Ships a mobile app, in France

Code civil, articles 1245 à 1245-17 · Read the law's page

• The chapter defines a product as any movable and treats electricity as one, and it does not name software; whether software supplied on its own counts as a movable is unsettled, so do not assume it is inside or outside the regime (Art. 1245-2).
• If you make a finished product, a raw material or a component part, put your name, brand or another distinctive mark on a product, or import a product into the European Community for sale, rental or other distribution, and you act professionally, you answer as its producer for the damage a defect in it causes, whether or not you have a contract with the victim (Arts. 1245, 1245-5).
• If you only sell, rent or otherwise supply a product as a professional and the producer cannot be identified, you answer as the producer unless you name your own supplier or the producer within three months of the victim's request; a finance lessor is not caught (Art. 1245-6).
• If a defective component of yours is built into another product, you and the person who built it in are jointly liable; as a component maker you are not liable if you show the defect comes from the design of the product it was built into or from its producer's instructions (Arts. 1245-7, 1245-10).
• Judge each release against the safety people are legitimately entitled to expect: a product is defective if it falls short, on all the circumstances, including its presentation, its reasonably expected use and the time it was put into circulation (Art. 1245-3).
• Do not count on compliance with good practice, existing standards or an administrative authorization to avoid liability, since none rules out a defect (Art. 1245-9); only a defect due to compliance with mandatory legislative or regulatory rules is a defense (Art. 1245-10, 5°).
• Keep the evidence to show, if sued, that you did not put the product into circulation, that the defect did not exist when you did or arose afterwards, that the product was not meant for sale or distribution, or that the state of scientific and technical knowledge when you put it into circulation did not allow the defect to be detected; the last defense is closed for damage caused by an element of the human body or its products (Arts. 1245-10, 1245-11).
• The injured person must prove the damage, the defect and the causal link between them, so keep design and testing records that let you answer that proof (Art. 1245-8).
• Do not rely on a contract term to exclude or limit this liability: such a clause is prohibited and deemed unwritten, except between professionals for damage to property the victim does not use mainly for private use or consumption (Art. 1245-14).
• Plan for claims for personal injury and for damage to other property above 500 euros, but not for damage to the defective product itself (Art. 1245-1; Décret n° 2005-113, Art. 1).
• Plan for liability to last ten years after you put the product into circulation, longer where you were at fault or where the victim has already sued, and for claims to run three years from when the claimant knew or should have known of the damage, the defect and the producer's identity (Arts. 1245-15, 1245-16).
• Do not treat this chapter as the whole of your exposure: the victim keeps any right under contract law, tort law or a special liability regime, and you remain liable for your own fault (Art. 1245-17).
• Watch for amendment of this chapter: the Ministry of Justice has said it must be modified to transpose Directive (EU) 2024/2853, which applies to products placed on the market after 9 December 2026.

