The judicial public interest agreement (CJIP) — Glossary

The judicial public interest agreement

A company pays, brings itself into compliance, and the public prosecution is extinguished — without trial, without admission of guilt, without conviction.

In brief

Created by the “Sapin II” law of 9 December 2016 (Art. 41-1-2 of the Code of Criminal Procedure); extended to tax fraud by the law of 23 October 2018.
Reserved for legal entities. Without admission of guilt and without conviction: it is not entered in bulletin no. 1 of the criminal record.
Public interest fine proportionate to the benefits derived from the breaches, capped at 30% of average annual turnover (over the last three known financial years).
May impose a compliance programme of up to three years, under the supervision of the French Anti-Corruption Agency.
Approved by the president of the judicial court at a public hearing. Full performance extinguishes the public prosecution. The agreement, the order and the amount are published.

The CJIP is a criminal settlement, inspired by the American deferred prosecution agreement. It solves a real problem: criminal trials of companies last for years, and the uncertainty weighs on thousands of employees. It raises another: the company pays, but nothing is adjudicated, and no court says publicly what happened.

The counterweight is publicity. The agreement is approved at a public hearing and published in full — so that the facts, as the public prosecutor's office and the company agreed them together, become available for consultation.

The CJIP concluded by McDonald's France, approved on 16 June 2022, is to date the largest in tax fraud matters: €508.5 million public interest fine, plus €737 million in additional tax and penalties, i.e. €1.245 billion in total.

The judicial public interest agreement

Sources

Where this comes up in the case file

Other glossary entries — Legal concepts