French Consumer Law is a comprehensive and comparative overview of French and EU law in this field, covering: advertising, unfair commercial practices, conditions for the validity of contracts, unfair terms, product conformity, latent defects, product safety.

French Consumer Law

1) Referral to civil or administrative court 
Article L. 512-41 (former Article L. 215-11) of the Consumer Code provides that the Public Prosecutor seizes the court or the investigating judge (juge d'instruction) if he considers, after either the official minutes prepared by the authorized agents, or the test report or analysis report, and, if necessary, after a preliminary investigation, that a p …

Court proceedings  

1) Referral to civil or administrative court 

Article L. 512-41 (former Article L. 215-11) of the Consumer Code provides that the Public Prosecutor seizes the court or the investigating judge (juge d'instruction) if he considers, after either the official minutes prepared by the authorized agents, or the test report or analysis report, and, if necessary, after a preliminary investigation, that a prosecution or investigation should be initiated. The Public Prosecutor assesses whether a prosecution is expedient and is not bound by the conclusion given by the investigators to the facts set out in their minutes . 

In application of Article L. 524-1 , the administrative authority responsible for competition and consumer affairs may, as a result of the findings made on the basis of Articles L. 511-5 to L. 511-7 (i.e. in the case of breaches in the areas of pre-contractual information, commercial practices, contracts and credit), ask the civil or administrative court: to order, where necessary subject to penalty, the removal of unlawful, prohibited or unfair terms, included by a trader in any contract or standard form agreement proposed or intended for consumers or non-professionals or in any ongoing contract; to declare that such terms are void ab initio ("unwritten") in all identical contracts concluded by the same trader; to order the trader to inform at his own costs the consumers or non-professionals thereby concerned through any appropriate medium.

This authority may, after having informed the Public Prosecutor, ask the civil court to order, where necessary subject to penalty, any measure likely to put an end to breaches of contract or unlawful conduct referred to in Articles L. 511-5 to L. 511-7 (Article L. 524-2) . 

Finally, in the event of infringement of those articles and of Book IV relating to compliance and the safety of services, it may ask the judicial authority to order in summary proceedings any proportionate measures against the trader concerned, in order to prevent or to put an end to damage caused by the content of an online communication service to the public or a telephone service (Article L. 524-3) .

Under Article R. 524-1, the competent administrative authority, in application of Articles L. 524-1 to L. 524-3, is the head of the national investigative service of the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Repression of Fraud (DGCCRF), the Regional Director of companies, competition, consumer affairs, of labor and employment or the Director of the departmental directorate responsible for the protection of populations , who may appoint category A officials in order to represent them before the civil and administrative first instance and appeal courts.

Article L. 525-1 of the Consumer Code - which incorporates the last paragraph of Article L. 215-21 - provides that before the criminal courts, the administrative authority responsible for competition and consumer affairs may, at the request of the courts, submit its observations at the hearing. Under Article R. 525-2, the authorities in question are those designated by Article R. 524-1, and the Director General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and the Repression of Fraud may also participate in the procedure. 

In order to strengthen the presence of the DGCCRF before the civil courts, the Hamon Law allowed the public authorities to intervene, file pleadings and present them at the hearing and to produce official statements and investigation reports (former Article L. 215-21). However, the agents of the DGCCRF cannot intervene as party to the proceedings . These provisions are now included in the regulatory part of the Consumer Code at Article R. 525-1. The authorities referred to in Article R. 525-2  are entitled to participate in civil actions. 

When acting in application of Articles L. 524-1 to L. 524-3 and R. 525-1, the public authority is not required to use the services of a lawyer .

Cass. crim., 23 January 2001, LawLex200300004453JBJ.

Consumer Code, former Article L. 141-1 VIII, 1°.

Consumer Code, former Article L. 141-1 VIII, 2°.

Consumer Code, former Article L. 141-1 VIII, 3°.

Consumer Code, former Article R. 215-25. For an example of an action brought by the departmental directorate for the protection of the public, see CA Paris, 12 October 2018, LawLex201800001505JBJ.

The right to intervene before the courts is an exceptional and limited right which, in the absence of any formal law enshrining it, may be granted only to persons civilly liable or to those who have been personally and directly harmed by the infringement, Cass. crim., 3 May 1990, LawLex200400001390JBJ.

French Consumer Law

20. Court proceedings

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20. Court proceedings

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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