Décret n° 2019-768 du 24 juillet 2019 · Read the law's page

• Make your online public communication services accessible to persons with disabilities in accordance with the harmonised standards, or parts of them, whose references are published in the Official Journal of the European Union under Article 6 of Directive (EU) 2016/2102 (Décret 2019-768, Art. 1).
• Apply the accessibility framework (référentiel d'accessibilité) adopted jointly by the minister for persons with disabilities and the minister for digital affairs, which sets the technical arrangements for implementing accessibility and the format of the statement and the home-page mention (Art. 5); version 4 of the Référentiel général d'amélioration de l'accessibilité (RGAA) was adopted by joint order of 20 September 2019, and its publisher has issued revisions since (4.0 to 4.1 and 4.1 to 4.1.2).
• Publish online the accessibility statement required by Article 47(III) of the Act, in the manner the framework specifies, with at least: the publication manager's contact details, the service name and a link to the multi-year plan; the state of the service against the accessibility obligation, the evaluation elements and the list of inaccessible content with reasons and accessible alternatives; and the means for users to report accessibility difficulties and the remedies available (Art. 6, I and II).
• Communicate the statement to the administration through the teleservice, under the arrangements set jointly by the two ministers (Art. 6, III).
• Show on the home page the accessibility mention required by Article 47(IV), in the manner the framework specifies (Art. 6, IV).
• Include in the continuing training of your staff who work on the services a theoretical and practical course on digital accessibility and compliance with the accessibility requirements (Art. 7).
• The duties of Article 47 bind an enterprise only if its average annual turnover achieved in France over the last three accounting years closed before the year concerned reaches EUR 250 million (Art. 2).
• You need not make the following content accessible: office files published before 23 September 2018 unless needed for an administrative procedure within your tasks; prerecorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020; live audio and video; online maps and mapping services, if essential information on maps giving a location or route is provided in accessible digital form; third-party content you neither finance, develop nor control; reproductions of heritage collection items that cannot be made fully accessible because the requirements are incompatible with preserving the item or the authenticity of the reproduction, or because no automated and economical transcription solution is available; intranet and extranet content published before 23 September 2019, until the site is thoroughly revised; and website and mobile application content that is neither needed for an active administrative procedure nor updated or modified after 23 September 2019, such as archives (Art. 3).
• You may leave content or functionality inaccessible where making it accessible would be a disproportionate burden: where your size, resources and nature do not allow it, or where the expected benefit for persons with disabilities is too low against your cost, taking account of the frequency and duration of use and the importance of the service; provide an accessible alternative where that is reasonably possible (Art. 4).
• Meet the duties by the dates in Article 10: for the persons in 1° to 3° of Article 47(I), 23 September 2019 (websites, intranets and extranets created since 23 September 2018), 23 September 2020 (those created before) and 23 June 2021 (mobile applications, packaged software and digital street furniture); for the enterprises in 4°, 1 October 2019, 1 October 2020 and 1 July 2021 on the same pattern; digital street furniture installed before those dates may stay in service until the end of its economically useful life, at most fifteen years from entry into service (Art. 10).

Loi n° 2005-102 du 11 février 2005, art. 47 (I, 2°) et 47-1 · Read the law's page

• If you are a private-law person delegated a public service mission, make your online public communication services (websites, intranets, extranets, mobile applications, packaged software and the application and interactive part of digital street furniture) accessible to persons with disabilities, in accordance with the accessibility requirements fixed by the decree under Article 47(V) (Act of 11 February 2005, Art. 47, I, 2°, and II).
• Publish an accessibility statement and draw up a multi-year accessibility plan, made public and broken down into annual action plans, for a term of no more than three years (Art. 47, III).
• Show on the home page of every such service a clearly visible mention of whether it complies with the accessibility rules (Art. 47, IV).
• Give easy and direct access, from every such service, to the accessibility statement, the multi-year plan and the current year's action plan, and let users easily report breaches of the accessibility rules (Art. 47, IV).
• If Arcom serves a formal notice that you have failed the obligations in I, III or IV of Article 47, comply within the period it sets (Art. 47-1, II).
• The accessibility duty applies to the extent that it does not create a disproportionate burden for you (Art. 47, II; Décret 2019-768, Art. 4).

Loi n° 2005-102 du 11 février 2005, art. 47 (I, 4°) et 47-1 · Read the law's page

• If your turnover exceeds the threshold set by the decree under Article 47(V), make your online public communication services (websites, intranets, extranets, mobile applications, packaged software and the application and interactive part of digital street furniture) accessible to persons with disabilities, in accordance with the accessibility requirements fixed by that decree (Act of 11 February 2005, Art. 47, I and II); the threshold is EUR 250 million of average annual turnover achieved in France over the last three accounting years closed before the year concerned (Décret 2019-768, Art. 2).
• Publish an accessibility statement and draw up a multi-year accessibility plan, made public and broken down into annual action plans, for a term of no more than three years (Art. 47, III).
• Show on the home page of every such service a clearly visible mention of whether it complies with the accessibility rules (Art. 47, IV).
• Give easy and direct access, from every such service, to the accessibility statement, the multi-year plan and the current year's action plan, and let users easily report breaches of the accessibility rules (Art. 47, IV).
• If Arcom serves a formal notice that you have failed the obligations in III or IV of Article 47, comply within the period it sets (Art. 47-1, II).
• The accessibility duty applies to the extent that it does not create a disproportionate burden for you (Art. 47, II; Décret 2019-768, Art. 4).

