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Non-Competition Law in France and the EU

By Patrick Thi'bart
October 01, 2003

In France, like in the U.S., covenants not to compete are not prohibited per se. They are unlawful only if they create unreasonable restraints upon employees' freedom to work. In the same way, Article 340 of the Swiss Code of Obligations and Article 2125 of the Italian Civil Code do no prohibit employment agreements that limit employees' rights to perform their activities to subsequent employers, provided that the scope of the restrictions do not prevent employees from finding an alternate job.

However, in the international arena, U.S. employers should refrain from seeking to blindly impose the “American way” of drafting and implementing restrictive covenants in an attempt to harmonize their employees' working conditions all over the world. Indeed, there is simply no such a thing as a standard restrictive covenant that could be implemented whatever the location of the workplace in the world. More generally, U.S. companies that choose to “go global” should never forget that employment laws in the international arena significantly differ according to the legal, social, political and economic background in each country. While employment relationships in the U.S. are governed by private arrangements that are voluntarily entered into between employers and employees, they generally consist, in other industrialized countries, of a comprehensive and paternalistic set of legal rules the main purpose of which are to protect employees in their subordinate relations vis-'-vis their employers. Consequently, most employment laws in industrialized countries and in particular in Western Europe are more employee-friendly than U.S. employment law (including California law).

Employee's Obligation of Loyalty

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