The Court of Cassation has ruled that such clauses must meet several cumulative criteria.
The clause must:
- be essential to the protection of the company’s legitimate interests (however, this condition does not imply that the competitive risks incurred must be mentioned in the employment contract);
- be limited in time and space;
- include financial compensation.
With regard to the condition relating to the temporal and spatial limits of the clause specifically, it must therefore:
- specify the duration of the non-competition period;
- specify the geographical area and professional sector in which competing activity will be prohibited.
These limitations must enable the employee to pursue professional activities consistent with their training, knowledge, and professional experience.
The scope of a non-competition clause is assessed in relation to the employee’s duties.
In this case, the Court of Cassation ruled that an appeal court could not declare a non-competition clause null and void on the grounds that it would prevent the employee from finding employment in her field of expertise unless it specified how the clause prevented the employee from finding employment in line with her training and professional experience.
