FranceLCEN Article 12 (rewritten by the SREN Law), Warnings and Blocking Orders against Online Services Built to Imitate Another Service
archived copy
Read from a public archive copy, not the publisher directly. The publisher does not serve this page to automated readers, so a direct fetch was not an option here; how we access sources. Archived 2024. Publisher's page: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000049563368In force since .
A specific illegal content rule binding private bodies.
- Private right of action
- No
- Obligation class
- Disclosure, Prohibition
As of .
What it requires
- 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)).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
Who enforces it
Enforcement body
The administrative authority that the decree of the Conseil d'Etat under VI designates, which serves the notifications and orders, and the qualified person designated within the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés, who ensures that the measures are justified (III).
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- What must an authorized agent have found to establish that an online public communication service is 'manifestement conçu pour réaliser' the listed offences before the authority serves notice under Article 12, I?
- Does the duty on browser providers to display a warning under Article 12, I and II, bind a provider of internet browsers within the meaning of point 11 of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2022/1925 that has no establishment in France?
What this law does
The SREN Law of was published in the Journal officiel of . Under Article 12(I) of the LCEN, as rewritten by Article 24 of the SREN Law, the administrative authority gives formal notice to the publisher of an online public communication service to cease the operations that its specially designated agent finds the service is manifestly designed to carry out, namely imitating the interface of an existing service to induce users to supply personal data or money.
At the same time the authority notifies the address of the service to the providers of internet browsers within the meaning of point 11 of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2022/1925. A recipient of that notification must take without delay, as a precaution, every useful measure consisting in displaying a message that warns the user of the risk of harm in accessing the address. Those precautionary measures last seven days from their notification.
Under Article 12(II), the authority may by a reasoned decision order internet access providers or domain name resolution system providers to take without delay every useful measure to prevent access to the address of the service for a maximum of three months.
In the same conditions the authority may order internet browser providers to display without delay a clear, legible, unique and understandable message that warns users trying to reach the service of the harm incurred, makes access depend on the user's explicit confirmation and lets the user reach the official website defined by decree, for a maximum of three months. The blocking measure may be extended by up to six months, and a further extension of up to six months may be decided.
The authority may also notify the addresses to search engines or directories, which take every useful measure to stop listing them. The authority sends its requests without delay to a qualified person that the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés designates from among its members, who checks that the measures are justified.
Article 12(IV) requires the authority to make the addresses public in an open format, in a single regularly updated list, seventy-two hours after the notification or injunction is sent. Article 12(V) punishes any failure by the recipient of a notification or injunction to meet the obligations of Article 12 with the penalties provided in C of III of Article 6 of the LCEN.
A decree in the Conseil d'Etat, taken after the opinion of the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés, sets the detailed rules, including the designation of the competent administrative authority and the content of the warning messages. Article 64(III) of the SREN Law brings IV of the rewritten Article 12 into force on .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app distributes a software product, reuses other publishers' content or provides telecom services.