Code de la consommation, art. L. 312-95 et L. 314-32; Code monétaire et financier, art. L. 133-44 (V), L. 311-14, L. 315-8-1, L. 323-1 et L. 323-2 · Read the law's page

• If you provide consumer banking contracts or services after 28 June 2025 (the pre-contractual information sheets and credit contracts, investment services, payment services and the operations of a payment account, the services linked to payment accounts, and the management of electronic money), make them meet the accessibility requirements of Article L. 412-13 of the Code de la consommation and of the Arrêté of 9 October 2023 (Code de la consommation, Art. D. 412-50, I, 4°).
• As lender, make sure that the contracts of section 11 of chapter II of title I of book III of the Code de la consommation, and the information sheets, offers and credit contracts you provide to your customers, meet those requirements (Art. L. 312-95 and L. 314-32).
• As payment service provider, make sure the authentication methods you provide to your customers meet those requirements (Code monétaire et financier, Art. L. 133-44, V).
• As a professional providing the payment-account and payment services of the Code monétaire et financier, make sure the operations and services you provide to your customers are accessible in accordance with Article L. 412-13 (Art. L. 311-14).
• As electronic money issuer, make sure all the operations needed to manage electronic money meet those requirements (Art. L. 315-8-1).
• As investment services provider, entity providing investment services that is not subject to the authorisation procedure of Article L. 531-2, or investment adviser, make sure the investment services of Articles L. 321-1 and L. 321-2 you provide, and all the operations needed to carry out, manage and terminate them, meet those requirements (Art. L. 323-1 and L. 323-2).
• Provide identification methods, electronic signatures and security and payment services that are perceivable, operable, understandable and robust, and make sure the information is understandable and does not exceed level B2 (advanced) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (Arrêté of 9 October 2023, Art. 9, 4°).
• Meet the same obligations as other service providers on information about the service, corrective measures and cooperation with the authorities (Code de la consommation, Art. D. 412-57).
• The requirements apply only to the extent that compliance does not require a significant change amounting to a fundamental alteration of the nature of the service and does not impose a disproportionate burden; if you receive funding from sources other than your own resources to improve the accessibility of a service, you cannot rely on the disproportionate burden for it (Code de la consommation, Art. L. 412-13, II).
• Context: the accessibility requirements for services and all the obligations tied to them do not apply to an enterprise that employs fewer than ten persons and whose annual turnover or balance sheet total does not exceed EUR 2 million (Code de la consommation, Art. L. 412-13, I).
• Context: contracts concluded before 28 June 2025 may run unmodified until they end and at the latest until 28 June 2030; you may keep using until 28 June 2030 products you lawfully used before 28 June 2025 to provide similar services; self-service terminals lawfully used before 28 June 2025 may stay in use for similar services until the end of their economically useful life, up to fifteen years from entry into service (Loi n° 2023-171, Art. 16, VIII, B to D).

Code de la consommation, art. L. 412-13, D. 412-50, D. 412-57 à D. 412-61 et R. 451-4; arrêté du 9 octobre 2023, chapitres III à V · Read the law's page

