Paradoxically, the sanction imposed on Airbus under the terms of a validated agreement, Friday January 31, with the National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) in France, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) in the United Kingdom and the Department of Justice (DOJ) in United States, and ending four years of investigation into alleged corruption in contracts concluded since 2008, is not such a bad deal.
The group will certainly have to pay a fine of 3.6 billion euros to these three authorities – an industry record. But the main thing is not there. This case marks a milestone in the way Europeans can protect themselves from the extraterritoriality of American law.
For years, dozens of multinationals have had to comply, without being able to react, to the legislative arsenal put in place by the United States. The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the Helms-Burton and D'Amato-Kennedy laws or the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) were used as weapons of economic warfare to weaken the competitors of American groups , under the cover of the fight against corruption, against terrorism or security guarantees for the United States.
Airbus was accused, on the one hand, of certain practices of resorting to intermediaries, in violation of the FCPA and, on the other hand, of inaccurate statements made to the American authorities within the framework of ITAR.
This extraterritorial right makes it possible to apply American laws to foreign persons or companies, provided they have a link, even a tenuous one, with the United States. The use of the dollar in a transaction, the existence of a legal entity on American soil, or the simple transit of emails via servers based in the United States are enough for the DOJ to exercise exorbitant powers which are essential to offenders. ITAR, on the other hand, gives the United States control over the sale of sensitive equipment, as long as it contains at least one American component.
The Scope of the Alstom Affair
Siemens, Technip, Deutsche Telekom, Daimler, Rolls-Royce, Total, BAE, BNP Paribas have thus gone under the Caudines forks of American justice. The DOJ was enriched by collecting colossal fines, while helping to weaken competitors of American companies.
The proliferation of cases has led to an awareness in France of the need to guard against the extra-territoriality of American law. The Alstom affair, with the controversial takeover in 2014 of the energy branch of Alstom by the American group, General Electric (GE), had been, from this point of view, quite emblematic. The operation took place at the same time as the settlement with the DOJ of a corruption case, accompanied by a heavy fine against the French group.
