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

Article L. 221-1 of the Consumer Code refers to “any contract concluded between a professional and a consumer, under an organized distance sales or service-provision scheme”. 
Since its modification by Ordinance No 2021-1247 of 29 September 2021  which transposes the e-commerce package  and then by Ordinance No 2021-1734 of 22 December 2021, which transposes the Omnibus Directive , the law targets …

Goods and services

Article L. 221-1 of the Consumer Code refers to “any contract concluded between a professional and a consumer, under an organized distance sales or service-provision scheme”. 

Since its modification by Ordinance No 2021-1247 of 29 September 2021  which transposes the e-commerce package  and then by Ordinance No 2021-1734 of 22 December 2021, which transposes the Omnibus Directive , the law targets contracts for the sale of a good or goods within the meaning of Article 528 of the Civil Code, to which it also adds contracts for both the provision of services and the delivery of goods,  any contract for pecuniary interest  as well as contracts for the provision of digital content without material support or digital services for which the consumer provides personal data, except when such data are exclusively processed for the purpose of providing the digital content or service or enabling the professional to comply with the legal obligations.

According to Article 2 of Directive No 2011/83, the term “goods” means “any tangible movable items, with the exception of items sold by way of execution or otherwise by authority of law”. Under Article L. 221-4 (former Article L. 121-16-2), also covered are contracts for the supply of water, gas or electricity  when they are not packaged in a defined volume or quantity and for the supply of district heating and digital content not provided on a physical medium. Also included in the category of services provided remotely are all types of services, such as the rental on a website of a DVD  or the contract for telephone and internet subscriptions concluded without the simultaneous presence of the parties .

Article L. 221-2 (former Article L. 121-16-1) excludes certain contracts from the scope of the regulations on distance selling, either because this sales method proves to be inappropriate for the goods or services concerned by these contracts, or because the sale of these goods or the provision of these services fall under a special regime:

1° contracts for social services , including social housing, childcare and support of families, with the exception of the personal services referred to in Article L. 7231-1 of the Labor Code;

2° contracts for health services provided by health professionals to patients to assess, maintain or restore their state of health, including the prescription, dispensation and provision of medicinal products and medical devices ; when questioned whether contact lenses could be marketed by mail-order without the intervention of a licensed optician, the Court of Cassation replied in the negative, considering that the mail-order delivery of contact lenses and maintenance products did not allow for a genuine control  ; however, the solution was called into question by a judgment of the Court of Justice which considers that prohibiting the marketing of contact lenses over the internet constitutes a measure having the equivalent effect of a quantitative restriction  ;

3° gambling contracts referred to in Article L. 320-1 of the Internal Security Code, including lotteries, casino games and betting transactions;

5° contracts for a tourist package, within the meaning of Article L. 211-2 of the Tourism Code;

6° contracts for the use of time-share properties, long-term holiday product contracts and resale and exchange contracts referred to in Articles L. 224-69 and L. 264-70 (former Articles L. 121-60 and L. 121-61) of the Consumer Code;

7° contracts drawn up by a public officer;

8° contracts for the supply of foodstuffs, beverages or other everyday household goods, which are physically delivered by a professional during frequent and regular visits to the consumer's home or place of residence or work;

9° contracts relating to passenger transport services, with the exception of the provisions of Article L. 221-14 (former L. 121-19-3);

10° contracts concluded by means of vending machines or automated commercial sites;

11° contracts with telecommunications operators for the use of public telephone booths or for a single connection by telephone, internet or fax, in particular value-added services and products accessible by telephone or by text message;

12° contracts relating to the creation, acquisition or transfer of real property or rights in immovable property , the construction of new buildings, the major transformation of existing buildings or the rental of a property for residential purposes ;

13° contracts for goods sold by seizure or otherwise by judicial authority.

On the legal guarantee of conformity for goods, digital content and digital services, OJ 228 of 30 September 2021.

Directive No 2019/770 of 20 May 2019 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the provision of digital content and digital services and Directive No 2019/771 of 20 May 2019 on certain aspects concerning contracts for the sale of goods, amending Regulation (EU) No 2017/2394 and Directive No 2009/22/EC and repealing Directive No 1999/44/EC, OJ L 136 of 22 May 2019.

 Case C-108/09 Ker-Optika bt, Judgment of 2 December 2010, LawLex201100000293JBJ.

 These are the subject of specific provisions. See Directive No 2002/65 of 23 September 2002 on the distance marketing of consumer financial services and Articles L. 121-26 et seq. of the Consumer Code. For an application, see CA Dijon, 2 September 2021, LawLex202100005129JBJ, holding that Article L. 221-2, 4° of the Consumer Code applies to a website rental contract entered into by a finance company, approved by the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution to carry on the activity of rental with option to purchase, and subject, as such, to the provisions of the Monetary and Financial Code. 

 CA Versailles, 21 January 2010, LawLex201200001373JBJ: contracts concluded for the sale of immovable property or for other rights relating to immovable property are excluded from the scope of the provisions on distance selling.

 In its version resulting from the Hamon Law of 17 March 2014, former Article L. 121-16-1 provided for a partial application of the regulations on distance selling to contracts relating to the construction, acquisition or transfer of real estate property. As this transposition was not in line with the text of the directive, the text was amended by the Macron Law of 6 August 2015 to exclude them completely from the scope of the regulations.

Directive No 2019/2161 of 27 November 2019 amending Council Directive No 93/13/EEC and Directives No 98/6/EC, 2005/29/EC and No 2011/83/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards better enforcement and modernization of EU consumer protection rules, OJ 328 of 22 December 2019.

Defined “as the contract under which the professional provides or undertakes to provide a service to the consumer in return for which the consumer pays or undertakes to pay the price”. 

 Water, gas and electricity are also considered as “goods” within the meaning of the directive when they are packaged in a defined volume or quantity.

 CA  Rennes, 3 April 2009, LawLex201200001456JBJ.

 CA Angers, 13 March 2012, LawLex201200001375JBJ.

 Directive No 2011/83, Recital 29: “Social services include, on the one hand, services for particularly disadvantaged or low income persons as well as services for persons and families in need of assistance in carrying out routine, everyday tasks and, on the other hand, services for all people who have a special need for assistance, support, protection or encouragement in a specific life phase. Social services cover, inter alia, services for children and youth, assistance services for families, single parents and older persons, and services for migrants.  Social services cover both short-term and long-term care services, for instance services provided by home care services or provided in assisted living facilities and residential homes or housing ('nursing homes').  Social services include not only those provided by the State at a national, regional or local level by providers mandated by the State or by charities recognized by the State but also those provided by private operators”.

 Recital 30 of Directive No 2011/83: “Healthcare is defined in Directive No 2011/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 2011 on the application of patients' rights in cross-border healthcare (9) as 'health services provided by health professionals to patients to assess, maintain or restore their state of health, including the prescription, dispensation and provision of medicinal products and medical devices”. In this Directive, “health professional” means “a doctor of medicine, a nurse responsible for general care, a dental practitioner, a midwife or a pharmacist within the meaning of Directive No 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications or another professional exercising activities in the healthcare sector which are restricted to a regulated profession as defined in point (a) of Article 3(1) of Directive No 2005/36/EC, or a person considered to be a health professional according to the legislation of the Member State of treatment”. 

 Cass. 1re civ., 14 January 1997, LawLex200400001127JBJ.

French Consumer Law

442. Goods and services

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

Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

442. Goods and services

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