Ela Barda

Frequently invoked by French defendants facing disclosure requests in foreign litigation proceedings, law no. 68-678 of 26 July 1968 is commonly referred to as the French ‘blocking statute’. However, the name is misleading and this misunderstanding has serious consequences for French companies caught between conflicting legal obligations. When claimants or courts hear that a French party intends to rely on the French ‘blocking statute’, the instinctive reaction is suspicion.

Article 50 of the EU AI Act, set to apply from 2 August 2026, imposes transparency obligations on companies using generative AI. While Article 50 establishes these obligations in general terms, translating them into concrete technical and organisational measures requires further guidance. The AI Office’s Transparency Code of Practice aims at bridging that gap, offering stakeholders an actionable compliance playbook.

London Founded in 2012, Signature Litigation has grown into one of London’s pre-eminent specialist dispute resolution practices. From the outset, we set out to do things differently: a conflict-free, disputes-only platform designed to give clients the undivided focus and strategic agility that complex, high-stakes matters demand.