Adoption of the Pact law in France

Sacredness of CSR in the civil code?

The Pact Law/a> is set to have a lasting impact on society, its ambition is to bring employees closer to the company and to make it part of a mission of general interest. It is a question of engraving in stone that the company takes into account not only the interests of its shareholders but also those of its employees and, above all, of the environment. It is important to understand that through this law, the corporate purpose of the company will be its social responsibility regarding the positive impacts of its activities on the environment and on people, hence the designation of companies with a mission. Thus, in the same way as there are, in the United States, the "Benefit corps", the future entreprises à mission integrate a general interest project into their status. Clearly, the profits made will have to rhyme with the protection of people and our planet. From a fiscal point of view, this implies that these companies will benefit in return from fiscal advantages, similar to the functioning of the status of our current Social and Solidarity Enterprises (SSE) without overshadowing them.

On the global scene, this Franco-French bill echoes the major international regulatory trends. It is in line with the recent law on the duty of care, voted in France in 2017 as well as that of the UN treaties, which include the SDGs, leading all European countries to have to quickly align themselves to avoid any principle of market distortion. In this context, no company can ignore the importance of CSR but many still need to launch a structured approach.