Hidden cameras, secret microphones… The CNIL reminds us: workplace surveillance is never a free-for-all
In September 2025, France’s Data Protection Authority (CNIL) fined La Samaritaine €100,000 (Deliberation SAN-2025-008) for installing cameras disguised as smoke detectors, equipped with microphones, inside employee storage areas.The stated goal: identify those responsible for internal theft.The result: a series of GDPR violations. ⚖️ The facts and the line that was crossed Five cameras. Audio recording. […]
Caution: information exchanges between competitors are never harmless
In informal discussions, I often hear the same line: “It was just a casual chat, nothing confidential just to get a sense of the market, of prices. Everyone knows everyone anyway.” Yet such exchanges can have serious consequences and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is unequivocal on the matter. 📅 […]
Artificial intelligence is no excuse for negligence: Deloitte’s €247,000 lesson
⚖️ Productivity or rigor? AI just reminded Deloitte that the law doesn’t hallucinate. The Australian government commissioned Deloitte to audit a social welfare program.Contract amount: €247,000.Objective: to identify flaws in a system accused of unfairly penalizing job seekers. But in September 2025, authorities discovered that the report delivered by Deloitte contained… sources fabricated by […]
Payment Order Procedure: The French Supreme Court Finally Clarifies the Scope of Article 750-1 of the Code of Civil Procedure
A long-awaited ruling has just resolved a procedural uncertainty that, since 2019, has divided practitioners and courts over whether mandatory pre-litigation mediation applies to special debt recovery procedures. 📜 A Misunderstood Conciliation Requirement Article 750-1 of the French Code of Civil Procedure, introduced by Decree No. 2019-1333 of December 11, 2019, requires parties, before referring […]
An AI Appointed Minister of Public Procurement: Progress Against Corruption or a Threat to the Rule of Law?
France is accelerating the digitalization of public administration — automation of procedures, growing use of AI in administrative decision-making, and ongoing debates about algorithmic governance.But in Tirana, Albania just crossed a line no other state had before: on September 11, 2025, the Albanian government appointed an artificial intelligence named “Diella” as Minister of Public Procurement. […]
How long can a mayor require the regularization of unlawful construction works?
The Conseil d’État has just answered: 6 years, not a single day more. ⚖️ The principle establishedIn Opinion No. 503768 of July 24, 2025, the Conseil d’État addressed a central issue of French urban planning law:👉 The mayor’s power to issue an enforcement order (Article L.481-1 Urban Planning Code) is limited to the 6-year criminal […]
€475M in one day: Google and Shein hit by CNIL fines — the end of negotiable consent?
After Shein earlier this summer, Google has now been sanctioned by the CNIL. On 1 September 2025, France’s data protection authority issued two record fines: €325 million against Google (Delib. SAN-2025-004) and €150 million against Shein (Delib. SAN-2025-005).👉 Total: €475 million in a single day. This is a clear signal: user consent is not optional. […]
Selling a property… and only finding out afterward about a local tax worth several thousand dollars 💸… what if it was the notary’s job to warn you?
⚖️ The FactsPromise to sell, option exercised, then the final deed. After the sale, the sellers paid an additional municipal tax they hadn’t been clearly informed about at the promise stage. They argued that, had they known earlier, they could have negotiated its allocation to the buyer. The Toulouse Court of Appeal dismissed their claim, […]
When the road to the future hits the wall of law
In last week’s post, we learned that a California jury ordered Tesla to pay $243M after a fatal accident involving its Autopilot system. At the same time, Amazon’s subsidiary, Zoox, gets the green light from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to deploy its robotaxis without steering wheels or pedals. ➡️ Two announcements in […]
Can a summons be annulled for a simple oversight?
The 3rd Civil Chamber of the Court of Cassation rendered a landmark decision on May 22, 2025 (n°23-18.768) that definitively clarifies the distinction between a procedural defect and a substantive defect regarding erroneous party designations. 🔍 Facts : A homeowners’ association is summoned, but the designation is imprecise. A homeowner summons the “syndicat des copropriétaires” […]