FranceCode de la consommation Articles L. 133-1 to L. 133-3 and L. 531-7 (inserted by the SREN Law), Offences by Marketplace Providers under the Digital Services Act
In force since .
A transparency and process rule binding private bodies.
- Obligation class
- Disclosure, Governance
As of .
What it requires
- As a provider of marketplaces, do not design, organize or operate an online interface in breach of Article 25 of the Digital Services Act.
- As a provider of marketplaces, respect the traceability duties for traders in Article 30, the interface-design duties in Article 31 and the consumer-information duties in Article 32 of the Digital Services Act.
- Do not give the authorized agents inaccurate, incomplete or misleading information in their checks, reply to their requests, correct information you gave that was inaccurate, incomplete or misleading, and submit to an inspection and seizure operation.
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Article L. 133-1 punishes the offence with two years' imprisonment and a fine of EUR 300,000, which for a legal person may be raised to 6 % of worldwide turnover. Article L. 133-3 adds bans on a public function or on a professional, commercial or managerial activity of up to five years.
Penalty structure
Article L. 133-1 sets a fine of EUR 300,000, which for a legal person may be raised, in proportion to the advantages derived from the offence, to 6 % of worldwide turnover before tax for the preceding financial year.
- Rule
- Higher of
- As of
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 300,000
- Turnover percentage cap
- 6
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The administrative authority in charge of competition and consumer affairs, whose agents Article L. 511-7-1 empowers to investigate and record the offences of online platform providers.
What this law does
Article L. 133-1 punishes a provider of marketplaces with two years' imprisonment and a fine of EUR 300,000. For a legal person the fine may be raised to 6 % of worldwide turnover before tax for the preceding financial year, in proportion to the advantages derived from the offence. The offence is a breach of Article 25 of the Digital Services Act on the design, organization or operation of an online interface.
The offence also covers a failure to respect the traceability duties of Article 30, the interface-design duties of Article 31 and the consumer-information duties of Article 32 of the Digital Services Act. Article L. 133-2 lets the consumer authority, after informing the public prosecutor, ask the civil court to order the offender to comply, and the judge may attach a daily penalty payment of up to 5 % of the provider's average daily worldwide turnover before tax.
Article L. 133-3 adds, for an individual convicted of the offence, a ban on a public function or on a professional, commercial or managerial activity, which may not exceed five years. Article L. 511-7-1 empowers the authorized agents to investigate and record the offences of online platform providers whose main establishment or legal representative is in France. Article L. 512-68 lets those agents cooperate with the agents of the digital services coordinator.
Article L. 531-7 punishes inaccurate, incomplete or misleading information, a failure to reply and a failure to submit to an inspection and seizure operation with the penalty in Article L. 531-1. The fine under Article L. 531-7 is capped at 1 % of worldwide turnover before tax for the financial year preceding the facts, for a legal person.
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app operates a social platform.