• If you provide to consumers after 28 June 2025 electronic communications services (other than machine-to-machine transmission), services giving access to audiovisual media services, the listed elements of air, rail, bus and coach, metro, tram, trolleybus and inland waterway passenger transport services (websites, mobile services and apps, e-tickets and ticketing services, travel information, and interactive self-service terminals in the Union), consumer banking contracts and services, or e-commerce services, design and provide them to meet the accessibility requirements of chapters III and V of the Arrêté of 9 October 2023 (Code de la consommation, Art. L. 412-13, I and D. 412-50, I and D. 412-57, 1°).
• Make your websites, including related online applications, and your mobile device services, including mobile applications, accessible in a consistent and appropriate way by making them perceivable, operable, understandable and robust (Arrêté of 9 October 2023, Art. 8, 3°).
• Provide information on how the service works and on how it relates to any products used, with its accessibility features and its interoperability with assistive devices, through more than one sensory channel, in an understandable way and in text formats that allow other formats (Arrêté, Art. 8, 2°).
• Make your support services (help desks, call centres, technical support, relay and training services) give information on the accessibility of the service and its compatibility with assistive technologies through accessible modes of communication (Arrêté, Art. 8, 4°).
• For electronic communications services, including emergency communications, offer real-time text in addition to voice, total conversation where video is offered, synchronised voice and text emergency communications passed to the most appropriate emergency call-reception centre, and support for communication adapted to aphasia under the reference framework adopted by joint order (Arrêté, Art. 9, 1°).
• For services giving access to audiovisual media services, provide perceivable, operable, understandable and robust electronic programme guides and information on the availability of accessibility features, and make sure that subtitles for deaf and hard-of-hearing people, audio description, spoken subtitles and sign language interpretation are fully transmitted, in appropriate quality, synchronised with sound and video, and adjustable by the user (Arrêté, Art. 9, 2°).
• For passenger transport services, provide information on the accessibility of vehicles, surrounding infrastructure and the built environment and on assistance for persons with disabilities, and information on smart ticketing systems and real-time travel information (Arrêté, Art. 9, 3°).
• For e-commerce services, provide the accessibility information on the products and services offered when the responsible operator supplies it, and make identification, security and payment functions provided as part of a service, and identification methods, electronic signatures and payment services, perceivable, operable, understandable and robust (Arrêté, Art. 9, 5°).
• Set out the information assessing how the service meets the accessibility requirements in your general terms and conditions or an equivalent document, describing the service in accessible formats and explaining how the requirements are met, make it available to the public in written and oral form including in an accessible way, and keep it as long as the service is available (Code de la consommation, Art. D. 412-57, 2°, and the annex to Art. D. 412-57).
• Put procedures in place so that the provision of services stays compliant, taking account of any change in the service, in the requirements or in the harmonised standards or technical specifications against which conformity is declared (Art. D. 412-57, 3°).
• If a service is non-compliant, take the corrective measures needed and inform the market surveillance authorities of the Member States where you provide it, with details of the non-conformity and of any measure taken; on their reasoned request, supply all the information needed to show conformity and cooperate (Art. D. 412-57, 4° and 5°).
• If you rely on the disproportionate-burden defence, assess it on the criteria of the annex to Article D. 412-60, keep the results for five years from the last time the service was provided, give the authorities a copy on request, renew the assessment for each category or type of service when the service is altered, when the inspecting agents ask and at least every five years, and inform the market surveillance authorities of the Member State where the service is provided (Art. D. 412-60, I, III and IV).
• The requirements apply only to the extent that compliance does not require a significant change amounting to a fundamental alteration of the nature of the service and does not impose a disproportionate burden; if you receive funding from sources other than your own resources to improve the accessibility of a service, you cannot rely on the disproportionate burden for it (Art. L. 412-13, II).
• Context: the accessibility requirements for services and all the obligations tied to them do not apply to an enterprise that employs fewer than ten persons and whose annual turnover or balance sheet total does not exceed EUR 2 million (Art. L. 412-13, I).
• Context: the section does not apply to pre-recorded time-based media and office file formats published before 28 June 2025, online maps whose essential information is provided in an accessible digital form, third-party content you neither fund, develop nor control, or website and mobile application content that is an archive, which only holds content not updated or edited after 28 June 2025 (Art. D. 412-50, III).
• Context: services that conform to the accessible-information requirements of the EU passenger rights regulations are deemed to meet the accessibility requirements, and services that conform to harmonised standards or technical specifications are presumed to meet the requirements those cover (Art. D. 412-58 and D. 412-59).
• Context: contracts concluded before 28 June 2025 may run unmodified until they end and at the latest until 28 June 2030; you may keep using until 28 June 2030 products you lawfully used before 28 June 2025 to provide similar services; self-service terminals lawfully used before 28 June 2025 may stay in use for similar services until the end of their economically useful life, up to fifteen years from entry into service, and their renewal must secure a balanced territorial distribution (Loi n° 2023-171, Art. 16, VIII, B to D).

