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

Distance selling consists in the marketing of a good or the provision of a service to a consumer, without the consumer and the professional being simultaneously and physically present, through the use of different means of communication, such as catalogs, telephone calls, faxes, SMS, websites, etc.  Implemented for the first time in the mid-nineteenth century by the founder of Le Bon Marché, distance selling took on a new dimension with the development of e-commerce . Even though mail order sales are still one of the main expressions of sales outside sales outlets, online sales now take precedence over this formula, with 38.8% of French people, i.e. 87.5% of internet users having purchased items online in 2019 . Distance selling has also experienced a boom with the arrival of the smartphone: “m-commerce” was tried by 13.8 million French people and generated a turnover of EUR 20 billion in 2019 .

This commercial technique is strictly regulated because of the risks that distance selling incurs for the consumer, and the abuses to which it has given rise.

European law regulated distance selling by means of a first text, Directive No 97/7 of 20 May 1997 on the protection of consumers in respect of distance contracts , repealed and replaced by Directive No 2011/83 of 25 October 2011 on consumer rights , itself amended by Directive No 2019-2161 of 27 December 2019 to take into account the growth of marketplaces and Directive No 2024/825 empowering consumers for the green transition through better protection against unfair practices and through better information . Directive No 2002/65 of 23 September 2002 also covers the distance marketing of consumer financial services .

For a long time subject to ordinary contract law in France, distance selling was regulated by Laws No 88-21 of 6 January 1988  and 89-421 of 23 January 1989 . Since re-codification Ordinance No 2016-301 of 14 March 2016, the provisions governing it are contained in the new Book II of the Consumer Code relating to the formation and performance of contracts, Articles L. 221-1 to L. 221-29 for the general rules and Articles L. 242-1 to L. 242-14 for the sanctions (former Articles L. 121-16 to L. 121-33). The regulatory provisions are set out in Articles R. 221-1 to R. 221-4 (former Articles R. 121-1 and R. 121-2, resulting from Decree No 2014-1061 of 17 September 2014) . They were brought into compliance with Union law  lastly by the Hamon Law of 17 March 2014  and the Macron Law of 6 August 2015 , and the Ordinance of 22 December 2021  which transposes the Omnibus Directive .

 This definition also covers, according to recital 20 of Directive No 2011/83 of 25 October 2011 (OJEU L 304 of 22 November 2011), situations where the consumer visits a commercial establishment solely for the purpose of collecting information on goods or services, then negotiates and concludes the contract remotely, but not the case where a contract is negotiated in the professional's commercial establishment but finally concluded using a remote communication technique. Similarly, a contract drafted using a remote communication technique but finally concluded in the professional's commercial establishment, does not fall within the concept of a distance contract. Also excluded are bookings made by a consumer using a remote communication technique to request the provision of a service from a professional, for example when a consumer calls a hairdresser to make an appointment.

 34.7 million French people make online purchases (figures for the 1st half of 2015) for a turnover of EUR 56.8 billion. See key figures of the FEVAD (E-commerce and distance selling federation) for 2015.

  Law No 89-421 of 23 June 1989 on information and protection of consumers and on various commercial practices, OJ 29 June 1989, 8047.

  Decree No 2014-1061 of 17 September 2014 on the pre-contractual and contractual consumer information obligations and the right of withdrawal, OJ of September 19, 2014, 15331.

  See, in particular, the amendments made successively by Law No 2008-3 of 3 3 January 2008 and No 2010-853 of 23 July 2010.

  Law No 2014-344 of 17 March 2014 relating to consumption, OJ of 18 March 2014, 5400.

 Law No 2015-990 of 6 August 2015 for growth, activity and equality of economic opportunities, OJ of 7 August 2015, 13537.

Ordinance No 2021-1734 of 22 December 2021, OJ 298 of 23 December 2021.

Directive No 2019-2161 of 27 November 2019 amending Council Directive No 93/13/EEC and Directives 98/6/EC, 2005/29/EC and 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards better enforcement and modernization of Union consumer protection rules, OJ L 328 of 18 December 2019.

 See key figures of the FEVAD (E-commerce and distance selling federation) for 2019.

  OJEC L 271 of 9 October 2002, 16. We will not address financial services, or credit law in general, in this book. We will only indicate that the provisions on the distance selling of financial services are contained in Articles L. 222-1 à L. 222-18 (former Articles 121-26 to L. 121-33) of the Consumer Code. 

  Law No 88-21 of 6 January 1988 relating to telepromotion operations with an offer for sale known as “tele-shopping”, OJ of 7 January 1988, 271.

440. Distance selling