Sustainability Language

Regulation & International Instruments

Duty of vigilance

France's 2017 law requiring the largest companies to publish and implement vigilance plans covering human rights, health, safety and environmental harms across their value chains.

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Definition

The Duty of Vigilance Law (Loi n° 2017-399 of 27 March 2017) requires French companies with at least 5,000 employees in France-based operations or 10,000 worldwide to adopt, implement and publish an annual vigilance plan. Plans must contain reasonable measures to identify and prevent risks of serious violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, serious bodily injury, environmental damage and health risks, covering the company, controlled companies, and subcontractors and suppliers with established commercial relationships. Required elements include risk mapping, assessment procedures, mitigation actions, a trade-union-developed alert mechanism and monitoring.

References

Overview

What it means

The world's first mandatory human-rights and environmental due-diligence law, enforced through formal notice and civil liability.

How it is used

Since 2017, dozens of formal notices and lawsuits have targeted major French multinationals; the first merits conviction (La Poste, 2023) clarified judicial expectations. The law informed the EU CSDDD.

Why it matters

It converted the UNGPs' due-diligence standard into hard law with liability, setting the template for mandatory HREDD globally.

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