Loi n° 2005-102 du 11 février 2005, art. 48; décret n° 2023-778 du 14 août 2023; arrêté du 14 août 2023 · Read the law's page

• If you publish, distribute or sell digital books, or publish software specialised in access to, navigation in, reading and use of digital books (including services integrated on mobile devices and mobile applications), meet the accessibility requirements set by the Arrêté of 14 August 2023 (Loi n° 2005-102, Art. 48, I).
• As publisher of digital books, design book files that meet the accessibility requirements of the arrêté and fill in the metadata of the files in accordance with it (Décret 2023-778, Art. 2, I).
• As distributor or disseminator of digital books, receive, store and send the files to retailers without compromising their accessibility features or changing their metadata (Décret 2023-778, Art. 2, II).
• As retailer of digital books, store and supply the files to the consumer without compromising their accessibility features, and faithfully restore to the consumer the metadata on accessibility characteristics (Décret 2023-778, Art. 2, III).
• As publisher of software specialised in digital books, design and provide software that supports the accessibility of the book files (Décret 2023-778, Art. 2, IV).
• Make sure procedures are in place so that the provision of digital books or specialised software stays compliant, taking account of changes in them, in the requirements and in the harmonised standards or technical specifications against which conformity is declared (Décret 2023-778, Art. 2, V).
• Give the information of Annex V of Directive (EU) 2019/882 in written, oral and accessible form and keep it as long as your services are available (Loi n° 2005-102, Art. 48, III).
• Meet the requirements of the Arrêté of 14 August 2023: accessible products used in the service, information on how the service works and on its accessibility features, support services that give accessibility information, and for digital books synchronised text and audio, no obstruction of assistive technologies, access to content and navigation, alternative renderings, accessibility metadata and digital rights management that does not block accessibility features (Arrêté of 14 August 2023, Art. 1 and 2).
• On a reasoned request of Arcom supply all the information needed to show that the service conforms, and take any corrective measure it asks for when it reports a non-conformity; if you find a non-conformity, take the corrective measures needed and inform Arcom (Loi n° 2005-102, Art. 48, IV and V).
• If you rely on either defence, keep the evidence and results of the assessment for five years from the date of the last version of the book or software made available to the public, give Arcom a copy on request, renew the assessment when the book or software is modified, on Arcom's request and at least every five years, and inform the authorities of the Member State where the book or software is placed on the market (Décret 2023-778, Art. 3).
• The requirements apply only to the extent that compliance does not require a significant change amounting to a fundamental alteration of the nature of the product or service and does not impose a disproportionate burden; if you receive funding from sources other than your own resources to improve accessibility you cannot rely on the disproportionate burden for the service (Loi n° 2005-102, Art. 48, II).
• If you employ fewer than ten persons and your annual turnover or balance sheet total does not exceed EUR 2 million, the accessibility requirements of Article 48 and the obligations tied to them do not apply to you (Loi n° 2005-102, Art. 48, I).
• Context: the decree and the arrêté apply to digital books and specialised software published from 28 June 2025, and from 28 June 2030 to those published before 28 June 2025 (Décret 2023-778, Art. 7; Arrêté of 14 August 2023, Art. 3).
• Context: digital books and specialised software that respect the harmonised standards published in the Official Journal of the European Union, or failing them the technical specifications adopted by the European Commission, are presumed to meet the requirements (Décret 2023-778, Art. 1).