Cette thèse sur travaux porte sur la recherche des fondements normatifs possibles de la Responsabilité Sociale de l’Entreprise (RSE). C’est une analyse approfondie de la notion de norme, de ses fonctions en tant qu’outil de gestion, de ses limites en dehors de toute éthique. Le sujet est traité de manière transdisciplinaire : l’apport théorique des sciences de gestion s’appuie sur l’étude empirique du droit, comme révélateur des utopies, réalisables ou non, en matière de RSE. les responsabilités dites éthiques sont-elles une nouvelle idéologie, une espèce de rêve social qui ne se soucie guère des étapes réelles dans la construction d'une nouvelle société, ou un nouveau pouvoir de la connaissance, un projet d'organisation politique, fondée sur l'axiologie des droits de l'Homme? L’étude de la place du droit au sein de la RSE est un moyen de revisiter de nombreuses théories des organisations, notamment sur la gouvernance, les parties prenantes, la démocratie, le développement durable, le risque, la responsabilité. Elle conclut à la nécessité du respect préalable du droit dans la création et l'utilisation des outils de gestion. L'objet de la recherche, à la croisée des chemins entre les sciences de gestion et les sciences juridiques, autorise néanmoins une réflexion critique sur la flexibilité de la règle de droit et la régulation par les normes, devenues de plus en plus souples et floues, causes d’une privatisation du système économique global. Prenant la mesure des mutations normatives dans la gouvernance mondiale, cette thèse propose de surmonter le défi de l’internormativité, par une nouvelle éthique de la responsabilité. L’idée, en France, serait de concevoir la responsabilité sociale des entreprises comme la fiction juridique de l’entreprise citoyenne. Une véritable extension de responsabilité préventive serait à la charge des sociétés personnes morales dans le cadre de leur sphère d’influence. / This dissertation focuses on the search for the possible normative foundations of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This is an in-depth analysis of the notion of a standard, its function as a management tool, and its limits outside any ethics.The subject is treated in a transdisciplinary manner : the theoretical contribution of management sciences is based on the empirical study of law revealing utopias, feasible or not, under CSR. Are these so-called ethical responsibilities, a new ideology, a kind of social dream which cares little for the actual steps in the construction of a new society? or are they a new power okknowledge, a project of political organization, based on the axiology of human rights? The study of the place of law in the CSR is a way to revisit many theories of organizations, including on governance, stakeholders, democracy, sustainable development, risk and responsibility. This study concludes with the need for prior compliance with the law, in the creation of the standard and use of management tools. The object of the research is at the crossroads between management and legal sciences. Nevertheless, it allows a critical reflection on the flexibility of the rule of law and regulation by standards which have become more and more soft and fuzzy, causing the privatization of the global economic system. Taking the measure of the normative changes in global governance, this dissertation proposes to overcome the challenge of conflicts of norms, by introducing a new ethic of responsibility. In France, the idea would be to design the corporate social responsibility like the legal fiction of corporate citizenship. A true extension of preventive responsibility would be born by the legal entities under their sphere of influence.

For the past decade, EU’s gender equality policies have undergone some changes that have affected the way in which the problem with gender equality is now represented. This case study analysis explores what the problem with gender inequalities is represented to be in EU’s Strategy for Equality between Women and Men, 2010-2015, and whether there are any presuppositions or assumptions underlying EU’s representation of the problem. The method used for analysis is Carol Lee Bacchi’s approach: What’s the Problem (represented to be)?, which is a post-structuralist approach that pays much attention to language and discourse. EU’s gender equality policy is then compared with Sylvia Walby’s theory on the patriarchy, that explains gender inequalities as being systematically produced through a system of social structures. The main conclusion is that EU’s gender policies are tailored to fit the political priorities of the union, which are to achieve the objectives of the EU 2020 Strategy.  The problems are mainly being represented from an economic perspective, and furthermore the EU dismisses the notion that gender inequalities are a result of our social structures, and rather explains the problem of gender inequality as being the problem of women.

