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

Originally, Directive No 98/6 of 16 February 1998 did not include  provisions on price reduction announcements. However, the  Omnibus Directive of 27 November 2019 added a  new Article 6a to the 1998 directive, which provides that any announcements of price reductions must indicate the prior price applied  by the trader for a determined period before the application of the  price reduction. The “p …

Indication of the prices of products offered to consumers

Originally, Directive No 98/6 of 16 February 1998 did not include  provisions on price reduction announcements. However, the  Omnibus Directive of 27 November 2019 added a  new Article 6a to the 1998 directive, which provides that any announcements of price reductions must indicate the prior price applied  by the trader for a determined period before the application of the  price reduction. The “prior price” means the lowest price applied by the  trader during a period of not less than 30 days before the application  of the price reduction . The European provision reduces the freedom  offered to companies, which until then benefited from a much wider range  of criteria, provided that their announcement was not unfair within the  meaning of Directive No 2005/29 . However, exceptions to the 30-day  rule are possible: different rules may be adopted for goods which  are liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly; and a shorter period may be  defined where the product has been on the market for less than 30 days.  Finally, when the price reduction is progressively increased, the prior  price can be the price without the reduction before the first  application of the price reduction.

In December 2021, the Commission adopted a Communication on the interpretation and application of Article 6a of Directive No 98/6 . With regard to the scope of this provision, the Commission clarifies that Article 6a applies irrespective of whether the announcement of the price reduction indicates a measurable reduction in price and concerns only “products”, interpreted as movable goods, to the exclusion of services, including digital services . Article 6a applies to the trader who is the actual party to the contract with the consumer, i.e. the seller of goods  , including sellers using intermediaries, in particular online marketplaces, but not intermediaries who only provide the means for traders to sell their products  or who aggregate price information from other sellers (price comparison platforms). Article 6a also covers traders established outside the European Union who direct their sales to consumers in the European Union, including traders offering goods through platforms. It does not regulate seller's customer loyalty programs, such as discount cards or vouchers, which allow the consumer to receive a price reduction on all of the seller's products or on specific product lines over extended continuous periods of time or which allow credits (points) to be accumulated for future purchases, nor does it regulate actual personalized price reductions which are not price reduction “announcements”.

CJEU Case C-330/23 Verbraucherzentrale Baden-Württemberg eV, Judgment of 26 September 2024, LawLex202400006929JBJ, a price reduction of a product announced by a trader in the form of a  percentage, or in the form of a promotional statement intended to  highlight the advantageous nature of the announced price, must be  determined on the basis of the “prior price” within the meaning of Article 6a(2) of Directive No 98/6/EC.

Pursuant to the Order of 11 March 2015, French law, which had abandoned any legal definition of the reference price, had to take a backwards step: applicable since 28 May 2022, new Article L. 112-1-1 of the Consumer Code, resulting from the transposition ordinance, No 2021-1734, thus takes up the former definition of the reference price, as well as the two exceptions provided for by the Omnibus Directive. 

Commission Notice - Guidance  on the interpretation and application of Article 6a of Directive  98/6/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on consumer  protection in the indication of the prices of products offered to consumers.

The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive covers all  price reduction announcements or other types of practices aimed at promoting price advantages regarding digital content and any type of service.

Article 6a does not apply to “cash-back” announcements whereby third parties who are not sellers of goods, such as manufacturers/distributors, promise consumers who have purchased the good(s) in question to refund part of the price paid, at the consumer's personal request and for a certain period of time and which remain subject to the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive.

...which can also be online marketplaces.

French Consumer Law

342. Indication of the prices of products offered to consumers

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342. Indication of the prices of products offered to consumers

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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