NEWS
Oct. 15. 2008 « Ready for Reach ? After december 1, 2008, it will be too late » : in partnership with the UPE 13 (a French employers union) and the Bar of Marseille represented by Catherine GUIGOU and Geneviève MAILLET, lawyers. To avoid supplying disruptions or placing on the market bans, and a situation of legal risk, companies which manufacture, import, use or distribute chemicals or preparations or articles containing such substances must determine their obligations under the UE Reach regulation. A questionnaire on Reach compliance is available to companies wishing to conduct a preliminary inventory on the subject.
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October 23, 2008 « The impact of competition law on contracts" : in "la Maison de l'Avocat" in Marseille by the Economic Commission of the Bar of Marseille, presented by Catherine Guigou and Jean-Louis Bonnabel, with the participation of Mr Daniel Barras, Director of the Regional Department of Competition, Consumption and Frauds (DGCCRF). The negotiation of contracts is strictly controlled in France by the rules on price transparency (regarding invoices, General Conditions of Sale and services related to sales), and the prohibition of abusive clauses and practices potentially harmful to the proper functioning of the market. These rules and their recent developments will be presented, togetherwith a brief description of the controls of the DGCCRF.
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PUBLICATIONS
Catherine Guigou and Diane Pinard, conscious of the need to support companies in their development on the European and international markets and of the corresponding need to train lawyers to do so, regularly write articles published in the International Section of the quarterly issues of the Marseille Bar Magazine.


Jan. 2008 : " Brief overview on the enforcement of judgments in Europe"1rst quarter 2008, with the participation of Marie-Hélène Malick-Duplaa, bailiff. The free movement of persons, goods, services and capital within the European Union is meaningfull only if it goes with a free "movement" of decisions of Justice. Decisions must be recognized and executed from one state to another in a simplified manner, as much as possible. However, the major obstacle to a genuine mutual recognition lies in respecting the sovereignty of member states. That is why developments have been very progressive, and are now evolving towards a true judicial Community territory. Read more (french) >>>


April 2008 : "The application of the Vienna Convention on International Sales of Goods: Why necessarily exclude it?" 1st quarter of 2008. The legal practionner working on an international sale must wonder about the opportunity to choose the application of this Convention, which celebrates its 20 years of implementation in France, or to exclude it in favour of a national law. It is clear that the lawyer trained in French law will be reluctant to accept a legal framework on which he has little or no control at all. But if the foreign party refuses to submit the contract to French law, instead of accepting the application of a national law, unknown by the French party, why not refer to a uniform law adapted to the needs of international trade? Similarly, if a litigation arises, it may be in the client 's best interest to claim for the application of the Convention as more favourable. The question arises with even more relevance considering that this law has been more and more appreciated as flexible, pragmatic and of quality, and the number of States Parties to the Convention has increased steadily (currently amounting to 70). Read more (french) >>>