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

The Law of 22 December 1972 on consumer protection in respect of canvassing and doorstep selling, initially referred to canvassing carried out “at the domicile of a natural person, at his residence or at his place of work”. Now, rather than domicile, residence or place of work, Article L. 221-1 of the Consumer Code refers, more broadly, to any “place which is not the one where the professional car …

Place of canvassing

The Law of 22 December 1972 on consumer protection in respect of canvassing and doorstep selling, initially referred to canvassing carried out “at the domicile of a natural person, at his residence or at his place of work”. Now, rather than domicile, residence or place of work, Article L. 221-1 of the Consumer Code refers, more broadly, to any “place which is not the one where the professional carries out his activity permanently or habitually” .

The primary objective of the regulation is to ensure the protection of the consumer against commercial intrusions in his private sphere. A contract subscribed by a consumer at his domicile therefore necessarily falls under the rules of the Consumer Code , provided that he demonstrates that the contract was concluded there . Evidence may be provided by handwritten indications on the contract when they testify to the existence of a negotiation at the customer's domicile . Thus a contract is automatically concluded at the customer's domicile where it was taken out in the district ("département")  or municipality ("commune")  of his residence when the professional has no premises in those areas. In contrast, a contract is not concluded at the domicile of the consumer when the signed version thereof is sent to the seller only by e-mail .

However, the professional's visit to the consumer's domicile during the contractual process does not necessarily entail the application of the rules governing canvassing. An emergency repair, for example, does not constitute canvassing, since the agreement took place at the moment when the professional greed to respond to the solicitation of its customer, and not at the domicile . Similarly, the visit of the professional to formalize an agreement previously reached at a fair, when the goods had already been collected, does not constitute a canvassing operation: there is no solicitation or completion of the agreement at the domicile . Case law also considers that the presence of a professional for the study of the premises and to take the necessary measures to establish and estimate, does not constitute canvassing when on the occasion of this visit, no commitment was made by the consumer .

Furthermore, Ordinance No 2021-1734, transposing the Omnibus Directive, has created a new article, No L. 221-10-1, which prohibits any unsolicited visit by a seller or supplier to a consumer's home in order to sell products or provide services when the latter has expressed his clear and unambiguous wish not to be the subject of such a visit. This offense is now punishable under Article L. 242-7-1 by a custodial sentence of one year and a fine of EUR 150,000.

As when at home, the consumer does not seek to contract when he goes to his place of work. He can therefore be more easily destabilized and commit without having properly examined the offer made to him. To compensate for this position of supposed weakness, the old texts included the consumer's place of work in the scope of protection against canvassing at home. The protection remains under the new regime established by the Hamon Law since the workplace of the consumer necessarily constitutes a “place which is not that where the professional carries on his activity permanently or habitually” (current Article L. 221-1).

This therefore includes prospecting customers who are exclusively individuals present at their place of work (local authorities, companies, administrations)  or a florist in her shop , signing a purchase order obtained by the patient of a hospital from a member of the hospital staff , or the practice consisting in placing demonstration cases in companies, and returning a few days later to deliver the orders and receive payment . More generally, once the principle and the essential conditions of the purchase have been established at the consumer's place of work, the transaction falls under the rules governing canvassing .

3)  Other places not intended for selling purposes

The former text referred not only to the consumer's home or workplace, but also to “places not intended for the marketing of the good of service proposed, and in particular the organization by the trader or for his benefit of meetings or excursions to carry out the transactions”. The reference to places not intended for trading results from Law No 89-421 of 23 June 1989, which aimed, in particular, to include in the scope of canvassing “tupperware” parties, which can be held in the homes of consumers other than the person who takes the orders. The Hamon Law modifies the terminology and consequently the scope of the rule, by limiting its application to commitments made “in a place other than that where the professional exercises his activity permanently or habitually, in the simultaneous physical presence of the parties” or collected "during an excursion organized by the professional whose purpose or effect is to promote and sell goods or services to the consumer (current Article L. 221-1, 2°, c).

Case law excluded from the scope of the regulations trade fairs , exhibition fairs , stands installed in a commercial gallery  : these were indeed places habitually intended for trade, and the sales concluded there did not fall under the regulations on canvassing, even if the agreement had been formalized at the customer's homes . These solutions are partially called into question by the Hamon Law: the concept of place intended for the marketing of the good or service differs substantially from that of place where the professional carries on his activity permanently or habitually. The first focuses on a normal and usual place of marketing of the products, the second on the place of the professional's activity itself. Nevertheless, the of the Consumer Code provide that: “before the conclusion of any contract between a consumer and a professional at a trade fair, exhibition or any other trade event falling under Chapter II of Title VI of Book VII of the Commercial Code, the professional must inform the consumer that he does not have a withdrawal period” and that “the contract offers made at fairs and exhibitions must state the lack of a withdrawal period, in clear and legible terms, in a clearly visible box” . Some courts, however, consider that the right of withdrawal applies even in the case of sale at a fair when the professional maintains some confusion by giving the consumer a retraction form accompanied by general conditions of sale, which specify in very small characters that it cannot be used in the event of canvassing . The Court of Cassation applies the provisions more strictly: a contract which only modifies certain elements of the order placed before during a fair is directly related to it and therefore does not include a right of withdrawal . A right of withdrawal is also available to the consumer when the contract includes an offer of credit .

