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

Law No 2015-992 of 17 August 2015 on the energy transition for green growth  introduced the offense of planned obsolescence into the Consumer Code, in order to combat against the behavior of some manufacturers consisting in limiting the lifespan of everyday consumer products so they require replacement before the normal term of their use. To this end, some resort to the premature withdrawal of spa …

Planned obsolescence.

Law No 2015-992 of 17 August 2015 on the energy transition for green growth  introduced the offense of planned obsolescence into the Consumer Code, in order to combat against the behavior of some manufacturers consisting in limiting the lifespan of everyday consumer products so they require replacement before the normal term of their use. To this end, some resort to the premature withdrawal of spare parts from the market, while others deliberately give their products a defect intended to shorten their life. Law No 2021-1485 of 15 November 2021 aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of digital technology in France  also takes software obsolescence into consideration. Accordingly Article L. 441-2 (former Article L. 213-4-1) of the Consumer Code defines planned obsolescence as “the use of techniques, including software, by which the person responsible for placing a product on the market aims to deliberately reduce its lifespan”.

In practice, the enforcement of this offense, even if it pursues the dual objective of protecting the consumer and promoting sustainable development, is likely to raise difficulties. For the consumer, establishing the voluntary programming of the lifespan of a product sold by the manufacturer may prove to be difficult.

Law No 2020-105 of 10 February 2020 on the fight against waste and the circular economy introduced two new offenses to further strengthen the fight against programmed obsolescence. Article L. 441-3 of the Consumer Code, completed by Law No 2021-1485, thus prohibits, except for certain products defined by order or for legitimate reasons, including the safety or health of users, “any technique, including software, by which a marketer seeks to make it impossible to repair or refurbish an appliance or to limit the restoration of all the functionalities of such an appliance outside of its approved circuits,” with the repairability of the product considered one of the essential characteristics of the good or service as defined in Articles L. 111-1 to L. 111-7. Under Article L. 441-4, amended by Law No 2021-1485, “any agreement or practice having as its object the restriction of access by a repair, repurposing or reuse professional to spare parts, instructions for use, technical information or any other instrument, equipment or software enabling the repair of products is prohibited.” However, Article L. 441-5 expressly provides that the user's fault (clumsiness or failure to follow instructions) allows a manufacturer who has designed his device with provision for self-repair, and if he has given adequate safety instructions so that a user can implement self-repair, to escape the implementation of his liability. Finally, the law aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of digital technology in France introduced another offense in Article L. 441-6, which has since been completed by Law No 2021-1755 of 23 December 2021 aimed at reinforcing environmental regulation of the digital sector by the French Regulatory Authority for Electronic and Postal Communications, and Press Distribution : any technique, including software, the purpose of which is to restrict the consumer's freedom to install the software or operating systems of his or her choice on his or her terminal at the end of the time-limit provided for in the second paragraph of Article L. 217-3 is prohibited, unless it is intended to ensure the compliance of this terminal with the essential requirements referred to in Article L. 34-9 of the Post and Electronic Communications Code .

According to Article L. 32, 12° of the French Post and Electronic Communications Code, to which Article L. 34-9° refers: “Essential requirements” means the requirements necessary to guarantee the preservation of the general interest relating to:

- the protection of health, the safety of persons and domestic animals as well as property, under conditions set by decree approved by the Council of State ;

- the maintenance of an adequate level of electromagnetic compatibility between electronic communications equipment and installations, under conditions laid down by decree in the Council of State;

- the efficient use of radio frequencies by the equipment and a contribution to the optimized use of these frequencies by avoiding harmful interference to third parties.

The essential requirements also include, for the classes and categories of equipment provided for by decree approved by the Council of State, the requirements necessary for :

- the protection of networks, in particular the exchange of control and management information associated with them ;

- the interoperability of services and radio equipment

- the protection of personal data and the privacy of users and subscribers;

- the compatibility of radio equipment with accessories, including universal chargers, and with devices that prevent fraud, ensure access to emergency services, facilitate use by persons with disabilities, or ensure that software can be installed on radio equipment only when the combination of radio equipment and software is proven to be compliant.

For the purposes of this article, “interoperability of radio equipment” means the ability of radio equipment to function with the network and with other radio equipment.

French Consumer Law

556. Planned obsolescence.

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Les notions juridiques connexes

556. Planned obsolescence.

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Les notions juridiques connexes

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