France: new CSR and extra-financial reporting conditions in listed and private companies

The law of July 12, 2010, known as “Grenelle 2,” states that businesses of a certain size have to include extra-financial information to the board or supervisory board’s annual report and to give transparent commitments in favor of sustainable development.  This law expands the law on May 15, 2001 known as “New Economic Regulations” (“nouvelles régulations économiques,” NRE) which introduced the principle of providing social and environmental data.  It provides that the report will have to explain the policy in force in businesses, subsidiaries and the companies it controls in favor of sustainable development and adds to the list of social and environmental data to be included in the report.  This obligation is also extended to unlisted companies of a certain size.