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

Under Article 20 of Law No 93-122 of 29 January 1993 the purchase of advertising space is, regardless of the medium , subject to two conditions: it can only be carried out by an intermediary for the advertiser but not the seller of the advertising space and it must take the form of a written mandate. The law put an end to the lack of price transparency by advertising agencies in respect to adverti …

Written mandate

Under Article 20 of Law No 93-122 of 29 January 1993 the purchase of advertising space is, regardless of the medium , subject to two conditions: it can only be carried out by an intermediary for the advertiser but not the seller of the advertising space and it must take the form of a written mandate. The law put an end to the lack of price transparency by advertising agencies in respect to advertisers criticized at the time by the Competition Council . 

In effect, prior to the adoption of Law 93-122, advertising agencies could take the form of centralized purchasing bodies for  advertising space, buying spaces wholesale in their own name for resale to advertisers and charging both advertisers and advertising media for the service. Recourse to a commission contract is now prohibited: an agency may only intervene for the purchase of advertising space on the advertiser's behalf. According to the Circular of 19 September 1994, “an agency which has a commission carried out by another undertaking and charges that services to the advertiser, in light of or according to the amount charged by the service provider, shall be considered to be an intermediary. The agency must, for that purchase, act as agent of the advertiser [...]. In contrast, an agency which provides all the functions and responsibilities of publisher and, accordingly, proposes a comprehensive service at an agreed price to the advertiser is not acting as intermediary and is not, for these operations, obliged to take the status of agent”.

Furthermore, Article 26 specifically excludes the classification of commercial agent within the meaning of Articles L. 134-12 of the Commercial Code, with regard to the purchase of advertising space.

Added by the Macron Law of 6 August 2015. The implementing circular of 19 September 1994 had already advocated a broad interpretation of the concept of advertising space: "advertising space has not been defined by the Law. This concept seems sufficiently clear, even if it can evolve depending on the techniques [used] (multimedia, electronic media)".

Competition Council Decision No 93-D-59 of 15 December 1993, LawLex200200002516JBJ.

French Consumer Law

49. Written mandate

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49. Written mandate

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise