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

Under consumer law the contract between the consumer and the seller or service provider is automatically subject to provisions aimed at ensuring the conformity of the goods or services. Chapter 2, Book II of the Consumer Code, on the conformity and safety of products and services, provides for a general obligation of conformity pursuant to which “from their first market launch, products must meet the requirements in force relating to the health and safety of persons, fair trading and consumer protection”. The person responsible for the first market launch of a product is therefore required to check that “it complies with the requirements in force” and to justify “the verifications and checks carried out” to the Administration (Article L. 411-1, former Article L. 212-1 ).

The text imposes on “the persons responsible for the first placing on the market of a product or service” a genuine self-checking obligation, based on case law . The “requirements in force” referred to in Article L. 411-1 (former Article L. 212-1) include the regulatory measures taken by decree in the Conseil d'État provided for in Article L. 412-1 (former Article L. 214-1) , to ensure compliance with the rules applicable to products and services.

The standardization, defined in Article 1 of Decree No 2009-697 of 16 June 2009 , and implemented by the national  standardization association (AFNOR) , can also help to control the quality of the product or service. However, the standards are only optional. Professionals therefore cannot be penalized in the event of non-compliance with them, nor can they be exempted from liability on the pretext that they have complied with them. However, when the applicable regulations require products to be manufactured in accordance with professional practices, the judge may refer to the corresponding AFNOR standards, even if their application is not mandatory . As an exception, certain standards may be made mandatory by ministerial order .

Finally, since the Hamon Law, Article L. 411-2 (former Article L. 217-5) of the Consumer Code obliges any operator who, after buying or selling products, is aware of their non-conformity with the regulations, in whole or in part, and provided that it relates to a substantial quality, to inform its supplier and its buyer(s). Failure to comply with this specific obligation to provide information is punishable by one year's imprisonment and a fine of EUR 150,000.

 This obligation, created by Law No 83-660 of 21 July 1983, was inserted in Article 11-4 of the Law of 1 August 1905 on fraud and forgery in respect of goods or services. Law No 93-949 of 26 July 1993 on the Consumer Code has now repealed that article and established a general obligation of conformity by inserting Article L. 212-1 into the Consumer Code.

 Cass. crim., 3 April 1974, LawLex200600001584JBJ, holding that "although it is true that in the case of a breach of the Law of 1 August 1905, the law does not establish any presumption of deceit against the accused who failed to carry out all useful checks before releasing the goods for sale, the trial judges may, as they did in this case, sovereignly find the bad faith of the accused based on the fact that, receiving goods packaged by his subcontractors, he failed to comply with the obligation incumbent on him in his capacity as director of the agricultural technical office, to check whether the goods delivered had any defects, before releasing them for sale".

 Consumer Code, Article L. 214-1: "Decrees of the Conseil d'Etat shall determine the measures to be taken to enforce Chapters II to VI of this Title, particularly in regard to: 1° The manufacture and importation of goods other than products of animal origin and foodstuffs containing them, animal feeds of animal origin and animal feeds containing products of animal origin and the sale, the the offering for sale, presentation, holding and free distribution of all goods covered by Chapters II to VI; 2° The modes of presentation or inscriptions of any kind on the goods themselves, packaging, invoices, commercial documents or promotional documents, as regards in particular: the mode of production, the nature, the substantial qualities, the composition including, for foodstuffs, the nutritional composition, content of useful principles, species, origin, identity, quantity, fitness for use, directions for use and the optional or mandatory special marks on French goods exported abroad; 3° The definition, composition and denomination of goods of every kind, the lawful treatment to which they may be subjected, the characteristics which render them unfit for consumption; 4° The definition and conditions of use of advertising terms and expressions, with the aim of avoiding confusion; 5° The hygiene rules to be observed by food and feed business operators at all stages of the production, processing and distribution, including during the import and export of products and foodstuffs other than products of animal origin and foodstuffs containing them, and animal feed other than those of animal origin or containing products of animal origin; 6° The determination of the conditions under which are prepared, conserved, held for sale or distributed free of charge, offered for sale, sold, served and transported, products and foodstuffs intended for human or animal consumption other than products of animal origin, foodstuffs containing them and animal feed of animal origin and animal feed containing products of animal origin, as well as the determination of the characteristics to be met by the equipment necessary for their preparation, their conservation, their holding for sale or for free distribution, their sale, free distribution and transport; 7° The conditions under which the microbiological and hygienic characteristics of goods intended for human or animal consumption other than products of animal origin and foodstuffs containing them, animal feed of animal origin and animal feed containing products of animal origin; 8 ° The material conditions under which the information referred to in the last paragraph of Article L. 213-4 shall be brought to the attention of buyers on labels, advertisements, commercial papers; 9° The traceability of goods. 10° The requirements of precision, verification and taking into account significant elements of the product life-cycle in the preparation of environmental claims or using the terms of sustainable development or their synonyms, when these claims are presented on products intended for sale to consumers or accompany their marketing in the form of information on packaging, publications, advertising, telemarketing or insertions on digital or electronic media. The Decrees provided for in this Article are taken after consulting the agency referred to in Article L. 1313-1 of the Public Health Code when they include provisions aimed at preventing health or nutritional risks. The opinions of the agency are published. However, the penultimate paragraph of this Article does not apply to decrees whose purpose is to bring the rules into conformity with binding Community acts."

 Decree No 2009-697, Article 1: "Standardization is an activity of general interest designed to provide reference documents established consensually by all interested parties on the rules, characteristics, recommendations or examples of good practice relating to products, services, methods, processes or organizations. It aims to encourage economic development and innovation while taking account of sustainable development objectives."

 CA Bordeaux, 18 February 1997, LawLex200400001253JBJ.

489. Self-assessment