The legal notices of a professional website are governed by the law for confidence in the digital economy (LCEN) of June 21, 2004. Their content has been formally revised by the SREN law of May 21, 2024, which transposes the European Digital Services Act into French law.
The obligation to identify the publisher, previously codified in article 6-III of the LCEN, is now found in article 1-2. What information is actually required, what discrepancies exist between different legal statuses, and what penalties apply in case of non-compliance?
SREN Law of 2024: What Changes in the LCEN for Legal Notices
Most online guides still cite the LCEN in its 2004 version. Law No. 2024-449 of May 21, 2024 (known as the SREN law) has restructured several articles of this text. The obligation to publish identification information now applies to any person who publishes an online public communication service, without a revenue threshold or distinction between free or commercial activity.
This reformulation has a direct consequence: a showcase site without advertising revenue, an associative blog, or a freelance page is subject to the same framework as a large company’s site. The legal notices of Constructeurs Responsables illustrate how a professional site structures this information in accordance with current requirements.
Non-professional publishers benefit from a distinct regime: they can limit themselves to communicating their identity data to their host, without making it public. This protective regime remains little known and does not apply to commercial websites.
Mandatory Legal Notices: Comparing Individuals and Legal Entities
The required content varies according to the legal status of the publisher. The table below summarizes the main differences.
| Information | Individual (EI, micro-enterprise) | Legal entity (company) |
|---|---|---|
| Identity | Name, first name, mention “individual entrepreneur” or initials EI | Company name, legal form, amount of share capital |
| Address | Home address | Registered office address |
| Contact | Email address and phone number | Email address and phone number |
| Registration | RCS number | RCS number |
| VAT | VAT identification number | VAT identification number |
| Host | Name or company name, address, phone | Name or company name, address, phone |
| Regulated activity | Name and address of the authority that issued the authorization | Name and address of the authority that issued the authorization |
On the other hand, the legal entity must systematically display its legal form and share capital, two elements that the individual entrepreneur does not have to provide. The address also differs: personal residence for one, registered office for the other.
Specific Notices for Online Sales Sites
An e-commerce site adds to this foundation the general terms and conditions of sale (GTCS), payment methods, delivery times, and withdrawal conditions. These obligations fall under the Consumer Code, not just the LCEN.
Protection of Personal Data and Cookies on a Website
The legal notices are not limited to the identification of the publisher. Any site collecting personal data must inform the user about the purposes of the processing, the legal basis retained, the recipients of the data, and the retention period.
This information derives from the GDPR and the Data Protection Act. It must appear on an accessible page (separate privacy policy or integrated into the legal notices).
For cookies, the obligations break down into several components:
- Inform the user of the purpose of each cookie before its deposit (analytics, targeted advertising, functional)
- Obtain explicit consent for cookies that are not strictly necessary for the functioning of the site
- Allow the withdrawal of consent at any time, as easily as its collection
- Keep proof of the consent obtained
The absence of a compliant cookie banner or the use of “dark patterns” (pre-checked boxes, hidden “refuse” button) exposes one to sanctions from the CNIL.
Penalties for Absence of Legal Notices on a Website
Failure to display the legal notices is subject to criminal penalties. Fines can reach 75,000 euros for an individual and 375,000 euros for a company, accompanied by a sentence of up to one year in prison.
These amounts are not theoretical. The CNIL and DGCCRF conduct checks, particularly on e-commerce sites and platforms collecting personal data on a large scale.
Intellectual Property: A Common Omission
Notices related to intellectual property are often absent. Any site using images, illustrations, or photographs must indicate their intellectual property. For borrowed texts, the author’s permission or citation of the source is mandatory.
The omission of this information not only poses a risk of administrative fines: it opens the door to copyright infringement actions before civil courts.
Accessibility and Updating of Legal Notices on a Professional Site
The legal notices page must remain easily accessible from any page of the site. The most common practice is to place a link in the footer. No format is imposed, but readability is paramount: a dedicated page is preferable to a section buried in the GTCS.
The rewriting of the LCEN by the SREN law of 2024 justifies a complete review of existing notices. A site created before this date may display references to obsolete legal articles, which undermines the legal credibility of the document without necessarily constituting an infringement in itself.
Any change in legal status, registered office, VAT number, or hosting provider requires immediate updating. Accurate legal notices at the time of the site’s creation do not remain so indefinitely: they reflect a legal situation at a given moment, and this situation evolves.