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 L. 521-1 (former Article L. 141-1, VII) of the Consumer Code, the agents authorized to establish infringements of the rules governing misleading commercial practices may, after an adversarial procedure, order the professional to comply with the infringed provisions or to cease any unlawful conduct  within a reasonable period of time .The Hamon Law of 17 March 2014 has reinforced the  …

Injunction and administrative fine

Under Article L. 521-1 (former Article L. 141-1, VII) of the Consumer Code, the agents authorized to establish infringements of the rules governing misleading commercial practices may, after an adversarial procedure, order the professional to comply with the infringed provisions or to cease any unlawful conduct  within a reasonable period of time .The Hamon Law of 17 March 2014 has reinforced the effectiveness of the mechanism, by allowing the Administration to impose an administrative fine on a professional for non compliance with the injunction within the time limit (current Art. L. 522-1). For misleading commercial practices, the amount of the administrative fine may not exceed EUR 3,000 for a natural person and EUR 15,000 for a legal entity (Article L. 532-1).

Article L. 522-2 sets the limitation period for action by the Administration at one year from the day on which the offense was committed if, within that period, no action has been taken with a view to investigating, establishing or penalizing it. The offense is recorded in a report, which is deemed authoritative until proven otherwise, a copy of which is transmitted to the person concerned (Art. L. 522-4). Before any decision is taken, the Administration is required to inform the persons in question in writing of the penalty incurred and inform them of their right to examine the documents in the file and be assisted by the counsel of their choice, and invite them to submit, within sixty days, written and, where appropriate, oral observations. After this period, the administrative authority may, by reasoned decision, impose a fine (Article L. 522-5). The decision pronounced by the administrative authority may be published (Art. L. 522-6).

For applications, see Cons. d'Et.., 2 October 2017, LawLex201700001636JBJ, holding that nutritional and health claims contrary to the requirements of the Regulation of 20 December 2006 and the promotion, under conditions contrary to the Regulation of 28 June 2007, of the organic production of certain ingredients of products commercialized by a professional, constitute a misleading commercial practice which justifies the implementation, by the Administration, of its power of injunction on the basis of Article L. 521-1 of the Consumer Code; CAA Marseille, 1 April 2019, LawLex201900000470JBJ; CAA Lyon, 12 December 2019, LawLex202000000034JBJ. - V. égal, refusing to grant an injunction after finding that the infringement was not constituted here, CAA Versailles, 10 July 2018, LawLex201800001109JBJ.

CAA Nantes, November 12, 2018, LawLex201800001796JBJ, considering that the two-month period granted by the Administration to an undertaking to remove a misleading statement from the labels and instructions for use of as yet non-commercialized products is reasonable.

French Consumer Law

202. Injunction and administrative fine

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

202. Injunction and administrative fine

Demandez un accès gratuit au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise

Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

Demandez un accès gratuit
au contenu exclusif Livv – juristes d’entreprise