Setting up operations, running them, transferring or ceasing them, selling real estate, and manufacturing or marketing products are all subject to an increasing number of environmental obligations arising from European regulations and directives, transposed into domestic law.
These obligations are governed by a number of principles that are often mentioned and apparently simple (precaution, polluter pays, participation, prevention at source). However, their regulatory implementation can sometimes seem counterintuitive.
Environmental law is constantly evolving. The often-promised regulatory “pause” in this area is still awaited.
Environmental law is now mandatory for everyone: owners, takers, operators, producers, importers, and distributors, including online platforms. Some of the obligations that come with it are transferable, others are not. Some obligations may last over time, in particular beyond the cessation of an activity or the marketing of a product.
To help all stakeholders address the challenges of environmental compliance at every stage of a project, a rigorous approach is essential.
Our firm helps you anticipate, explain and resolve all the difficulties that may arise, in advisory, contractual, or litigation matters.
With our expertise in environmental law based on more than 25 years of experience, we offer tailored assistance to meet your specific needs in this increasingly essential area. we intervene to:
Our objective is to provide you with peace of mind and legal security so that you can focus on executing your projects.
Environmental protection and the preservation of natural resources are governed by a vast and complex regulatory framework. A very large number of activities require prior administrative procedures with State services or, more rarely, with local authorities. In addition, economic operators are increasingly required to report on the effective and complete nature of their procedures (e.g., labeling, product disclosures, CSRD reporting, etc.). We assist you in carrying out all your procedures in this regard.
Sale of land or buildings, leases, sale of waste-generating products, waste management...
Environmental protection is playing an increasing role in contractual and pre-contractual practice. We advise you in the drafting, negotiating and managing the enforcement of contracts between buyers and sellers, including the insertion of environmental liability guarantee clauses, mandatory environmental representations in property sales involving classified facilities, declarations of intent to sell, and "green annexes" in commercial leases.
We also advise you in the careful drafting of environmental claims, and in the implementation of disclosure obligations relating to the environmental characteristics and qualities of products.
We support you in the management of your environmental obligations in order to prevent the risks of administrative action or sanctions or criminal proceedings (the two can also be combined). These obligations potentially apply at all stages of your activities: upstream, during activity and when they are modified or stopped. We are familiar with your likely regulatory counterparts (DRIEAT, DREAL, DGCCRF, etc.) and intervene in related procedures and potential negotiations.
When it comes to damage to the environment, conflicts may arise. Abnormal neighborhood disorder is one of the most common types. The transfer of potentially contaminated sites gives rise to significant litigation (often due to poorly drafted clauses). Before administrative courts, site remediation and decontamination disputes and waste-related claims are particularly prevalent. Environmental law has been significantly criminalized over the past 20 years. While negotiated settlements have expanded, court proceedings are sometimes unavoidable.We assist you in these highly technical and legal proceedings.
Legal monitoring to adapt projects to new environmental protection requirements.
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