Cette thèse sur travaux porte sur la recherche des fondements normatifs possibles de la Responsabilité Sociale de l’Entreprise (RSE). C’est une analyse approfondie de la notion de norme, de ses fonctions en tant qu’outil de gestion, de ses limites en dehors de toute éthique. Le sujet est traité de manière transdisciplinaire : l’apport théorique des sciences de gestion s’appuie sur l’étude empirique du droit, comme révélateur des utopies, réalisables ou non, en matière de RSE. les responsabilités dites éthiques sont-elles une nouvelle idéologie, une espèce de rêve social qui ne se soucie guère des étapes réelles dans la construction d'une nouvelle société, ou un nouveau pouvoir de la connaissance, un projet d'organisation politique, fondée sur l'axiologie des droits de l'Homme? L’étude de la place du droit au sein de la RSE est un moyen de revisiter de nombreuses théories des organisations, notamment sur la gouvernance, les parties prenantes, la démocratie, le développement durable, le risque, la responsabilité. Elle conclut à la nécessité du respect préalable du droit dans la création et l'utilisation des outils de gestion. L'objet de la recherche, à la croisée des chemins entre les sciences de gestion et les sciences juridiques, autorise néanmoins une réflexion critique sur la flexibilité de la règle de droit et la régulation par les normes, devenues de plus en plus souples et floues, causes d’une privatisation du système économique global. Prenant la mesure des mutations normatives dans la gouvernance mondiale, cette thèse propose de surmonter le défi de l’internormativité, par une nouvelle éthique de la responsabilité. L’idée, en France, serait de concevoir la responsabilité sociale des entreprises comme la fiction juridique de l’entreprise citoyenne. Une véritable extension de responsabilité préventive serait à la charge des sociétés personnes morales dans le cadre de leur sphère d’influence. / This dissertation focuses on the search for the possible normative foundations of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This is an in-depth analysis of the notion of a standard, its function as a management tool, and its limits outside any ethics.The subject is treated in a transdisciplinary manner : the theoretical contribution of management sciences is based on the empirical study of law revealing utopias, feasible or not, under CSR. Are these so-called ethical responsibilities, a new ideology, a kind of social dream which cares little for the actual steps in the construction of a new society? or are they a new power okknowledge, a project of political organization, based on the axiology of human rights? The study of the place of law in the CSR is a way to revisit many theories of organizations, including on governance, stakeholders, democracy, sustainable development, risk and responsibility. This study concludes with the need for prior compliance with the law, in the creation of the standard and use of management tools. The object of the research is at the crossroads between management and legal sciences. Nevertheless, it allows a critical reflection on the flexibility of the rule of law and regulation by standards which have become more and more soft and fuzzy, causing the privatization of the global economic system. Taking the measure of the normative changes in global governance, this dissertation proposes to overcome the challenge of conflicts of norms, by introducing a new ethic of responsibility. In France, the idea would be to design the corporate social responsibility like the legal fiction of corporate citizenship. A true extension of preventive responsibility would be born by the legal entities under their sphere of influence.

La commission européenne définit la responsabilité sociétale des entreprises comme « l'intégration volontaire des préoccupations sociales et écologiques des entreprises à leurs activités commerciales et leurs relations avec leurs parties prenantes » . la rse se subdivise en trois partie : l'écologie, le social et la gouvernance.jusqu'à présent, la rse était cantonnée à des guides de bonne conduite et un discours marketing bien rodé. le seul risque encouru par l'entreprise ne respectant pas ses engagement était une atteinte à son image (plus ou moins importante selon le degré de médiatisation de l'entreprise, allant de la simple condamnation par la presse spécialisée jusqu'au boycott).le terme responsabilité était alors restreint à l'acception commune, une sorte d'exigence morale. mais, la rse tend à investir le droit, et le risque de contentieux juridique apparaît. elle peut alors se comprendre comme la tentative de sanctionner par le droit un comportement autrefois seulement fustigé par l'éthique. elle correspond à un rapprochement de la morale et du droit, dans un mouvement inverse à celui qu'avait connu jusqu'alors la responsabilité.cette responsabilité émerge dans l'actualité. c'est l'affaire de l'erika. le tribunal correctionnel de paris a récemment condamné l'affréteur total à 192 millions d'euros de dommages et intérêts pour « préjudice écologique » en reconnaissant notamment l'atteinte au « vivant non commercial ». on assiste à une extension de la chaîne des responsabilités. de l'affréteur aux oiseaux et au littoral en passant par un armateur, des sociétés de notation, des gestionnaires du navire, des personnes publiques et des associations des défense de l'environnement. l'écran juridique de la société est écarté au profit de la notion plus large d'entreprise. / Social responsibility standards voluntarily set by a company create obligations both in respect of their issuers and their receptors. Law operates a double movement of legalization (they shall become binding for employees) and control (this binding nature is to exist only if it satisfies the justification and proportionality criteria) to standards that create new constraints for employees. The employer may, espacially by means of a code of conduct, restrict the exercise of freedom of its employees provided that such limitation is justified by the interest of the company and proportionate to the aim pursued. In addition, under the influence of a renovated corporate governance, social interest is now open to the interests of stakeholders. This changes the responsibilities of executives and forces them to set up and report on their corporate social responsibility policies. Once acquired the idea that a company has to integrate social responsibility into its business, the question of the legal nature of the measures implemented comes into play. One may distinguish on the one hand unilateral initiatives of the company, usually by means of a code of conduct and, on the other hand, concerted initiatives taking the form of international framework agreements. Both of these CSR instruments are relatively foreign to lawyers. After comparing codes of conduct and unilateral commitments, I attempted to legally qualify international framework agreements through a contractual perspective. From these analyzes, it appears that commitments entered into by a company, whether unilaterally or adopted after consultation, generate binding obligations. Standards of corporate social responsibility are subject to a process of legalization and individuals can now usefully use them as part of a trial to assert their claims.

