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

A number of ethical rules based on fundamental ethical requirements govern the content of audiovisual advertising. Thus, under Article 9(1)(c) of Directive No 2010/13, audiovisual commercial communications must not: 
-	prejudice respect for human dignity (i);
-	include or promote any discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, nationality, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual or …

Rules of general application

A number of ethical rules based on fundamental ethical requirements govern the content of audiovisual advertising. Thus, under Article 9(1)(c) of Directive No 2010/13, audiovisual commercial communications must not: 

-	prejudice respect for human dignity (i);

-	include or promote any discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, nationality, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation (ii);

-	encourage behavior prejudicial to health or safety 

-	encourage behavior grossly prejudicial to the protection of the environment (iv).

When advertising is aimed at minor viewers, additional requirements must be met. Article 9(1)(g) provides that these advertisements must not cause physical or moral detriment to minors by:  

-	directly encouraging minors to buy or hire a product or service by exploiting their inexperience or credulity; 

-	directly encouraging them to persuade their parents or others to purchase the goods or services being advertised;

-	exploiting the special trust minors place in parents, teachers or other persons, or by 

-	unreasonably showing minors in dangerous situations.

French law contains the same requirements. Articles 3 et seq. of Decree No 92-280 reproduce the obligations laid down by Union law:

-	advertising must comply with the requirements of truthfulness, decency and respect for the dignity of the human person (Art. 3);

-	advertising must not discredit the State (Art. 3);

-	advertising must not contain any discrimination due to race, gender, nationality, disability, age or sexual orientation, or any scene of violence, or any incentive to behavior prejudicial to health, the security of persons and property or protection of the environment (Art. 4);

-	advertising must be free of any elements that may offend the religious, philosophical or political convictions of viewers (Art. 5);

-	advertising must be designed in accordance with the interests of the consumer; any advertising containing, in any form whatsoever, allegations, indications or presentations that are false or likely to mislead consumers is prohibited (Art. 6);

-	advertising must not cause moral or physical harm to minors; to this end, it must comply with a set of rules similar to those imposed by the directive (Art. 7) . 

The fight against obesity in the EU has led the Member States to agree on the obligation to establish codes of ethics to accompany children's programs or to be included in these programs relating to food or beverages containing nutrients or substances with a nutritional or physiological effect, in particular those containing fat, salt or sugar (Article 9(4) of Directive No 2010/13). In France, Article L. 2133-1 of the Public Health Code now provides that advertisements for drinks with the addition of sugar, salt or sweeteners or manufactured food products must contain health information; this obligation only applies to television or radio commercials issued and broadcast from the French territory and received on this territory. Advertisers and sponsors can derogate from this obligation, provided that they pay a contribution whose proceeds are assigned to the INPES (the French national institution for prevention and health education). Similarly, the CSA, now Arcom, promotes the conclusion of codes of good conduct aimed at effectively reducing children's exposure to audiovisual commercial messages about foods or beverages containing nutrients or substances with a nutritional or physiological effect, including fats, trans-fats, salt or sodium, and sugars, which are not recommended in excessive quantities in a total diet. These codes are intended to prevent audiovisual commercial communications that favorably present the nutritional aspects of these foods and beverages .

A charter to promote healthy eating habits and physical exercise in programs and advertisements broadcast on television  was signed on 21 November 2013 at the headquarters of the French regulator CSA (now Arcom). It provides, in particular, that the television channels and their advertising sales departments shall charge a specially adapted fee for joint campaigns promoting products which should be eaten in larger quantities so as to grant such campaigns access to advertising slots (Commitment 2) and that the advertisers or groups of advertisers of the agro-food industries regularly finance short educational programs for young audiences to promote healthy living, eating and physical exercise (Commitment 11). Pursuant to this charter (Commitment 1), the professional regulatory authority for advertising (Autorité de Régulation Professionnelle de la Publicité (ARPP)), revised its Eating Behaviors recommendation  in which it states, in particular, that “young children should not be able to believe that eating a food has an effect of a nature to change their daily life (artistic, school, sports activity) by exceptional performances” and that “advertising featuring imaginary characters but known in works of fiction disseminated elsewhere and encouraging children to consume a product shall in no case promote behavior that is contrary to the rules of good eating habits and a healthy lifestyle”.

In addition to the child and young persons protection powers assigned to Arcom by Articles 15  and 15-1  of Law No 86-1067, the relationship between advertising and children was also the subject of a report of the Conseil National de le Consommation  (French National Consumer Council (CNC)), which recalled a number of fundamental principles contained in the texts and standards in use . At the initiative of the Minister for Solidarity and Social Cohesion, a charter for the protection of children in the media  was signed on 21 February 2012, in which media and information professionals made a number of commitments for the protection of the image of the children in the production of content (reports, documentaries, television program dealing with child-related issues).

Under Article 7 of Decree 92-280, advertising must not: "1° Directly encourage minors to buy a product or service by exploiting their inexperience or credulity; 2° Directly encourage minors to persuade their parents or third parties to buy the products or services concerned; 3° Exploit or alter the special trust minors place in their parents, teachers or other persons; 4° Unreasonably show minors in a dangerous situation": cf. Directive No 2000/31, Art. 9.

