FRANCE Law and Practice Contributed by: Marianne Le Moullec, Gaëlle Robic and Joséphine Perrin, Orasis Avocats
breach of the law, including failure to disclose com - mercial intent, the promotion of health and cosmetic claims, promoting false promotions, or advertising prohibited sectors such as lotteries, financial products or sports betting. 1.10 Taste and Cultural Concerns Advertisers must be reminded that, in accordance with Law No 94-665 of 4 August 1994, the use of the French language is mandatory in all written, spoken or audiovisual advertising in France. Claims, slogans, legal notices or informational notices formulated in a foreign language must be accompanied by a transla - tion into French, which must be visible and under - standable. With regards to images of models in advertising, in 2017 France put rules in place to regulate the use of excessively thin models. Models (adults and minors) must obtain a medical certificate confirming that their overall health allows them to work; this certificate takes into account the model’s Body Mass Index (BMI) and nutritional status. Any advertising image (press, billboards, internet, catalogues, leaflets) in which a model’s silhouette has been digitally altered (made thinner or thicker) must clearly display the label “retouched photograph”. Advertisers must also follow the ethical codes pub - lished by the ARPP, and are subject to vigilance and scrutiny from the public and from various associa - tions. When there is a complaint about non-ethical advertising, the JDP will render a decision (see 1.7 Self-Regulatory Authorities ). 1.11 Politics, Regulation and Enforcement The legislators focus on the effectiveness and speed of the enforcement of advertising rules, especially as consumers are increasingly being deceived by influ - encers and e-commerce sites. Deceptive advertising is a criminal offence. Only a criminal court can rule that advertising is decep - tive, but it may take years to obtain such a ruling. That is why the powers of the administration have recently been expanded by the legislators, to speed up enforcement.
The Act of 9 June 2023 has granted the DGCCRF the power to issue daily penalties of up to 0.1% of an offender’s global turnover (with a total maximum of 5% of its global turnover), which are owed until the advertiser complies with the order. The Act of 30 June 2025 increased the administrative fine incurred if the advertiser refuses to comply with the order from the DGCCRF; the administrative fine is now the same as the sanction incurred as a criminal fine for deceptive advertisement. Although the advertiser may ultimately challenge the order and the fine before the courts, payment of the administrative fine occurs first. This is a very significant incentive to comply with the position of the administration. 2. Advertising Claims 2.1 Deceptive or Misleading Claims Deceptive or misleading claims are characterised by two cumulative conditions: • a material element characterised by the false nature of the advertisement; and • a subjective element relating to the effect produced on the average consumer. The first condition, the material element, occurs when the information given to the consumer is false, untruthful in any way or likely to deceive the average consumer. The second condition, the subjective element, occurs when the deceptive information materially distorts or is likely to materially distort economic behaviour with regard to the product of the average consumer. The risk is enough – it is not necessary to demonstrate that consumers have actually changed or modified their behaviour. In addition, the French Consumer Code provides a list of 28 practices that are deemed to be misleading in all circumstances; this is the transposition of the list contained in EU Directive 2005/29, which applies in all EU member states.
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