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

Price reductions, rebates or discounts, consist in promotions on the price of products or services during periods limited in time in order to attract consumers. Such practices are liable to fall within the scope of Union and national law.

Union law makes consumer information one of the fundamental elements of their protection: national legislation which prevents consumers from accessing certain information is contrary to the principle of free movement of goods. Furthermore, according to Directive No 2005/29 of 11 May 2005, commercial practices that relate to prices must be neither unfair nor misleading .

French law imposes an obligation to provide information at different stages of the economic process. The law of commercial negotiation requires transparency of transactions, even though freedom of prices is the rule : it imposes communication of the general conditions of sale, the issuance of invoices showing the discounts and rebates and prohibits resale at a loss. Competition law prohibits practices of unreasonably low prices or predatory pricing. Apart from competitors or business partners, consumer law is designed to ensure that consumers enter into contracts in full knowledge of the facts. Thus, Article L. 112-1 (former Article L. 113-3) of the Consumer Code imposes a general obligation to provide information on the prices of products or services by means of labeling, display or any other suitable method. Furthermore, Article L. 121-2 (former Article L. 121-1) of the Consumer Code prohibits false or misleading claims, indications or presentations relating to the price or method of calculation of the price, the promotional nature of the price and conditions of sale, payment and delivery of the goods or services. Up to very recently, price reduction announcements were governed by the Order of 11 March 2015 , which has now been repealed , which sought to bring French law into conformity with EU law and Ordinance No 2018-1128 of 12 December 2018 , which framed in terms of value the amount of price reductions for food and products intended for pet food. However, the adoption of Directive No 2019/2161 of 27 November 2019, known as the Omnibus Directive  which was transposed into French law by Ordinance No 2021-1734 of 22 December 2021 , changed the situation by returning, in accordance with new Article L. 112-1-1 of the Consumer Code, to a regime similar to that provided for in the Ordinance of 31 December 1988, which, until its repeal, defined the reference price as the lowest price charged over the previous thirty days. 

 See also Case C-112/99 Toshiba Europe GmbH, 25 October 2001, LawLex200900000387JBJ, which considers that the conditions required for comparative advertising must be interpreted in the most favorable way, since it contributes to objectively demonstrating the advantages of the various comparable products and therefore to stimulating competition between suppliers of goods and services in the interests of consumers.

 OJ March 24, 2015, 5378. This Order replaces and repeals the Order of 31 December 2008, which itself replaced Order 77-105/P of 2 September 1977.

The Order of 11 March 2015 was repealed by the Order of 28 October 2022, published in the OJ No 28 of 2 February 2023.

Ordinance No 2018-1128 of 12 December 2018 on raising the resale below cost threshold and the regulation of promotions for foodstuffs and certain food products, OJ 13 Dec. 2018, adopted on implementation of Law 2018-938 of 30 October 2018 for balanced trade relations in the agriculture and food sector and healthy, sustainable and accessible food for all (EGalim Law).

338. Price reduction announcements