Distributes a software product, 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.

LCEN, art. 12 (loi n° 2004-575 du 21 juin 2004, as rewritten by loi n° 2024-449 du 21 mai 2024, art. 24) · Read the law's page

• It binds a provider of an internet browser (within the meaning of point 11 of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2022/1925), an internet access provider, a domain name resolution system provider, and a search engine or directory, but only once the French administrative authority notifies or orders it about an online service that the authority has found manifestly designed to imitate another service's interface (Article 12 of the LCEN).
• If you provide an internet browser and the authority notifies you of the address of such a service, display without delay a clear, legible, unique and understandable message warning the user of the risk of harm in accessing that address, with access to the official website that the implementing decree defines, and keep it for seven days from the notification (Article 12(I)).
• If the authority orders you, as a browser provider, to do so, display without delay a message that warns users trying to reach the service, makes access depend on the user's explicit confirmation and lets the user reach the official website, for the period ordered, which is at most three months (Article 12(II)).
• If you are an internet access provider or a domain name resolution system provider and the authority orders you to, take without delay every useful measure to prevent access to the address of the service for the period ordered, which is at most three months; the authority may extend the measure by up to six months and then by a further six months (Article 12(II)).
• If you operate a search engine or a directory and the authority notifies you of such an address, take every useful measure to stop listing it (Article 12(II)).

Code de la consommation, art. L. 412-13, D. 412-49 et D. 412-51 à D. 412-56, D. 412-59 à D. 412-62 et R. 451-4; arrêté du 9 octobre 2023, chapitres Ier et II · Read the law's page

• If you place on the market in France after 28 June 2025 a consumer general purpose computer hardware system or its operating system, a payment terminal, an automated teller machine, ticketing machine, check-in machine or interactive self-service information terminal (other than one installed as an integral part of a vehicle, aircraft, ship or rolling stock), consumer terminal equipment with interactive computing capability used for electronic communications services or for accessing audiovisual media services, or an e-reader, design and make it to meet the accessibility requirements of chapters I and II of the Arrêté of 9 October 2023 (Code de la consommation, Art. L. 412-13, I and D. 412-49).
• Give the product accessible information on its operation and accessibility features, on the product itself where possible, with labelling, instructions and warnings available through more than one sensory channel (Arrêté of 9 October 2023, Art. 1 and 2).
• Give the product, including its user interface, features, elements and functions that let persons with disabilities access, perceive, operate, understand and control it, including alternatives to sight, hearing, speech and touch where it communicates, uses speech, visual elements, colour or sound (Arrêté of 9 October 2023, Art. 3).
• Make the support services for the product (help desks, call centres, technical support, relay and training services) give information on its accessibility and its compatibility with assistive technologies through accessible modes of communication (Arrêté of 9 October 2023, Art. 4).
• Unless the product is a self-service terminal, make its packaging, and the installation, maintenance, storage and disposal instructions that are not supplied on the product, accessible (Arrêté of 9 October 2023, Art. 5 to 7).
• Where the arrêté does not address a function, make that function accessible by meeting the functional performance criteria (Arrêté of 9 October 2023, Art. 13 and 14).
• As manufacturer, place on the market only appliances designed and made to meet the requirements, draw up the technical documentation, apply the conformity assessment procedure of the annex, and once conformity is shown draw up the EU declaration of conformity and affix the CE marking (Code de la consommation, Art. D. 412-51, 1° and 2°, D. 412-61 and D. 412-62).
• As manufacturer, keep the technical documentation and the EU declaration of conformity for five years after the product is placed on the market (Art. D. 412-51, 3°).
• As manufacturer, put procedures in place so that series production stays conforming, taking account of changes to the design or characteristics of the product and to the harmonised standards or technical specifications against which conformity is declared (Art. D. 412-51, 4°).
• As manufacturer, mark the product with a type, batch or serial number, with your name or trademark and a single postal address, and supply instructions and safety information in French for products made available in France (Art. D. 412-51, 5° to 7°).
• As manufacturer, take corrective action at once if you consider a product you placed on the market non-compliant, inform the national authorities of the Member States where it was made available, and keep a register of non-compliant products and of the related complaints (Art. D. 412-51, 8°).
• As manufacturer, on a reasoned request of the market surveillance authorities give them all the information and documents needed to show that the product conforms, in a language they readily understand, and cooperate in any measure to remove the non-conformity (Art. D. 412-51, 9°).
• As authorised representative, hold a written mandate that lets you at least keep the EU declaration of conformity and the technical documentation available to the authorities for five years, supply information and documents on a reasoned request, and cooperate with them; the manufacturer cannot assign to you its design and production duty or the drawing up of the technical documentation (Art. D. 412-52).
• As importer, place on the market only conforming products, and check before doing so that the manufacturer applied the conformity assessment and drew up the technical documentation, that the product bears the CE marking and comes with the required documents, and that the manufacturer marked it with its identification and details; do not place on the market a product you consider non-compliant until it is brought into conformity, and inform the manufacturer and the market surveillance authorities (Art. D. 412-53, 1° to 3°).
• As importer, mark the product with your name or trademark and address, check that the instructions and safety information are in French, keep storage and transport conditions that do not compromise conformity, keep a copy of the EU declaration of conformity available to the authorities for five years and make sure the documentation can be supplied to them on request (Art. D. 412-53, 4° to 7°).
• As importer, take corrective action and inform the national authorities and keep a register of non-compliant products and complaints, and on a reasoned request give the authorities the information and documents needed, which they make available to consumers on request in an accessible format unless confidentiality under Article 17 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020 prevents it (Art. D. 412-53, 8° and 9°).
• As distributor, act with due care, check before making a product available that it bears the CE marking and comes with the required documents and with instructions and safety information in French, and that the manufacturer and importer marked it and gave their details; do not make available a product you consider non-compliant until it is brought into conformity, and inform the manufacturer or importer and the authorities (Art. D. 412-54, 1° to 3°).
• As distributor, keep storage and transport conditions that do not compromise conformity, take corrective action or withdraw a product you placed on the market that you consider non-compliant and inform the national authorities, and on a reasoned request give the authorities the information and documents needed and cooperate (Art. D. 412-54, 4° to 6°).
• If you place a product on the market under your own name or trademark, or modify a product already placed on the market so that conformity may be compromised, you carry the manufacturer's duties (Art. D. 412-55).
• On request of the market surveillance authorities, identify any economic operator that supplied you with a product and any to which you supplied one, for five years from the supply (Art. D. 412-56).
• If you rely on either defence, assess it on the criteria of the annex to Article D. 412-60, keep the results for five years from the last making available of the product, give the authorities a copy on request, state the requirements concerned in the EU declaration of conformity, and inform the market surveillance authorities of the Member State where the product is placed on the market (Art. D. 412-60, I and IV, and D. 412-61, I).
• The accessibility 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 and does not impose a disproportionate burden; if you receive funding from sources other than your own resources to improve the accessibility of a product, you cannot rely on the disproportionate burden for it (Art. L. 412-13, II).
• Enterprises of fewer than ten persons in the field of products whose annual turnover or balance sheet total does not exceed EUR 2 million need not provide the evidence of the assessment or the notification, but must give the authorities the facts relevant to the assessment if they ask and have chosen to rely on the defence (Art. D. 412-60, II and IV).
• Products that conform to harmonised standards or technical specifications, or parts of them, are presumed to meet the accessibility requirements those standards or specifications cover (Art. D. 412-59).

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).