The question of whether there is soft law in international law has been as much the subject of contemporary debate as whether or not there is private legal authority in the international society. The legal boundaries seem to be blurred by the process of globalisation and the recent shift in international law. The traditional definition of international law has been outdated as new forms of treaties has introduced new subject of law to the judicial arena. At the same time a supplementary map of law has been added to the cartography of international law, soft law. These correlating processes have comprehensive political and legal consequences at both the international and national levels. This essay examines and identifies soft law from a legal-political perspective and locates and explores private forms of legal authority on the map of contemporary international law. In respect to theory, it accounts for an interdisciplinary approach involving issues of both international law and international relations. In the process this study examines issues regarding the relative legal normativity and the blurring of legal authority in international law. The focus is on the legal character, the constitutive practices and the legal and political influence of soft law. It discusses the influence and power exerted by soft law over state actors in the international system and at the national level. The essay finds that soft law is of substantial relevance in the international ambit. To some extent a limited normative force of certain norms is recognized in soft law even though it is conceded that those norms would not be enforceable by an international court or other international organ. To say that it does not exist because it is not of the enforceable variety, might blind students of international law to another dimension of the landscape of international practice. Soft law does not translate to soft obligations in the reality of international society, and it seems to be some confusion surrounding the obligations conceived by it. The research here presented suggests that its political and legal power is substantial. The researched examples do not display any real private legal authority in soft law. This is because soft law is found to be a separate phenomenon from international law proper. However, soft law’s impact on national governments combined with the wider acceptance of the presence of private actors in the creation of soft law suggests that private power is noteworthy in comparison. In one of the studied examples, the soft law is concluded by private business representatives solely, but in requiring the status of soft law it is dependant on the recognition of the international and national legal bodies.

The role of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the process of direct tax integration in the European Union (EU) has been widely discussed in the academic literature, while another important actor, the European Commission, has attracted much less attention. The Commission’s input is commonly perceived to be limited to the right of legislative initiative. This study questions such an oversimplified interpretation and draws a more nuanced picture of EU tax harmonisation by integrating an analysis of the complex regulatory approaches adopted by the Commission for the establishment and smooth functioning of the Internal Market. It is argued that the past decade brought a notable change in the Court-dominated pattern of direct tax integration. This change is apparent first in the evolution of enforcement strategies under Articles 258 and 260 TFEU; and second, in the increased reliance upon non-binding regulatory measures. Both developments have strengthened the role of the Commission, supplying it with more possibilities for influencing national direct tax systems, despite the reluctance of Member States to agree upon legislative harmonisation. Against this background, the procedural and substantive problems associated with these instruments require closer examination. The normative scope of this research covers the key procedural problems related to the infringement procedure and non-binding regulatory measures. The empirical component explores the Commission’s enforcement and coordination practices, drawing particular attention to two case studies: the tax treatment of losses in cross-border situations and exit taxation. Following the analysis of enforcement and coordination in the field of direct taxation, the study argues the need and proposes potential solutions for (i) the developing of a more comprehensive procedural framework for the infringement procedure and non-binding regulatory acts; (ii) the strengthening of accountability mechanisms; and (iii) the enhancing of the effectiveness of their application.

