"Suez case: the Paris Court of Appeal must ensure the effectiveness of the Law on the Duty of Vigilance", 04 March 2024

...The Suez case is one of three to be heard on 5 March 2024, before the new chamber 5-12 of the Paris Court of Appeal,dedicated to litigation based on the French Law on the Duty of Vigilance and environmental liability claims. This hearing, which will also deal with the EDF Mexico and Total Climate cases, is crucial for the future of the Law on the Duty of Vigilance...

Like many other cases brought against companies on the basis of the Law on the Duty of Vigilance, the Suez case was dismissed on 1 June 2023 by the Paris Judicial Court. Based on an extremely restrictive interpretation of the Law, the judges ruled that the NGOs should have sued the company based on the same vigilance plan as in the formal notice, and that this plan in question did not mention which entity in the Suez Group was responsible for it. The organisations have appealed against this decision to ensure that the judges finally guarantee the full application of the Law...

In July 2019, the residents of Osorno were deprived of water for ten days and a health emergency was declared due to contamination of the potable water network following a new operating incident at ESSAL, a company controlled by Suez...