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 obligation to deliver goods in conformity incumbent on the seller applies not only to the thing agreed upon between the parties, but also to its accessories. Article 1615 of the Civil Code provides, in effect, that “the obligation to deliver the thing includes its accessories and all that has been intended for its perpetual use” . Thus, the delivery is only in conformity if the delivered thing …

Conformity of accessories

The obligation to deliver goods in conformity incumbent on the seller applies not only to the thing agreed upon between the parties, but also to its accessories. Article 1615 of the Civil Code provides, in effect, that “the obligation to deliver the thing includes its accessories and all that has been intended for its perpetual use” . Thus, the delivery is only in conformity if the delivered thing complies with the contractual specifications and if it has been delivered with its accessories . The accessories must be delivered at the same time as the thing, or even very shortly afterwards. A seller does not fulfil its obligation to deliver goods in conformity if it delivers the accessories long after the delivery of the thing .

Case law interprets the concept of accessory broadly: the seller must deliver the accessories and everything that is intended for its perpetual use, within the limit of what is contractually stipulated . First confined to the material elements necessary for the use of the thing, such as the instructions for the use, operation and maintenance of the thing , the concept of accessory has been extended to include all the administrative documents necessary to the normal use of the thing . For example, the original of the French registration document (acte de francisation), which must be carried on board any French-registered vessel going to sea, is an essential document for the normal use of the vessel, and constitutes its accessory . In the case of the sale of a motor vehicle, the seller must provide the purchaser with the registration document , the technical inspection certificate less than six months old  or the certificate of non-pledge defined in Article R. 322 -4, paragraph 5, of the Road Traffic Code  or the statement of purchase (déclaration d'achat), which he is required to provide if a professional ,for registration purposes . However, the fact that a roadworthiness test is handed over to the purchaser personally on the day of sale, stating that there is a discrepancy between the number on the transfer certificate and that on the registration certificate, is not sufficient for the purchaser to consider that the vehicle has been delivered in accordance with the contract, given that a roadworthiness test has no contractual value, and that the way in which this discrepancy is expressed cannot be construed as a clear and comprehensible statement of the defect affecting the vehicle and the resulting consequences in terms of conformity of use .

Finally, the concept of accessory encompasses the legal rights attached to the thing, and in particular, in the case of successive sales, the legal actions attached to the thing that belonged to its predecessor . Thus, it was held that the sub-buyer of a good had a direct action against the original seller based on the non-conformity of the thing delivered . In the case of a distribution chain, the buyer has a direct right of action against the manufacturer based on the non-conformity of the goods delivered . Similarly, in the context of a complex chain of contracts consisting of a business contract following a contract of sale, the sub-purchaser, including when he is the project owner, has a direct contractual action for non-conformity against the suppliers of the materials sold . On the other hand, in the context of the forced sale of a good to third parties during a foreclosure sale, the bidders do not benefit from the rights and actions attached to the status of owners, so that they cannot bring an action for the rescission of the sale for breach of the seller's obligation to deliver .

 For an application, CA Aix-en-Provence, 9 October 2003, LawLex200700000100JBJ.

  CA Versailles, 2 April 2009, LawLex201300000501JBJ.

CA Montpellier, 19 September 2024, LawLex202400006818JBJ.

CA Chambéry, 30 January 2024, LawLex202400000858JBJ.

 Cass. com., 21 January 2003, LawLex201600000114JBJ

 Cass. 1re civ., 20 May 2010, LawLex201300000508JBJ;  CA Pau, 13 January 2009, LawLex201300000656JBJ;  CA Paris, 18 May 2006, LawLex201300000654JBJ.

CA Versailles, 19 February 2015, LawLex201600000120JBJ, for an automobile manufacturer who fails in its obligation to deliver a vehicle in conformity when it delivers a 2002 model while its dealer undertook to deliver a 2005 model.

CA Metz, 12 December 2013, LawLex201400001955JBJ.CA

CA Paris, 1 June 2018, LawLex201800000894JBJ.

  CA Amiens, 11 October 2012, LawLex201300000662JBJ (delivery of accessories one year and eleven months after the sale).

   CA Aix-en-Provence, 9 October 2003, LawLex200700000100JBJ; CA Riom, 5 January 2012, LawLex201300000616JBJ.

   CA Versailles, 2 April 2009, LawLex201300000501JBJ.

   CA Paris, 20 September 1994, LawLex200500007309JBJ;  CA Caen, 20 September 2007, LawLex201300000665JBJ. For a self-propelled forage harvester delivered without authorization to circulate on the public highway, see  CA Caen, 29 October 2009, LawLex201300000504JBJ.

Cass. com. 9 July 2013, LawLex201500001849JBJ.

 CA Douai, 4 March 2013, LawLex201300000512JBJ; CA Lyon, 26 October 2017, LawLex201700001849JBJ: the delivery to the purchaser of a registration certificate that conforms to the technical characteristics of the vehicle to which it relates constitutes a substantial contractual obligation for the seller - this administrative document being required for the circulation and resale of the vehicle - and therefore an undertaking that sells a car with a chassis number indicated on the order form and the registration certificate that does not correspond to the one affixed to the manufacturer's plate fails to comply with its obligation to deliver the vehicle in conformity, even if the registration certificate was corrected after the sale; CA Pau, 5 March 2024, LawLex202400002234JBJ: the professional seller, responsible for the formalities of transferring the registration certificate of the sold vehicle, who not only provided the purchaser with an unblocked registration certificate indicating the former owner and equipment for two seats instead of five, which does not allow him to drive legally or to insure the vehicle in his name, but began these procedures more than a month after the sale, belatedly fulfilled his obligation to deliver in conformity; CA Paris, 6 June 2024, LawLex202400004386JBJ: in the event of the sale of a motor vehicle, it is understood that the delivery must relate to the vehicle itself as well as to its registration certificate, which allows it to be driven and identified and is an essential accessory, such that the seller, who only notified the buyer of a provisional registration certificate for the sold vehicle, even though the order form referred to the ” procedure for the vehicle registration document paid in full” failed in his obligation to deliver in conformity, thus justifying the cancellation of the sale.

   CA Douai, 10 October 2011, LawLex201300000518JBJ.

   CA Bordeaux, 10 May 2012, LawLex201200000793JBJ.

French Consumer Law

503. Conformity of accessories

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Les notions juridiques connexes

503. Conformity of accessories

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Les décisions de justice citées dans ce paragraphe :

Les notions juridiques connexes

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