Unlike America and the Commonwealth nations who have a large system of common laws, France is a nation of civil laws. The primary difference is that in civil law countries, much more of the basis of the law is regulatory/from the state stemming from codification movements throughout their history. Common law systems have much law that is developed by local standards as interpreted by the judiciary rather than the centrally-decided tenets of the civil law countries. There is also a strong correlation between being an area of former Roman control, from the fertile crescent, or China and being a civil law nation.
You should read the above paragraph as indicating that the laws of France are more bureaucratic in structure than you may be used to if you come from a common law country.
Though asbestos has been banned the use of asbestos since 1997 (a decision that was later upheld by the WTO), there is no law (that I can find) specifically addressing asbestos in the French code. Indeed, a bit over a month ago, there was a protest in favor of large-scale action against asbestos malfeasors. There are numerous lawsuits ongoing in France, however under various other causes of action and just last month there was a large award found against Alstom Power Boilers.
