FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Marianne Le Moullec, Gaëlle Robic and Joséphine Perrin, Orasis Avocats
by the Agence national de sécurité du médicament et des produits de santé (ANSM). 1.6 Intellectual Property and Publicity Rights Based on Article 9 of the French Civil Code (right to private life), the French courts have ruled that every person has an exclusive and absolute right to their image and may oppose the recording, reproduction or use thereof without prior authorisation. This includes their picture, as well as their voice if the person is identifiable with the picture used or the recording or imitation of their voice. In addition, Article 226-8 of the French Criminal Code prohibits “deepfake” images or videos, where a machine has been used to reproduce the image or the voice/words of an individual, without consent. 1.7 Self-Regulatory Authorities The ARPP is the French advertising self-regulatory authority. It is a non-profit association, whose mem - bers are advertisers, advertising agencies and media companies. It is independent from the public powers and is funded by fees for membership, pre-clearance services and training sessions. The ARPP has issued ethical codes, based on the ICC codes, and its mission is to maintain high stand - ards for truthful and ethical advertising. The ARPP is in charge of the mandatory clearance for TV and VoD advertisements (see 1.5 Pre-Approvals ). Within the ARPP, the Jury de Déontologie Publicitaire (JDP) rules on consumer complaints regarding adver - tisements that appear to be in breach of the ARPP eth - ical codes. The JDP does not receive any instructions from the ARPP. This procedure is free. Its decisions are non-binding, because the JPD is a self-regulatory authority and does not have jurisdictional powers. All JDP decisions are published on its website. 1.8 Private Right of Action for Consumers A consumer may file a complaint with the DGCCRF, which is the administration in charge of investigating misleading advertising practices. The DGCCRF has an online platform called SignalConso, where consum - ers may file a complaint. A consumer may also file a complaint directly with the police or with the pub -
lic prosecutor, associated with a claim for monetary damages. A consumer can bring a civil action before civil courts to obtain damages. Some consumer associations have a right to act on behalf of the general interest of consumers, against advertisers, to obtain an injunction from a civil court to cease illicit advertising practices as well as damages. However, in such actions, individual consumers do not receive any monetary damages. Some consumer associations may bring a group class action against an advertiser for deceptive advertising practices. Consumers that have adhered to this group class action may receive financial compensation for the damage they suffered. If the consumer believes that an advertisement may breach the ethical code of the ARPP, they can bring a complaint before the JDP (see 1.7 Self-Regulatory Authorities ). 1.9 Regulatory and Legal Trends The French authorities have notably focused on unso - licited phone calls, deceptive price promotions and the regulation of commercial influencers. New Act Prohibiting Cold Calling Without “Opt-In” Consent A new law was adopted on 30 June 2025 to limit unsolicited phone calls from advertisers. As of August 2026, it will be prohibited to call consumers without having an opt-in consent to such solicitation. Deceptive Price Promotions on Fast Fashion Websites The DGCCRF has been focusing on fast fashion websites, demonstrating that most of their price pro - motions were deceptive. In July 2025, the DGCCRF issued a EUR40 million transactional fine against SHEIN, and a EUR1.3 million transactional fine against Pretty Little Things. Regulation of Commercial Influencers The DGCCRF has inspected more than 260 com - mercial influencers, 110 of whom were found to be in
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