Paris — Two French campaign groups filed a legal case against Samsung in France on Thursday, alleging the Korean electronics giant was responsible for the use of child labour in its Chinese plants, and other abuses. Using a new French law that makes a company potentially liable for working conditions elsewhere in the world, the nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) Peuples Solidaires and Sherpa lodged a complaint in Paris against Samsung’s French subsidiary and international parent company. Using research from the China Labor Watch group, the French campaigners alleged that children had been found in Chinese plants producing Samsung products, and that other staff faced severe health problems. They took aim at Samsung’s stated objective of becoming one of the most ethnical companies in the world. "We are asking the justice system to sanction the unacceptable gap between its ethical commitments and the reality in its factories as described by Chinese NGOs on the ground," the French gro...

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