"Vigilance Plans 2018-2019: Application of the Law on the Duty of Vigilance", 14 Jun 2019

The purpose of this study is to analyze companies’ practices in the second year of application of the French law on the duty of vigilance. It also aims to identify challenges that companies face in applying the law, in order to assist them in developing their approaches.

Overview

The vast majority of companies have now formalised vigilance plans and developed specific measures. The challenge today is to ensure that plans are implemented across all entities and that measures are effective.

One-fourth of companies have a designated organisation to oversee the plan and onethird specify plan monitoring by the highest level of corporate governance.

One-third of companies have engaged their stakeholders in discussions regarding their vigilance plan (at Group level).

Companies have used ethics whistleblowing systems as alert mechanisms within the meaning of the law on the duty of vigilance. 65% of these systems are available to people outside the company. • Monitoring systems described are pre-existing ethics or CSR procedures; 52% of companies mention one or more indicators in their vigilance plan.

In 2018, human rights approaches were strengthened with the development of dedicated mapping and responses.

Existing procurement approaches were revisited to integrate vigilance approaches: dedicated risks identification, graduated responses, tailored to identified risks.

In terms of reporting, information provided by companies is increasingly comprehensive, which allows for a more accurate view of their approaches. More and more companies provide detailed information, making it possible to understand the company’s choices in relation to specific business activities.