French Consumer Code
In forceI.-Prior to the conclusion of a contract, providers of publicly available electronic communications services shall communicate, pursuant to 1° of Article L. 224-27-1, the following information:
1° For each service provided, any minimum levels of service quality where offered and, for services other than Internet access services, the specific quality indicators provided. Where no minimum level of service quality is offered, this must be stated.
2° The amounts due respectively for the activation of the electronic communications service and those due for any recurring costs or costs linked to consumption.
3° Information concerning :
a) Any minimum usage or duration required to qualify for promotions;
b) Any costs associated with changing supplier and compensation and refund formulae in the event of delay or abuse in changing supplier, as well as information on the various procedures;
c) Information on the right of consumers using prepaid services to obtain reimbursement, on request, of any credit balance in the event of a change of supplier, in accordance with article L. 44-4 of the French Post and Electronic Communications Code;
d) Any charges in the event of early termination of the contract, including information on the unblocking of terminal equipment and any recovery of terminal equipment costs.
4° Any applicable compensation and refund formulae, including, where applicable, an express reference to consumer rights, in the event that the service quality levels provided for in the contract are not achieved or if the supplier reacts inappropriately to a known security incident, threat or vulnerability in the software or hardware.
5° The type of measures that the supplier is likely to take to react to a security incident or to deal with threats or situations of vulnerability.
II.-Prior to the conclusion of a contract, providers of Internet access and interpersonal electronic communications services accessible to the public shall communicate, pursuant to 2° of Article L. 224-27-1, insofar as it concerns a service they provide, the following information:
1° As part of the main characteristics of each service provided:
a) Any minimum levels of quality of service where offered, in accordance with 7° of article L. 36-7 of the French Post and Electronic Communications Code concerning the following:
-for Internet access services: at least latency, jitter and packet loss;
-for publicly available interpersonal communications services, where these providers control at least some elements of the network or have concluded a service level agreement to this effect with the undertakings providing access to the network: at least the time taken for the initial connection, the probability of failure and call signalling delays, in accordance with Annex X to Directive 2018/1972 of the Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 establishing the European Electronic Communications Code ;
b) Any conditions, including charges, imposed by the provider relating to the use of the terminal equipment provided, without prejudice to the right of consumers to use the terminal equipment of their choice in accordance with Article 3(1) of Regulation 2015/2120 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2015 ;
2° As part of the price information, in addition to the amounts due respectively in respect of the activation of the electronic communications service and those due in respect of any recurring or consumption-related costs, the following information insofar as applicable:
a) The tariff conditions for the specific electronic communications service offerings provided for in the contract and, for each such electronic communications service offering, the types of service offered, including, where applicable, the call volumes included per billing period, and the price applicable to additional call units;
b) In the case of one or more offers of electronic communications services providing for a predefined volume of communications, the possibility for consumers to carry over any unused volume from the previous billing period to the next billing period where this option is provided for in the contract;
c) The arrangements for ensuring transparency of billing and monitoring of consumption levels;
d) Information on tariffs for numbers or services subject to special tariff conditions;
e) For a service bundle or a bundle of services and terminal equipment, the price of the various elements of the bundle insofar as they are also marketed separately;
f) Details of after-sales service, maintenance and customer support, where applicable, and the conditions relating thereto, including charges;
g) The means by which up-to-date information on all applicable tariffs and maintenance charges can be obtained;
3° As part of the information on the duration of the contract relating to bundled offers and the conditions for its renewal and termination: where applicable, the conditions for terminating the bundled offer or elements thereof;
4° Without prejudice to Article 13 of Regulation 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016, information relating to personal data necessary for the provision of the service or collected in connection with the provision of the service;
5° Details of products and services designed for people with disabilities and how to obtain updates of this information.
III.-Prior to the conclusion of a contract, providers of publicly available electronic communications services based on numbering shall communicate, pursuant to 3° of Article L. 224-27-1, insofar as it concerns a service that they provide, the following information:
1° Any constraints on access to emergency services or caller location information due to a lack of technical possibility, provided that the service allows consumers to call a number included in the national or international numbering plan;
2° The consumer's right to decide whether or not to have personal data concerning them included in a directory, and the types of data concerned, in accordance with article L. 34 of the French Post and Electronic Communications Code.
