[Note: The full report was published in French here.]

The concept of strategic lawsuits against public participation – or SLAPPs –  [...] refers to lawsuits or threats of lawsuit mainly emanating from large companies and held against individuals or organisations that condemn or criticise said companies’ products, services, governance or communication... 

[T]he report addresses the characteristics of SLAPPs in the French context... SLAPPs undermine the very bases of democracy by reversing the primacy of matters of public interest over personal issues. Defamation, disparagement and counterfeiting are the main legal bases used to file an abusive lawsuit in the French legal framework...

[T]he report [...] summarises the results of stakeholders’ interviews regarding the current French judicial framework and the relevance of legislative reforms addressing the issue of strategic lawsuits against public participation... The report notably recommends establishing mediation authorities promoting dialogue and conciliation between parties, to raise awareness on the SLAPP phenomenon among legal practitioners, and to reform French procedural law. Furthermore, the creation of a specific judicial regime that would allow prompt identification and dismissing of strategic lawsuits against public participation is also suggested. This regime, which would be based on a set of concordant indicia to assist the judge in identifying abusive lawsuits, would create appropriate and dissuasive sanctions to the use of SLAPPs.