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

The contract for the insertion of an advertising order must be consistent with the law of contracts and the competition rules. Under the terms of Articles 1130 and 1131 of the Civil Code, “mistake, fraud and duress vitiate consent when they are of such a nature that, without them, one of the parties would not have entered into the contract or would have contracted on substantially different terms” [...] “defects of consent are grounds for relative nullity of the contract” . Thus, a contract will also be annulled when the medium has used fraudulent tactics (manoeuvres dolosives) to get the advertiser to sign by drafting the advertising order in an ambiguous manner without stating the overall price . Similarly, by misleadingly claiming to have a circulation of 180,000 for each of edition of its journal whereas in fact the number is significantly lower, the medium commits fraud which justifies the cancellation of the contract . In contrast, an advertiser, an operator in the large scale retail distribution sector, may not seek the voiding of the insertion order on the grounds of mistake when the order form, in accordance with practices in the sector, sets out the respective obligations of the parties in a way that is clear, precise and defined . With regard to the capacity to contract, the Paris Court of Appeal has ruled that orders of insertion signed by an employee not authorized to contract on behalf of the advertiser are null and void, insofar as the identity and capacity of the signatory cannot in themselves, and in the absence of any previous normal business relations, create a legitimate belief in the reality of his powers . Finally, an advertising insertion order must be canceled when it is neither defined nor definable in terms of quota or terms and conditions of distribution and the advertiser was unable to assess the scope of its commitment . In fact, in the case of a contract for the broadcasting of advertising messages on screens for a fixed period of time, the Court of Cassation requires that the number of media as well as the number and frequency of the message be determined or determinable, or the contract will be held to be null and void . 

Further, it is prohibited under Article L. 442-1, I, 1°(former Article L. 442-6, I, 1°) of the Commercial Code to obtain or attempt to obtain an advantage which is undue or disproportionate to the service rendered. When invoked by an advertiser to get out of an unsatisfactory insertion order, the provision was deemed inapplicable due to being limited to litigation involving the large-scale retail distribution sector . 

Wording arising from the Ordinance for the reform of the law of contracts of 10 February 2016.

CA Paris, 5 October 2011, LawLex201200002214JBJ. Cf. Paris, 21 March 2012, LawLex201200002209JBJ, holding that such behavior deprives the commitment of any effect, but does not justify nullity for a decisive error affecting consent.

CA Montpellier, 12 June 2012, LawLex201300000280JBJ.

CA Aix-en-Provence, 12 September 2013, LawLex201500001055JBJ.

CA Paris, 4 May 2007, LawLex201200000838JBJ.

CA Paris, 2 November 2011, LawLex201200000769JBJ; see also CA Paris, 31 March 2017, LawLex201800000616JBJ, holding that an order of insertion is not a firm order binding on the advertiser when it contains no reference to the number of releases, their format, or to their date and where the price given does not refer to any specific service and does not correspond to the price subsequently demanded by the medium.

Cass. com., 9 May 2018, LawLex201800001094JBJ.

CA Aix-en-Provence, 28 March 2012, LawLex201200002212JBJ.

56. Conditions of validity