Guides
French law for your website, sourced and up to date.
What the law actually requires, the article that says so, the penalty it sets and what to do. Every guide shows the date its sources were last checked.
- Sources: Légifrance, CNIL, EUR-Lex
- Visible verification dates
- Tick-off checklists
Your website
What your website must display
Legal notice, terms of sale, privacy, cookies, the withdrawal button: every legal page French law requires, and how to write it.
- Guide 18 min · 8 October 2026 Legal notice for a website in France: the complete 2026 list (and the penalties) Legal notice (mentions légales) for a website in France: the exact 2026 list by business type, which host to name on Shopify or Wix, penalties and a template. Read the guide
- Guide 16 min · 8 October 2026 Are terms of sale mandatory in France? What the law says in 2026 (B2C, B2B, sole traders) Are terms of sale mandatory in France? B2C, B2B, sole traders and services: what French law requires in 2026, the mandatory clauses and the fines at stake. Read the guide
- Annotated template 15 min · 8 October 2026 Website privacy policy in France: mandatory even for a brochure site? GDPR contents and template 2026 Privacy policy for a website in France: when the GDPR makes it mandatory, even for a brochure site, what article 13 requires, an annotated template and fines. Read the guide
- Guide 16 min · 8 October 2026 Cookie banner in France: CNIL rules, traps and real fines in 2026 Cookie banner in France: CNIL rules for 2026 on the Reject all button, exempt cookies, Google Analytics, cookie walls, email pixels and the fines imposed. Read the guide
- Guide 16 min · 8 October 2026 EU withdrawal button: what every online shop selling in France must display since 19 June 2026 Withdrawal button mandatory in France since 19 June 2026: required wording, online form, acknowledgement, terms of sale update, fines, Shopify and WooCommerce. Read the guide
GDPR
Your data, your obligations
Record of processing, CNIL fines: the GDPR as it applies to a small business selling in France.
- Annotated template 15 min · 8 October 2026 GDPR record of processing activities: who needs one and 3 filled-in examples for small businesses GDPR record of processing activities: filled-in examples for an online shop, a consultant and an agency, what Article 30 requires and why small firms need one. Read the guide
- Database 19 min · 8 October 2026 CNIL fines 2025-2026: every penalty, and what they mean for small businesses CNIL fines: every verified 2025-2026 sanction, with amounts, breaches, caps (€20,000 under the simplified procedure) and what a small business really risks. Read the guide
Tools and data
Measure before you act
A quiz to check your website, a study of 500 French online shops and the list of mandatory documents by type of business.
- Tool 15 min · 8 October 2026 Is my website compliant in France? The 2-minute quiz, with the maximum fines Is my website compliant in France? Free 2-minute quiz: legal notice, cookies, GDPR, terms of sale, the 2026 withdrawal button and the maximum fine for each gap. Read the guide
- Study 17 min · 8 October 2026 Study: 500 French online shops tested for legal compliance in 2026 French e-commerce compliance study 2026: 500 .fr online shops tested for cookies without consent, legal notice, terms of sale, withdrawal, GDPR, accessibility. Read the guide
- Summary table 17 min · 8 October 2026 Mandatory legal documents for a business in France: the table by activity (2026) Mandatory legal documents for a business and website in France: legal notice, terms of sale, GDPR, cookies, DUERP. The table by activity, with laws and fines. Read the guide
How we work
Every obligation, penalty, amount and date links to its primary source: Légifrance, the CNIL, EUR-Lex, service-public.fr. Anything we cannot verify is not published. French legal texts are quoted in French with an unofficial English translation. The guides are general information, not personalised legal advice: for a specific case, consult a lawyer.
For assistants and agents: every guide is also available in Markdown (the “Markdown version” link), and the full list is in llms.txt.