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Authorities

In France, the authority that regulates the largest number of products, including some food products, is the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (Direction Générale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la Répression des Fraudes or DGCCRF).

Besides the DGCCRF, there are other several regulators for product safety issues depending on the industry or the type of product at stake.

For instance, for food products of animal origin, the competent authority is the Directorate General for Food (Direction Générale de l’Alimentation or DGAL). The DGAL is only competent for food products of animal origin. All other food products fall under the jurisdiction of the DGCCRF.

The competent authority for safety issues relating to vehicles is the Directorate General for Energy and Climate (Direction Générale de l’Energie et du Climat or DGEC).

The French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products Safety (Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament et des Produits de Santé or ANSM) controls and regulates health products.

Powers

The authorities perform regular investigations and controls. They monitor the products placed on the market and their conclusions are sent to the competent ministry, which can order appropriate measures if and when necessary. These authorities have been granted increasing powers, in particular the DGCCRF (since the Hamon Law of 17 March 2014), which, notably, can:

• access manufacturing and storing sites (Article L. 512-5 of the French Consumer Code);
• request specific documents to be communicated to it by the producer (Article L. 512-8 of the French Consumer Code);
• take samples and have them tested in its own laboratories (Article L. 512-12 of the French Consumer Code); and/or
• require the assistance of any expert (Article L. 512-17 of the French Consumer Code).

Other more emblematic powers are the ability to seize products (Article L. 512-51 of the French Consumer Code) and to use a fake identity to conduct its investigation (Article L. 512-16 of the French Consumer Code). Most importantly, French authorities can decide to sanction producers through administrative fines in exchange for not referring the case to the Public Prosecutor (who may decide to refer the case to a criminal court). Indeed, it is notable that in France most non-conformities with consumer law result in criminal liability.