French Commercial code
In forceThe act of offering, acting as the owner's agent, an item of property by remote public auction by electronic means in order to auction it to the highest bidder constitutes a sale by auction by electronic means, subject to the provisions of this chapter. The mere fact that a confirmation, in accordance with the provisions of article 1127-2 of the Civil Code, is required has no bearing on the classification of the sale.
Auction brokerage transactions carried out remotely by electronic means that are characterised by the absence of a best-bid adjudication of the bidders and the intervention of a third party in the description of the property and the conclusion of the sale do not constitute sales by public auction within the meaning of this chapter.
The service provider making available to the seller an infrastructure enabling an electronic auction brokerage transaction to be organised and carried out shall inform the public in a clear and unequivocal manner of the nature of the service offered, under the conditions set out in article L. 111-2 of the Consumer Code and III of article L. 441-6 of this code. A joint order of the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Culture specifies the conditions under which the service provider also informs the seller and the buyer of the regulations relating to the circulation of cultural goods, as well as to the prevention of fraud in transactions involving works of art and collectors' items, when the electronic auction brokerage transaction involves such goods.
Failures to comply with the provisions of the third paragraph are punishable by a financial penalty of up to twice the price of the goods put up for sale in disregard of this obligation, up to a maximum of €15,000 for a natural person and €75,000 for a legal entity.
Failures to comply with the provisions of the third paragraph shall be investigated and recorded by official report under the conditions set out in II and III of Article L. 450-1 and articles L. 450-2, L. 450-3, L. 450-7 and L. 450-8 du présent code.
A copy of the official report, accompanied by all relevant documents and stating the amount of the penalty incurred, is sent to the natural or legal person concerned. The official report shall indicate the opportunity for the person concerned to submit written or oral observations within a period of one month.
At the end of this one-month period, the report, accompanied, where appropriate, by the observations of the person concerned, is forwarded to the competent administrative authority which may, by reasoned decision and after an adversarial procedure, order payment of the financial penalty referred to in the fourth paragraph. The person concerned shall be informed of the possibility of lodging an informal or contentious appeal against this decision within two months of notification of the penalty.
The pecuniary penalties and periodic penalty payments referred to in this article shall be paid to the Treasury and shall be recovered in the same way as State debts unrelated to taxes and property.
Articles L. 521-1, L. 521-2 and L. 524-1 to L. 524-3 of the Consumer Code may be implemented on the basis of the findings made.
Any interested party may ask the president of the court ruling in summary proceedings to enjoin, subject to a fine, a service provider that provides information likely to cause confusion in the mind of the public between its activity and electronic auctions to modify this information in order to eliminate such confusion or to comply with the provisions of this chapter.
