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The 1980 French Law on Documents and Information

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Brigitte Ecolivet Herzog*
Affiliation:
New York Bar

Extract

On July 16, 1980, France passed a law forbidding the communication of economic, commercial, industrial, financial, or technical documents or information to foreign natural or legal persons. In doing so, France joined a growing number of nations in efforts to put an end to what they perceive as the “abusive” extraterritorial application of United States law.

Type
Current Developments
Copyright
Copyright © The American Society of International Law 1981

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References

1 Law No. 80-538, [1980] J.O. 1799.

2 Law No. 68-678, [1968] J.O. 7267.

3 Done March 18, 1970, TIAS No. 7444, 23 UST 2555.

4 Protection of Trading Interests Act, 1980, c. 11. For an examination of the Act, see Lowe, Blocking Extraterritorial Jurisdiction, supra at p. 257.

5 Rep. NO. 210, Senate Comm. On Economic Affairs (Senator Legrand), 1979-1980 leg. per., 2d Sess. (April 17, 1980). Rep. NO. 1814, NAT’'L Assembly Comm. On Production And Exchanges (Député Mayoud), 1979-1980 leg. per., 2d Sess. (June 19, 1980). REP No 352, Senate comm. On economic affairs (Senator Legrand), 1979-1980 leg. per., 2d Sess. (June 26, 1980). For the debates, see [1980] J.O. 2231-2236.

6 See the answer of the Minister of Justice to written question No. 35893 (Sept. 1980), Gazette du Palais, Feb. 1,2,3, 1981, at 17.

7 See Amram, , United States Ratification of the Hague Convention on the Taking of Evidence Abroad, 67 AJIL 104, 107 (1973).Google Scholar

8 In this connection, the French draftsmen may have thought of the “Interhandel” case, Société Internationale pour Participations Industrielles et Commerciales, S.A.v. Rogers, 357 U.S. 197 (1958).