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

“Sponsorship” is when an advertiser associates its brand with a television program by contributing to its financing in order to promote its brand, image, activities or products. This practice, which enables communication outside advertising slots, differs from traditional TV advertising by its content, which is limited to announcing to the viewer the participation of the advertiser to the funding of the program, to the exclusion of any other promotional message.

Television sponsorship falls within the provisions of Directive No 2010/13 of 10 March 2010 and Decree No 92-280 of 27 March 1992.

Directive 2010/13 defines sponsorship as “any contribution made by public or private undertakings or natural persons not engaged in providing audiovisual media services or video-sharing platform services or in the production of audiovisual works, to the financing of audiovisual media services or programs with a view to promoting their name, trade mark, image, activities or products” (Article 1(1)(k)). Decree No 92-280 adopts a similar definition at Article 17 .

Some products cannot be the subject of sponsorship.

Directive No 2010/13 prohibits the practice of sponsorship for companies whose business is the manufacture or sale of cigarettes or other tobacco products as well as electronic cigarettes and refill containers (Art. 10(2)). Sponsorship by companies whose business is the manufacture or sale of medicines or medical treatments is limited to the promotion of the name and image of the company, but cannot promote medicines or medical treatments available only on prescription (Art. 10(3)). Finally, the sponsorship of alcoholic beverages is not specifically excluded, as Article 9(1)(e) states only that “audiovisual commercial communications for alcoholic beverages shall not be aimed specifically at minors and shall not encourage immoderate consumption of such beverages”.

Article 19 of Decree No 92-280 excludes the sponsorship of television programs by companies supplying or distributing alcoholic products  or tobacco products, even if an exception is provided by Article L. 3512-5 of the Public Health Code, concerning the television broadcast of motor sports that takes place in countries where tobacco advertising is allowed . The sponsorship by companies whose main business is the manufacture or sale of medicines or the provision of medical treatments only available on medical prescription, initially prohibited, has been possible since 2008 , but only “to promote their name or image”.

Sponsorship is also prohibited for certain types of programs. This is the case for news and current affairs programs (Art. 10(4) of Directive No 2010/13), or, in France, political broadcasts  and news (Decree No 92-280, Art. 20).

In addition, the directive makes it possible for Member States to prohibit the broadcast of a sponsorship logo during children's programs, documentaries or religious programs .

Finally, sponsorship can only concern television programs, and not television services, with the exception of on-demand audiovisual media services, governed by Decree No 2021-723 of 22 June 2021 , as provided by Article 1 of Decree No 92-280 . In addition, the sponsorship of all or part of a program schedule is possible, unless each program is sponsored. Similarly, only a program in its entirety, and not a component part, can be sponsored. The CSA has, however, allowed the sponsorship of weather reports within programs, unless they are political broadcasts or news programs .

Decree No 92-280, Art. 17: “For the application of this decree, a sponsorship is any contribution by a company or public or private legal entity or individual, not carrying out activities of television or on-request audiovisual media services or the production of audiovisual works, to the financing of television services or programs with the aim of promoting its name, brand, image or activities.”

Decree No 92-280, Art. 19: “Television programs may not be sponsored by companies whose principal activity is the manufacture or sale of alcoholic beverages or tobacco products. Companies whose activities include the manufacture or sale of medicinal products or the provision of medical treatments can only sponsor television shows to promote their name or image”.

ECHR, March 5, 2009, Lawlex20091155, citing the criminal chamber of the Court of Cassation, 14 May 2008, LawLex200800000963JBJ: the retransmission of a race in real time is the only exception to the ban indirect advertising of tobacco products. The ECHR also holds that the exception to the prohibition of indirect advertising for tobacco provided by the Évin Law for the sole benefit of audiovisual media constitutes a justified difference of treatment (and not discriminatory) in that technical means do not currently make it possible to conceal emblems, logos or advertising on images retransmitted by the audiovisual media while it is possible not to photograph such signs, to conceal or blur them on magazine pages.

Decree No 2008-1392 of 19 December 2008 amending the regime applicable to television advertising, television sponsoring and teleshopping, OJ of 24 December 2008, 19950.  

Decree No 92-280, Art 1: “[...] The provision of commercials, sponsoring and teleshopping by an editor of on-demand audiovisual media services is, however, governed by Decree 2010-1379 of 12 November 2010 on on-demand audiovisual media services”.

Decree No 2021-793, Art. 32: "[...] a sponsorship is any contribution by an undertaking or a public or private legal person or a natural person, not engaged in the publishing of television services or on-demand audiovisual media, the provision of video-sharing platforms or the production of audiovisual works, to the financing of on-demand audiovisual media services or programs, with the aim of promoting its name, its brand, its image, its activities or its products.

Decree No 2021-793, Art. 33: "When sponsored, on-demand audiovisual media services established in France or under the jurisdiction of France within the meaning of Article 43-2 of the aforementioned Law of 30 September 1986 or their programs must meet the following requirements:
1° Their content may not, under any circumstances, be influenced by the sponsor in a way that could undermine the responsibility and editorial independence of the service publisher;
2° They do not directly encourage the purchase or rental of products or services, in particular by making specific promotional references to these products or services;
3° The sponsorship must be clearly identified as such by the name, logo or other symbol of the sponsor, for example by means of a reference to its products or services or a distinctive sign, in a manner appropriate to the program at the beginning, end or during the program."

Decree No 2021-793, Art. 34: “Sponsorship of an on-demand audiovisual media service established in France or under the jurisdiction of France within the meaning of Article 43-2 of the aforementioned Law of 30 September 1986 or of its programs is governed by Articles 3 to 7, Articles 9 to 12 and Articles 19 and 20 of the aforementioned Decree of 27 March 1992.”

  See the brochures of the CSA, Advertising, sponsorship and teleshopping on television and radio, January 2008, http://www.larp.fr/dossiers/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/CSA-Publicit%C3%A9- parrainage-et-t%C3%A9l%C3%A9achat-Janvier-2008.pdf

102. Definition and scope of application