Même si la régulation est associée à l’apparition de nouvelles formes de normativité, les actes administratifs unilatéraux occupent une place importante parmi ses différents outils. Envisagée comme une police spéciale visant la protection de l’ordre public économique, la régulation trouve dans les actes administratifs unilatéraux ses moyens d’exercice naturels. Il y a quatre types d’actes administratifs unilatéraux de régulation : les autorisations d’accès au marché, les actes réglementaires qui fixent les conditions d’exercice de la concurrence en son sein, les actes de règlement des différends et les décisions adoptées en matière de sanction. Au sein du système de régulation par voie d’actes administratifs unilatéraux se rencontrent plusieurs objectifs qui participent à la confection d’un régime inédit. L’étude du régime des actes administratifs unilatéraux de régulation confirme leur spécificité. Celle-ci se manifeste tout au long de leur cycle de vie. Adoptés par des autorités administratives indépendantes, ces actes peuvent être précédés d’une consultation publique, attribués après mise en concurrence des opérateurs ou cédés par leurs titulaires. Les évolutions que connaît leur régime les rapproche du droit souple, au point de rendre parfois difficile la distinction entre les deux instruments pour les opérateurs et le juge, au détriment de la sécurité juridique. Le juge administratif occupe une place centrale au sein du mécanisme de régulation. Confronté à un mécanisme normatif à deux vitesses et aux exigences que pose la régulation, il est amené à faire évoluer ses méthodes de contrôle et à construire progressivement son office de juge de la régulation. / Regardless of the fact that sectoral regulation is usually associated with the emergence of new forms of normativity, unilateral administrative acts have a prominent place among its various instruments. Conceived of as a special mission of the Administration whose main objective is the protection of public economic order, sectoral regulation is indeed normally exercised through unilateral administrative acts. There are four types of unilateral administrative acts that serve as instruments to sectoral regulation: decisions authorising access to the market, regulatory acts that set the conditions for competition in the market, dispute resolution decisions and decisions imposing sanctions. Regulating through unilateral administrative acts serves various objectives leading to a unique regime. Studying the latter confirms the specificity of these acts, a specificity that is evident throughout their life cycle. Adopted by independent administrative authorities, these acts can be submitted to public consultation, attributed to the operators on the basis of a competitive tender or transferred from one beneficiary to another. The evolution of their regime raises the question of their relationship with soft law: the distinction between the two instruments can at times be difficult both for the operators and the judge at the expense of legal security. The Administrative Judge plays a central role in the mecanism of sectoral regulation. Confronted with a two-geared normative mechanism and with the obligations that derive from sectoral regulation, his control methods are destined to evolve and his role as a regulatory judge is progressively refined.

Le développement urbain durable est aujourd’hui une notion centrale des discours sur la ville et des politiques publiques en la matière. Sans être une simple déclinaison du développement durable appliqué à l’urbain, il en reprend quelques grands principes, qui pour certains s’inscrivent dans la longue histoire de l’urbanisme. En tout état de cause, ces principes irriguent aujourd’hui le droit de l’urbanisme. Mais de la norme juridique à l’action concrète, il y a parfois loin, afin, par exemple, de limiter effectivement l’étalement urbain ou encore de réduire les pollutions urbaines. En quelques années,le droit français de l’urbanisme a pourtant été transformé en profondeur pour aider à résoudre ces problèmes et d’autres, et favoriser en ce sens le développement urbain durable. Grâce à quels outils ? Et malgré quels obstacles ? Ces derniers ne sont pas négligeables, et interrogent la capacité réelle du droit français, en l’état, à promouvoir le développement urbain durable à l’échelle des espaces urbains pertinents, voire à ne pas l’entraver. / The urban sustainable development is nowadays a main notion in the discourses about the city and in the concerning public policies. If it isn’t a simple variation of the sustainable development applied to the urban matter, it resumes many of its main principles, which are for some of them keeping with the long story of town planning. In any case, those principles are irrigating the urban law today. But from the legal rule to the concrete action is the way sometimes long, in order to limitefficaciously the urban sprawl or to reduce the urban pollutions for example. For a few year the frenchurban law is however being deeply transformed in order to contribute to resolve these problems and others, and to encourage the urban sustainable development. Thanks to which tools ? And despite of which obstacles ? These obstacles are not insignificant, and the even sound the real capacity of the French law, as it stands, to promote the urban sustainable development on the scale of the pertinent urban spaces, and not to block it.

