When referred a priority preliminary ruling on constitutionality concerning the compliance with the Constitution of the first paragraph of Article L. 621-12 of the French Monetary and Financial Code, insofar as it provides, during an inspection conducted by officers of the French Financial Markets Authority (Autorité des marchés financiers – AMF), for the possibility of […]
The French Court of Cassation provides clarification on two issues: pursuant to Article L. 241-5 of the French Commercial Code, in the version in force since March 2012, a mere delay in submitting accounting documents to the shareholders’ meeting or to the sole shareholder of an SARL does not constitute a criminal offence; furthermore, neither
The Criminal Chamber of the French Court of Cassation reaffirms the longstanding principle of independence between administrative and criminal proceedings, holding that failure to inform the taxpayer of the right to be assisted by counsel and the absence of an oral and adversarial discussion with the tax auditor are the only defects affecting tax administrative
The decision of the AMF Enforcement Committee of 27 November 2023 provides interesting analysis of the procedural and substantive implications of a conflict of interests between an issuer and its former executives in proceedings for market manipulation through the dissemination of false or misleading information. It also illustrates various findings of breaches involving the dissemination
In a judgment of 14 February 2024, the Commercial Chamber held that MAR neither limits the imposition of a sanction on a journalist or news organisation for disseminating false or misleading information to cases in which it is established that the journalist or organisation derived an advantage from that dissemination or acted with the intention
The requirement laid down in Articles 60 and 77-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure that « qualified persons » assisting judicial police officers (OPJs) during a search take an oath is an essential procedural requirement « enacted to ensure the reliability of the gathering and presentation of evidence ». Its breach may therefore be
In a judgment of 18 January 2023, the Court of Cassation recalled the requirement to give reasons for the additional penalty of confiscation and the nature of that penalty, which requires it to be imposed as punishment for offences of which a defendant has been found guilty. This case is not new: it had already
Under Article L. 621-12 of the Monetary and Financial Code (in the version preceding that introduced by Ordinance No. 2017-1107 of 22 June 2017), the Plenary Assembly of the Court of Cassation held that «documents and information storage media connected with the subject matter of the investigation and located on, or accessible from, the premises
The existence of reasonable grounds to suspect the commission or attempted commission of an offence, which may justify an identity check under Article 78-2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, is not in itself sufficient to establish a situation of flagrante delicto. Whether conducted for administrative policing or criminal investigative purposes, an identity check raises
In three unpublished judgments of 7 September 2022, the Criminal Chamber clearly restated the rules governing the cumulative imposition of criminal and tax proceedings and sanctions, the non-punitive nature of joint and several tax liability under Article 1745 of the General Tax Code, and the criteria for a fixed establishment for VAT purposes. On 7
