Terrorism: compensation for indirect victims even if the direct victim survives

In a series of decisions issued on 27 October 2022, the French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation) provided clarifications concerning the status of terrorist victims and the damages that can be compensated for both direct and indirect victims. It considered that, even when the direct victim of a terrorist act has survived, compensation of the personal prejudices of his/her relatives is not excluded according to the rules of general law. > Read article

Corruption: the courts validate an agreement between Airbus and the PNF, providing for a fine of 15.9 million euros for the company

On 30 November 2022, the Paris judicial court approved the agreement (Convention judiciaire d’intérêt public, CJIP) concluded between Airbus and the French National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (Parquet National Financier, PNF), providing for a fine of 15.9 million euros for the company, allowing it to escape criminal prosecution in corruption investigations for facts related to the sale of aircraft to Libya and Kazakhstan between 2006 and 2011. This CJIP is complementary to the one concluded in January 2020, under which Airbus paid a fine of 3.6 billion euros for similar facts. > Read  article

Criminal liability of companies: the CJEU requires compliance with article 48 of the Charter.

On November 10, the Court of Justice of the European Union issued a decision, in line with its case law aiming at protecting the defence rights of a corporate entity. It considered that a Bulgarian law allowing a sanction to be imposed on a company for an offence committed by its director, a physical person empowered to represent it, without the company being able to assess the reality of this offence and to express its observations, was not compliant with Article 48 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, as it infringes the principle of presumption of innocence and the rights of defence. > Read article

The French Data Protection Authority (CNIL) launches its whistleblower reporting system

Following the publication of the decree of 3 October 2022 on the procedures for collecting and processing whistleblower reports and establishing the list of external authorities aimed at improving whistleblower protection, the French Data Protection Authority (Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés, CNIL) has set up a specific mechanism for collecting and processing whistleblower reports.  The CNIL, as well as forty other authorities, are among those competent to receive external alerts within their respective fields of competence, alongside, for example, the French Anti-Corruption Agency (Agence française anticorruption, AFA) or the French Competition Authority (Autorité de la concurrence). > Read article