La technologie de la chaîne de blocs peut être résumée en un réseau décentralisé et distribué de registre de transactions numériques. Sa mise en oeuvre dans le marché des cryptomonnaies a été suivie par d’autres utilisations, comme les Organisations autonomes décentralisées (DAO) et les contrats intelligents. Ce mémoire s’attachera à examiner deux volets de la reconnaissance juridique des contrats intelligents : au regard des normes étatiques déjà existantes ou en cours d’élaboration au sein de différentes juridictions, y compris le Québec, et au regard du potentiel des normes alternatives. Le contexte de la globalisation, du pluralisme juridique et des mutations de la souveraineté étatique est pris en considération à cette fin. La première partie de cette étude se concentre sur les aspects technologiques, afin de présenter les fondements du fonctionnement des contrats intelligents. La seconde partie est consacrée à une analyse du panorama juridique. L’encadrement normatif du droit positif présente d’ores et déjà des normes applicables aux contrats intelligents, certaines générales et d’autres spécifiques. Il est également pris en considération que les normes alternatives peuvent être un moyen d’harmoniser un contexte globalisé. Une harmonisation dans cette direction serait importante visant à renforcer la réglementation des nouvelles relations issues de la démarche technologique. L’ensemble de ces faits rend l’utilisation des normes alternatives opportune, conjointement avec les normes étatiques, dans le cadre de la réglementation des nouvelles technologies afin, notamment, de surmonter l’incertitude juridique encore existante dans ce milieu. / The Blockchain technology is essentially a decentralized and distributed network of digital transactions records. Its implementation on the cryptocurrency market was followed by other applications, such as the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) and Smart Contracts. This thesis will focus precisely on the legal recognition of smart contracts in the light of the established positive law and the regulations currently being drafted in various jurisdictions, including Quebec, as well as in the light of the soft law. The context of globalization, legal pluralism and state sovereignty changes are taken into consideration. The first part of this study focuses on the technological aspects in order to present the foundations of the Smart Contracts operation. The second part is dedicated to analyzing the current juridical panorama. The normative framework of the positive law already provides applicable regulations to Smart Contracts, some general, others more specific. It is further understood that the soft law could be a way of harmonizing the current context. A harmonization in this direction would be relevant in order to enhance the essential regulatory framework of new relations coming from the technological development. Given all these facts, the soft law along with hard law seem to be appropriate to chart the legal framework for the new technologies, in order to overcome the many legal uncertainties existing in this field.

L’obiettivo della ricerca è quello di studiare le contaminazioni tra diversi livelli di governance nel settore dell’anticorruzione. Anzitutto, ci si soffermerà sugli effetti che le convenzioni internazionali e più in generale gli strumenti prodotti nella sfera sovranazionale hanno determinato sul diritto anticorruzione italiano. A ben vedere, questa contaminazione tra diversi livelli di regolazione si realizza non solo attraverso strumenti cogenti ma anche, e soprattutto, attraverso strumenti flessibili come raccomandazioni e linee guida. Il diritto anticorruzione rappresenta un laboratorio di contaminazioni non solo a livello verticale tra sfera sovranazionale e nazionale, ma anche a livello orizzontale. Alla delimitazione del campo della ricerca alle interazioni tra pubblico e privato corrisponde il capitolo II: in esso si dà conto del fatto che, in materia di prevenzione del rischio di corruzione, i confini tra sfera pubblica e sfera privata sono sempre più sfumati. Infine, nel capitolo III, si cerca di trovare un filo conduttore tra le varie forme di contaminazioni regolatorie analizzate, inserendole entro un più ampio ciclo in cui si susseguono regulation e enforcement. Ci si chiede se e in che misura questo ciclo sia effettivamente virtuoso: in particolare, se un processo di law-making improntato ai criteri della flessibilità, della partecipazione dei soggetti interessati e della continua valutazione della sua efficacia, sia effettivamente idoneo a prevenire fenomeni corruttivi. / The aim of the research is to study interaction between different levels of governance in the anti-corruption sector. Firstly, the domestic law, especially in the anti-corruption field is strongly influenced by international instruments. The Italian system, for example, starts out from the Anti-Corruption Law, Law No. 190 (the so called "Severino Law", approved by Parliament on 6 November 2012, entering into force on 28 November 2012, and implemented by several regulations). This Law was adopted to implement the UN Convention against Corruption. Secondly, the research aims to study interaction between public and private sector: fundamental concepts for corruption prevention, such as risk management, have been borrowed from one sector to another. Finally, there many players in the anti-corruption sector who are able to create rules (lawmakers, stakeholders, Authorities): the question is if they are part of a virtuous circle in which regulation and enforcement are closely linked. In order to prevent corruption, the law-making process must be based on specific criteria such as flexibility, stakeholder participation and ongoing evaluation of its effectiveness.