FrancePenal Code, Articles 225-1 and 225-2, ban on discrimination on the ground of handicap in the supply of a good or service
Code pénal, art. 225-1 et 225-2
In force since .
A disability discrimination rule binding public and private bodies.
- Instrument type
- an act of a legislature
- Obligation class
- Prohibition
As of .
What it requires
- The Penal Code names no technical accessibility standard for a website or app: the duty is the ban on discrimination on the ground of handicap in the supply of a good or service (Penal Code, Art. 225-1 and 225-2).
- Do not refuse to supply a good or a service to a natural person on the ground of the person's handicap, or to a legal person on the ground of the handicap of all or some of its members (Art. 225-1 and 225-2, 1°); the same applies to making the supply conditional on a condition based on such a ground (Art. 225-2, 4°).
- Do not obstruct the normal exercise of any economic activity on such a ground (Art. 225-2, 2°).
These lines are LexLint's reading of the law's text, as of .
If you get it wrong
Criminal exposureYes
Criminal exposure note
Discrimination within the meaning of Articles 225-1 to 225-1-2 against a natural or legal person that consists in refusing to supply a good or a service is punished by three years' imprisonment and a fine of EUR 45,000; where the refusal is committed in a place receiving the public or to prohibit access to one, by five years' imprisonment and a fine of EUR 75,000 (Article 225-2). A legal person incurs a fine of up to five times those amounts (Articles 225-4 and 131-38).
Penalty structure
Article 225-2 punishes the offence with three years' imprisonment and a fine of EUR 45,000, raised to five years and EUR 75,000 where a discriminatory refusal to supply a good or a service is committed in a place receiving the public or to prohibit access to one. A legal person incurs a fine of up to five times the amount for a natural person (Articles 225-4 and 131-38), so EUR 225,000, or EUR 375,000 in the aggravated case, besides the penalties in 2° to 5°, 8° and 9° of Article 131-39. The cap shown is the maximum for a legal person in the aggravated case.
- Rule
- Fixed only
- As of
- Currency
- EUR
- Fixed cap
- 375,000
Who enforces it
Settledness
- As of
- Open questions
- Does a refusal to supply a service through a website or app that a person with a handicap cannot use amount to "refuser la fourniture d'un bien ou d'un service" under Article 225-2, 1°?
- Does "lieu accueillant du public" in the last paragraph of Article 225-2 reach an online service?
What this law does
Article 225-1 of the Penal Code defines as discrimination any distinction between natural persons made on the ground of, among other grounds, their handicap. It likewise defines as discrimination any distinction between legal persons made on the ground of the handicap of all or some of their members.
Article 225-2 punishes such discrimination, committed against a natural or legal person, with three years' imprisonment and a fine of EUR 45,000 when it consists in refusing to supply a good or a service. It is punished in the same way when it consists in making the supply of a good or a service conditional on a condition based on one of the grounds in Article 225-1. It is also punished in the same way when it consists in obstructing the normal exercise of any economic activity.
Where the discriminatory refusal to supply a good or a service is committed in a place receiving the public, or to prohibit access to one, the penalties rise to five years' imprisonment and a fine of EUR 75,000. Article 225-2 also punishes discrimination that consists in refusing to hire, sanctioning or dismissing a person.
Article 225-3 provides that Article 225-2 does not apply to discriminations based on state of health or handicap that consist in a refusal of hire or a dismissal based on medically established unfitness. The offences are made out even if committed against a person who requested the good or service in order to demonstrate the discriminatory conduct, once that conduct is proved.
A legal person held criminally liable for the offences in Article 225-2 incurs, besides the fine set under Article 131-38, the penalties in 2° to 5°, 8° and 9° of Article 131-39; the prohibition under 2° of Article 131-39 reaches the activity in the exercise of which the offence was committed. Under Article 131-38 the maximum fine for a legal person is five times that set for a natural person by the law that punishes the offence, so EUR 225,000, or EUR 375,000 in the aggravated case.
Articles 225-1 and 225-2 have named handicap among the grounds of discrimination and punished a discriminatory refusal to supply a good or a service since .
When LexLint raises it
When your app profile says your app ships a consumer interface.