Art. 14 of Law No 86-1067, as amended by Law No 2021-1382 of 25 October 2021, on the regulation and protection of access to cultural works in the digital age.  In application of this provision, Arcom also promotes, in environmental matters, sectoral and cross-sectoral codes of good conduct, known as “climate contracts”, whose purpose is, notably, to significantly reduce commercial communications on audiovisual communication services and on services offered by online platform operators, as defined in Article L. 111-7 of the Consumer Code, relating to goods and services that have a negative impact on the environment, in particular in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, damage to biodiversity and consumption of natural resources over their entire life cycle. These codes of conduct also aim to prevent commercial communications that favorably present the environmental impact of these same goods or services.

Available at: http://www.csa.fr/Espace-juridique/Chartes/Charte-visant-a-promouvoir-une-alimentation-et-une-activite-physique-favorables-a-la-sante-dans-les- programmes-et-les-publicites-diffuses-a-la-television-1er-janvier-2014

http://www.arpp-pub.org/IMG/pdf/Recommandation_CAL_V2.pdf

Art. 15 of Law No 86-1067, as amended by Law No 2021- 1382 of 15 October 2021: "The Regulatory Authority for Audiovisual and Digital Communication shall ensure the protection of children and young persons and the respect of the dignity of the person in the programs made available to the public by an audiovisual communication service.

It ensures that programs likely to harm the physical, mental or moral development of minors are not made available to the public by an audiovisual communication service, except when it is ensured, by the choice of the time of broadcast or by any appropriate technical process, that minors are not normally likely to see or hear them.

When programs likely to impair the physical, mental or moral development of minors are made available to the public by television services, the authority ensures that they are preceded by a warning to the public and that they are identified by the presence of a visual symbol throughout their duration. It also ensures the implementation of a technical access control process adapted to the nature of on-demand audiovisual media services.

The personal data of minors processed by the publishers of audiovisual communication services when implementing the second and third paragraphs must not be used for commercial purposes, particularly advertising, even after the interested parties have reached the age of majority.

It also ensures that no program likely to seriously impair the physical, mental or moral development of minors is made available to the public by audiovisual communication services.

Finally, it ensures that the programs made available to the public by an audiovisual communication service do not contain :

1° Either incitement to hatred or violence based on one of the grounds referred to in Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union or because of gender identity ;

2° or public provocation to commit the offenses referred to in Article 421-2-5 and 421-2-5-1 of the Criminal Code.

It shall draw up a code of good conduct relating to audiovisual coverage of terrorist acts".

Art. 15, Law No 86-1067 (created by Law No 2020-1266 of 19 October 2020 aimed at regulating the commercial exploitation of the image of children under the age of sixteen on online platforms - OJ 255 of 20 October 2020): "The French Audiovisual and Digital Communication Regulatory Authority shall promote the adoption by video-sharing platform services of the charters provided for in Article 4 of Law No 2020-1266 of 19 October 2020 aimed at regulating the commercial exploitation of the image of children under the age of sixteen on online platforms.

It publishes a periodic report on the application and effectiveness of these charters. To this end, it shall collect from these services, under the conditions set out in Article 19 of this law, all the information necessary for the preparation of said report".

 BOCCRF No 13 of December 5, 2000. According to this report, “are therefore not admissible, whether they are explicit and/or implied messages: 1. Advertisements targeting minors which may be detrimental to their psychological, ethical, spiritual, civic or physical development; 2. The dissemination, in the traditional media, but now also on the digital networks, of advertisements whose commercial nature is not clearly recognizable and which may create confusion in the minds of younger children or divert their interest. Advertisements containing visual presentations or declarations which might endanger the health and/or safety of minors or be likely to lead to behaviour that violates the basic rules, in the short and long term, of health and safety of people, protection of property and of the environment (dangerous and violent behaviour); 4. Advertisements that may undermine social values such as discrediting the authority, responsibility, judgment or taste (choice) of parents or educators or encourage violating the law or civic values, or appear to condone behaviour that is unlawful or reprehensible under the law; 5. Advertisements that create an undue inducement by directly inviting young people to buy ("You must buy ...") or which, taking advantage of their lack of experience or credulity, exert the same pressure by playing on various registers of feelings or which contain a direct message intended to encourage them to persuade their parents or other adults to buy certain products or services ("Tell your mum to buy” ...); the CNC recalls that some advertisements promoting the decision of the child in the choice of goods must not remove him from his economic and psychological reference framework or transfer the responsibility of parents on him; 6. Advertisements which, taking advantage of the lack of experience or credulity of children, play on feelings such as the suggestion that the mere possession or use of a product would give him a physical, social or psychological advantage over other children of his age; or which exploits the feeling of fear of children or adolescents without any justification of an educational or social nature; 7. Advertisements featuring situations of competition and/or rivalry presented as being within the reach of children and which are disproportionate to their age; 8. The organization of events that may conceal advertising operations completely unrelated to the purpose of the event highlighted in the initial advertising (free preview, membership of children's clubs, sponsorships, etc.)".

http://www.csa.fr/Espace-juridique/Chartes/Charte-Protection-de-l-enfant-dans-les-medias-Fevrier-2012

French Consumer Law

86. Rules of general application

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86. Rules of general application

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