Business Contracts

Initially, the Civil Code did not require the parties to provide pre-contractual information. For the legislator of the time, the parties were placed on an equal footing, each contracting as a “bon père de famille” i.e. reasonably and responsibly, which meant that they were expected to inform themselves of the scope of their obligations. However, the development of consumer law and the proliferation of situations of inequality, including in the business world, have modified the situation. The reform of the law of contracts has therefore introduced a general obligation to provide information, as a matter of public policy , in new Article 1112-1 of the Civil Code which enshrines the pre-contractual obligation to provide information, as established by case law .

The parties may neither limit nor exclude the duty to provide pre-contractual information (Article 1112-1, paragraph 5 Civil Code). 

This pre-contractual information obligation, a true judicial creation that was implicit until the reform of contract law, had its origins in the principles of good faith and vitiated consent.

64. Pre-contractual duty of information