The legal notices refer to the set of identification information that any publisher of a professional website must make accessible to visitors. Their legal framework is based on the law for confidence in the digital economy (LCEN) of June 21, 2004, recently amended by the SREN law of May 21, 2024. Failing to provide this information exposes one to heavy financial penalties, including for very small entities.
SREN Law of 2024: What Has Changed for Legal Notices
Most online guides still refer to the initial version of the LCEN. Law No. 2024-449 of May 21, 2024, known as the SREN law, has restructured the publisher’s identification obligations in a new Article 1-1 of the 2004 law.
The distinction between natural persons and legal entities is now explicit in the text itself. For a sole proprietor, the article requires the mention of the home address, phone number, and, if applicable, the registration number with the RCS or the national business register. For a company, additional information includes the company name, registered office, share capital, and registration number.
Another concrete addition: the publisher’s phone number is now mandatory in all cases, not just for commercial sites. A contact form alone is no longer sufficient to meet this requirement. Many professional sites remain non-compliant on this specific point, often because a model of legal notices prior to 2024 has been copied as is.
An example of a page compliant with these requirements is published on the B2B Infos online site, which includes all the identification information required by the updated law.
Mandatory Legal Notices: Content According to Legal Status
The exact content of the page varies depending on whether the publisher of the site is a natural person or a legal entity. Confusing the two often leads to frequent omissions.
Natural Person (Sole Proprietor, Micro-Enterprise)
- Last name, first name, and home address, accompanied by the mention “sole proprietor” or the initials EI
- Email address and phone number allowing contact with the business
- Registration number with the RCS and VAT identification number
- Identity of the site’s host: name or company name, address, and phone number
Legal Entity (SARL, SAS, SA, etc.)
- Company name, legal form (SARL, SAS, SA), and amount of share capital
- Address of the registered office, email address, and phone number
- Registration number with the RCS, VAT identification number
- Name of the publication director (or co-director)
- Complete contact details of the site’s host
For regulated activities (pharmacy, beverage sales, liberal professions subject to an order), the name and address of the authority that granted the operating license must also appear.
Publication Director and Host: Two Often Neglected Mentions
The identity of the publication director is one of the most common omissions. For a company, this is usually the legal representative. For a sole proprietor, it is the entrepreneur themselves. Some sites mention a brand name or a pseudonym, which does not satisfy the legal requirement.
Identifying the host poses another practical problem. The law requires the name (or company name), physical address, and phone number of the host. Simply stating “OVH” or “Hostinger” without an address or phone number is insufficient. The information sheet provided by the host upon subscription contains this data, but it is rarely copied in full.
A site without complete contact details of the host is legally non-compliant, even if all other mentions are correct.
Sanctions for Absence of Legal Notices on a Professional Site
The absence of legal notices, or their incomplete nature, constitutes a criminal offense. The amounts of fines vary according to the publisher’s status.
For a natural person, the penalty can reach one year of imprisonment and €75,000 in fines. For a legal entity, the fine can go up to €375,000. These ceilings are provided for by the LCEN and remain applicable after the SREN reform.
In practice, criminal prosecutions remain rare for a simple omission of legal notices. The most concrete risk is a formal notice from the CNIL or the DGCCRF, particularly in the context of checks related to personal data processing. A site non-compliant with its legal notices draws attention to potential breaches of the GDPR, often triggering a broader audit.
Personal Data and Cookies: The Link with Legal Notices
The legal notices and the privacy policy are two distinct documents, but they complement each other. The LCEN requires informing the internet user about the collection of personal data directly in the notices or via a clearly identified link.
Since the implementation of the GDPR, a simple “Data Protection” paragraph is no longer sufficient. The site must specify the purposes of the collection, the legal basis for processing, the data recipients, and the user’s rights (access, rectification, deletion, portability).
For cookies, explicit consent before any non-strictly necessary deposit remains the rule. The cookie banner must allow for refusal as easily as acceptance. CNIL checks regularly focus on this point, and a site with incomplete legal notices often undergoes a cross-examination of its cookie management.
The compliance of a professional site relies on details that most publishers consider secondary: a missing phone number, a truncated host address, an unnamed publication director. These seemingly trivial omissions are enough to render the legal notices page legally unenforceable. Checking each field against the updated legal list after the SREN law remains the most reliable way to avoid a reminder.
