What Should Your Legal Notice Include to Be Compliant?

“Providing information is mandatory!” This statement from the CNIL perfectly summarizes the principle behind legal notices. Website owners and administrators must provide individuals whose personal information they hold with the information they need to fully exercise their rights. Drafting legal notices is therefore a key step when creating a website. It is an essential and sometimes complex process, as preparing legal notices is, above all, a legal matter.

Unless you have access to legal professionals, drafting legal notices can be a difficult and highly technical exercise. To ensure that your legal notice is complete and complies with applicable legislation, you may therefore be wondering what it should actually contain and which information is mandatory.

Under the French Law for Confidence in the Digital Economy (LCEN) of June 2004, when an organization provides an online “public communication service,” it must make certain legal information available in an open and accessible format. These legal requirements apply to website publishers, publication directors, and other parties responsible for the website.

This information must be easily accessible to users throughout the website. This is why a link to the legal notice is most commonly included in the footer of a website.

For individuals

Under French law, an individual is a human being who has legal rights and obligations. The following information must be provided:

• Last name
• First name
• Home address
• Telephone number

If the individual is required to be registered with the Trade and Companies Register or another professional register, their registration number (SIRET, RCS, etc.) must also be provided.

For legal entities

Unlike an individual, a legal entity refers to an organisation such as a company, association or other corporate body. The following information must be provided:

Company or business name
Registered office address
Telephone number

If the legal entity is subject to registration with the Trade and Companies Register or another professional register, it must also provide its registration number (SIRET, RCS, etc.), share capital and registered office address. For companies registered with the Trade and Companies Register, the relevant registration number is the RCS number.

In all cases

Anyone publishing a website is subject to certain legal obligations. The website must state the name of the publication director or co-director. Where applicable, this may also be the person responsible for editorial content. This person may be held responsible if the website fails to comply with applicable legal requirements.

The website must also provide information about its hosting provider, including:

Company name
Address
Telephone number

As a general rule, hosting providers are not civilly liable simply because a website publisher stores unlawful content on their servers. However, once they become aware of manifestly unlawful content, they may be required to remove it or disable access to it.

Hosting providers are also subject to confidentiality obligations. However, these obligations cannot be invoked against the competent judicial authorities where disclosure is required by law.

Cookies

Cookies must also be addressed in the website's legal and privacy information. If a website uses cookies or similar technologies, users must be clearly informed about their purpose.

Depending on the type of cookies used, the website may also be required to obtain the user's consent before storing or accessing them. Users must be provided with clear information about how they can manage or withdraw their consent and configure their cookie preferences.

For individuals:

Under French law, an individual (“personne physique”) refers to a human being who has legal rights and obligations. In this case, the following information must be provided:

Last name

First name

Home address

Telephone number

In addition, if the individual is subject to registration requirements with the Trade and Companies Register or the relevant professional register, their registration number (SIRET, RCS, etc.) must also be provided.

For legal entities:

Unlike an individual, a legal entity (“personne morale”) refers to an organization such as a company, association, group, or other legally recognized entity. The following information must be provided:

Company or legal name

Registered office address and telephone number

As with individuals, if the legal entity is subject to registration with the Trade and Companies Register or the relevant professional register, it must also provide its registration number (SIRET, RCS, etc.), share capital, and registered office address. For companies registered with the Trade and Companies Register, this includes the RCS number.

In all cases:

Anyone publishing a website is subject to certain legal obligations. The name of the publication director or co-director must be provided. Where applicable, this may also be the person responsible for the website’s editorial content. This person may be held responsible if the website fails to comply with applicable legal requirements.

Information about the website hosting provider must also be provided, including:

Company name

Address

Telephone number

As a general principle, a hosting provider is not automatically held liable when a website publisher stores unlawful content. However, under certain circumstances, the hosting provider may be required to remove such content or disable access to it once it becomes aware of its unlawful nature.

Hosting providers are also subject to confidentiality obligations. However, professional secrecy cannot be invoked against the competent judicial authorities where disclosure is required by law.

Specific requirements concerning cookies:

Cookies must also be taken into consideration when providing legal information on a website. If a website uses cookies or similar technologies, users must be informed about their use and purposes.

Depending on the type of cookies used, the website may also be required to obtain the user’s consent before storing or accessing them. Users should also be informed about how they can manage, refuse, or withdraw their consent regarding cookies.

In addition to the different types of websites—corporate websites, catalog websites, e-commerce websites, etc.—there are also specific legal requirements depending on the status and nature of your organization. Different types of organizations may be required to provide additional and specific information, including:

Private companies

Local authorities

Healthcare professionals

Public organizations

Employers

Associations

Each of these professional profiles may be subject to specific and sometimes highly detailed legal requirements. If you have any doubts, and to avoid omitting important information from your legal notice, it is advisable to consult a legal professional.

To conclude, legal notices provide a framework for defining the rights and obligations of both website publishers and Internet users. Their purpose is to protect all parties involved while ensuring that everyone’s rights and freedoms are respected.

They therefore play an important role in establishing a clear legal framework for rights and responsibilities on the Internet.

However, the need for these protections also highlights some of the challenges associated with regulating the Internet in terms of standards, legislation, and compliance. The Web is such a vast and constantly evolving environment that regulating and monitoring it in its entirety remains particularly complex.

Legal notices contain essential information designed to protect individual rights and ensure access to information.

Even if you did not intentionally withhold information from the public, incomplete or missing legal notices may expose you to civil and criminal penalties. Under French law, the publication director or the person responsible for publishing a website may face a fine of up to €75,000 and up to one year of imprisonment.

Legal entities may also be held criminally liable. Additional penalties may include a temporary prohibition from carrying out certain professional activities for a period of up to five years.