 26, 2012 and it then amended Article 225-102-1 of the French Commercial Code with several notable innovations:

• The range of companies required to submit compulsory reports was widened
• The amount of information required was increased and divided it into three main themes:
  • Social (employment, labour relations, health and safety…);
  • Environmental (pollution waste management, energy consumption…);
  • Commitments to sustainable development (social impacts, relations with stakeholders, human rights…).
• The company’s report must be subject to verification by an independent third party body