On the other hand, when the professional invites consumers to visit a place not intended for marketing, Articles L. 221-1 et seq. of the Consumer Code apply . This may be the domicile of a third party , a communal hall , a public square , a radio room , a café  , a hotel or business center etc. However, if it is specified on the contract or purchase order that the sale took place in the store, it lies with the person who claims to have been canvassed in another place to prove it .

  Amendment introduced by the Hamon Law of 17 March 2014.

 See for a sale of works of art at home: CA Paris, 11 June 1996, LawLex200300002572JBJ, also see CA Douai, 15 November 2018, LawLex201800001784JBJ.

 CA Paris, 13 February 1996, LawLex200300002591JBJ.

 CA Reims, 19 November 2007, LawLex201200001437JBJ.

 CA Agen, 20 June 2011, LawLex201200001406JBJ.

  CA Besançon, 27 October 1994, LawLex200300002967JBJ, upheld by Cass. crim., 4 October 1995, LawLex200300002809JBJ.

  Cass. crim., 24 March 2009, LawLex201200001413JBJ.

  Cass. 1re civ., 10 July 1995, LawLex200300002811JBJ; CA Riom, 5 February 2009, LawLex201200001455JBJ; CA Chambéry, 12 June 2013, LawLex201400002042JBJ; CA Lyon, 12 June 2014, LawLex201400002202JBJ.

 CA Chambéry, 16 February 1999, LawLex200300002617JBJ.

 CA Paris, 5 May 1998, LawLex200300002794JBJ. 

Cass. crim., 27 June 2006, LawLex200700000120JBJ: the Court of Cassation requires, however, that the agreement made at the trade fair relates to the principle and essential conditions of the contract. 

CA Lyon, 4 July 2024, LawLex202400005160JBJ.

  CA Colmar, 26 April 2010, LawLex201200001411JBJ.

  CA Aix-en-Provence, 10 May 2016, LawLex201600000941JBJ.

Cass. 1re civ., 12 September 2018, LawLex201800001298JBJ.

 Consumer Code, Article L. 224-62 (former Article L. 121-98).

CA Orléans, 12 November 2024, LawLex202400008902JBJ: soliciting a consumer personally at his home, i.e. outside business premises, a few hours after the signing of an initial order form at a trade fair, in order to encourage him to return to the commercial stand at the same fair to conclude a second contract for additional work at a price four times higher than that provided for in the first contract, where the professional knew that if the second contract was signed at the consumer's home, the consumer would have a right of withdrawal, is an attempt to circumvent the rules laid down in Directive No 2011/83 and constitutes an abusive contract formation, with the result that the second order form, immediately concluded after the professional's visit to the consumer's home must be considered an off-premises contract allowing the consumer to withdraw, even if it contained a provision stating that the consumer did not have a right of withdrawal at the stand pursuant to Article L.224-59 of the Consumer Code.

 Cass. 1re civ., 9 July 2003, LawLex200300003222JBJ.

  CA Riom, 16 November 1994, LawLex200300002940JBJ, approved by Cass. crim., 18 September 1995, LawLex200300002808JBJ.

  Cass. crim., 4 October 2005, LawLex200500010139JBJ.

  CA Agen, 12 February 2009, LawLex201200001454JBJ.

  CA Paris, 20 February 2014, LawLex201400001968JBJ.

 See for a hotel: Paris, 22 March 2000, LawLex200300002800JBJ; for a business center: CA Rennes, 25 September 1997, LawLex200300002190JBJ.

See for an application favorable to the consumer, although an earlier appointment had been made on the order placed later: CA Angers, 13 December 2011, LawLex201200001396JBJ.

 CA Paris, 20 September 2012, LawLex201200002292JBJ.

 CA Poitiers, 12 May 2017, LawLex201700000906JBJ.

 CA Colmar, 30 October 2017, LawLex201700001780JBJ; CA Grenoble, 15 May 2018, LawLex201800000738JBJ, CA Riom,16 October 2019,LawLex201900001242JBJ; CA Lyon, 16 January 2020, LawLex202000000084JBJ.

 CA Douai, 12 April 2018, LawLex201800000614JBJ.

  See for a distinction when the repair gives rise to additional services: Cass. 1re civ., 3 March 1993, LawLex200300002825JBJ.

 CA  Colmar, 26 March 2012, LawLex201200001380JBJ. Cf. CA Dijon, 10 December 2015, LawLex201500001831JBJ, qualifying as a contract concluded off-premises, even if a first contact took place on the stand of a trade fair, the one whose date establishes that it was signed at the consumer's home, two days after the fair was held.

 Cass. crim., 27 June 2006, LawLex200700000120JBJ; 18 May 2010, lawLex20121417; Cass. 1re civ., 12 July 2012, LawLex201200002282JBJ. Cf., in a case where an artisan had a consumer sign an order at their home, CA Rennes, 4 May 2012, LawLex201200001378JBJ., CA Rennes, 4 May 2012, LawLex201200001378JBJ.

French Consumer Law

457. Place of canvassing

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Les notions juridiques connexes

457. Place of canvassing

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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