News update as of March 12, 2018

France/ Government mulls potential reforms to give companies ‘purpose’ and encourage long-term strategies. On 9 March a report entitled ‘L’entreprise, objet d’intérêt collectif’ (Companies – object of collective interest’) was handed to the French government. It contains around fifteen proposals to inject the pursuit of social and environmental sustainability into company DNA. The government will have to decide what it will preserve and insert in a draft bill planned for 18 April. The report proposes modifying the civil code, so that companies’ purpose is not simply generating profit. To this end, the authors of the report suggest inserting a provision saying companies must be “managed in their own interest, while considering the social and environmental concerns of their activity”. They also suggest changing the commercial code,…