FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: William Julié, Amélie Beauchemin and Camille Gosson, WJ Avocats
Another guiding instrument is the Joint Guidelines of the Directorate General of the Treasury and the ACPR on the Implementation of Asset Freezing Measures. In addition, French authorities refer to the EU best practices. 7.3 Circumvention 7.3.1 Prohibiting Provisions Article L. 542-2 of the French Customs Code provides for the criminalisation of the “failure to comply with the restrictions on economic and financial relations pro - vided for under European Union law pursuant to Arti - cles 75 or 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and under international treaties and agreements duly approved and ratified by France”. The Code therefore encompasses circumvention of French, EU and UN sanctions, which are the only sanctions implemented in France. At EU level, and since April 2024, the circumvention of EU sanctions is also a criminal offence pursuant to Article 3 (h) of Directive 2024/1226, which details the behaviours targeted: • “using, transferring to a third party, or otherwise disposing of, funds or economic resources directly or indirectly owned, held or controlled by a des - ignated person, entity or body, which are to be frozen pursuant to a Union restrictive measure, in order to conceal those funds or economic resourc - es; • providing false or misleading information to con - ceal the fact that a designated person, entity or body is the ultimate owner or beneficiary of funds or economic resources which are to be frozen pur - suant to a Union restrictive measure; • failure by a designated natural person, or by a representative of a designated entity or body, to comply with an obligation that constitutes a Union restrictive measure to report to the compe - tent administrative authorities funds or economic resources within the jurisdiction of a member state, belonging to, owned, held or controlled by them; and • failing to comply with an obligation that constitutes a Union restrictive measure to provide the compe - tent administrative authorities with information on
frozen funds or economic resources or information held about funds or economic resources within the territory of the Member States, belonging to, owned, held or controlled by designated persons, entities or bodies and which have not been frozen, where such information was obtained in the perfor - mance of a professional duty”. 7.3.2 Criminal Penalties As cited in 7.3.1 Prohibiting Provisions , Article L. 542-2 of the French Customs Code (formerly Article 459) pro - vides for the criminalisation of circumvention of sanc - tions. This offence is punishable by five years’ impris - onment, confiscations and a fine. Until 12 June 2024, an additional penalty barred those convicted from acting as stockbrokers or as voters or elected mem - bers of chambers of commerce, commercial courts or industrial tribunals. Constitutional Council decision No 2024-1096 QPC of 12 June 2024 struck it down as unconstitutional, removing it from what is now Article L. 542-2 (formerly Article 459). The Council found that the automatic, fixed-duration disqualification violated the principle of individualisation of penalties. Directive 2024/1226, adopted on 24 April 2024 (amending Directive (EU) 2018/1673), establishes (in Article 3) minimum rules on criminal offences and sanctions for violations of EU restrictive measures. These cover the freezing of funds and economic resources, prohibitions on making them available, travel bans into or through member-state territory, as well as sectoral economic and financial measures and arms embargoes. As explained above, the regulatory aspects of the Directive were implemented in France through Decree No 2025-470 of 28 May 2025. Because the creation of criminal offences and the determination of applicable penalties fall within the field reserved to the legislature under Article 34 of the Constitution, the criminal-law aspects must be transposed by statute: on 3 March 2026, as mentioned above, Bill No 2544 was intro - duced to that effect, with no date yet set for its entry into force.
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