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

Audiovisual commercial communications must be clearly distinguished from the program and must be announced as such in order not to mislead the consumer as to the nature of the information received . Therefore, advertising messages must never be broadcast outside of specialized slots, and teleshopping must be limited to teleshopping programs . The laws tend to prevent the intrusion of commercial communications into editorial content. Also, surreptitious advertisements and the use of subliminal techniques are prohibited . Arcom monitors compliance with these provisions .

However, Arcom allowed exceptions to the rules of identification of audiovisual communication in a circular letter addressed to all French broadcasters . According to this text, advertising messages may be exceptionally broadcast outside of specialized slots within the framework of programs devoted to advertising and the media, in particular: 

-  within the framework of “regular programs whose exclusive or very predominant theme is advertising, to the extent that such programs, dealing particularly with topical advertising issues, its history, its economy, are of an informative nature”;

-  within the framework of “regular programs exclusively devoted to topical advertising issues and the world of communication, subject to a real programming justification”; the CSA specifies that programming can be regarded as justified when it is “guided by current events, by the innovative or undeniably original nature of the message or by the demonstration of technical prowess for its creation”;

- within the framework of “special programs, reporting on an advertising-related event and which, given the exceptional nature of the event, have a limited frequency (one or two annual broadcasts)”.

- “the use in programs of extracts of messages, provided that they contain no reference, verbal or visual, to brands”; however, the mention of the brand will be accepted in the case of exceptional events related to topical issues;   

-  “the practice of playing with advertising messages, as a cultural element, in the same way as, for example, cinema or music”; this exception only applies if the message used is more than three years' old since its last programming, is not for alcoholic beverages or tobacco products, and is not used in broadcasters' slots during the program.

 Article 19(1) of Directive No 2010/13 provides that they must be “distinguishable from editorial content” and “shall be kept quite distinct from other parts of the program by optical and/or acoustic and/or spatial means”. Article 14, paragraph 1 of Decree No 92-280 provides that “advertising messages or sequences of advertising messages must be readily recognizable as such and clearly separated from the rest of the program, before and after their broadcast, by screens recognizable by their optical and acoustic characteristics”. The first paragraph provides that “isolated advertising must be exceptional, except during the broadcast of sports events”.

Article 19(2) of Directive No 2010/13 provides that “Isolated television advertising and teleshopping spots shall be admissible in sports events. Isolated television advertising and teleshopping spots, other than in transmissions of sports events, shall remain the exception”.

 Directive No 2010/13, Art. 9; Decree No 92-280, Art. 9 and 10

 Cf. CSA, 3 May 2005, giving formal notice to ABSat, LawLex200600001221JBJ, holding that a television channel cannot broadcast, without identifying them as such or clearly separating them from the rest of the program by screens recognizable by their optical and acoustic characteristics, advertising messages for adult websites.

 CSA circular letter of 16 September 1997, supplemented on 26 October 1999, on the dissemination of advertising messages off-screen.

 For an application of the circular letter, see CSA Deliberation of 12 June 2001, LawLex200300001719JBJ.

88. Identification of advertising message