The legal notices refer to a set of mandatory information that every website publisher must make accessible to visitors. Framed by the law for confidence in the digital economy (LCEN) of June 21, 2004, these notices allow for the identification of the person responsible for a site and ensure a minimum level of transparency towards users.
2024 Reform: What Has Changed in Identification Obligations
Law No. 2024-449 of May 21, 2024, has reorganized the legal framework for legal notices. The identification obligations have been moved to Article 1-1 of the LCEN, and the penalties consolidated in Article 1-2. Models of notices drafted before this reform may be potentially outdated.
Among the notable additions, the publisher must now specify, where applicable, the identity of the person who stores the data processed for the service’s publication. This requirement goes beyond merely mentioning the host, as it also targets intermediate storage providers. A point that many sites still overlook, even though the reference texts have evolved.
To observe a concrete example of a legal notices page structured according to current obligations, the b2b infos site details identification, hosting, and data processing information in a readable format.
Mandatory Content of Legal Notices According to the Publisher’s Status
The required content varies depending on whether the publisher is an individual, a company, or an association. Three categories of information are consistently included.
- The identification of the publisher: name or business name, registered office address, phone number or email address, registration number in the trade register or directory of trades for professionals
- The host’s contact details: name, business name, and address of the company hosting the site, including if the hosting is shared via a third-party provider
- The publication director: individual responsible for the site’s editorial content, or the editor-in-chief if the site falls under the online press regime
E-commerce sites must add specific information related to online sales: general terms and conditions of sale, withdrawal procedures, return policy. Regulated professions (lawyers, doctors, architects) must mention their professional order and applicable ethical rules.
Recent Sanctions and Controls by the CNIL
The absence of legal notices exposes one to criminal penalties as provided by the provisions of the LCEN. For legal entities, the fine can be multiplied by five.
Controls do not solely focus on the presence or absence of a legal notices page. The CNIL increasingly targets deficiencies related to cookies and commercial prospecting. In 2025, a fine of 600,000 euros was imposed on July 3 for a lack of consent regarding cookies. Another decision on September 1, 2025, reached 325 million euros with an injunction, for similar violations aggravated by the scale of processing.
These amounts show that a site’s compliance is not limited to filling out a legal notices form. The processing of personal data, management of cookies, and informing users form a set that authorities evaluate as a whole.
Personal Data and Cookies: An Extension of the Scope
The legal notices must specify the purpose of data collection, the legal basis for processing (consent, legitimate interest, performance of a contract), and users’ rights (access, rectification, deletion). The cookie banner alone is not sufficient: a detailed privacy policy, separate or integrated into the notices, remains necessary.
Digital Accessibility: The New Obligation for E-commerce Sites
Since June 28, 2025, the European Accessibility Act applies to e-commerce services aimed at consumers. In France, this directive has been transposed by Ordinance No. 2023-859 of September 6, 2023, and specified by Decree No. 2023-931 of October 9, 2023.
Microenterprises providing services are exempt, but all other structures selling online must now ensure a level of accessibility that complies with European standards. This obligation goes beyond the strict framework of legal notices but is directly related: the site must display an accessibility statement, mention the level of compliance achieved, and provide a means to report inaccessible content.
In practice, an e-commerce site that displays complete legal notices but whose navigation is inaccessible to people with disabilities remains in violation. The legal compliance of a website now encompasses three complementary aspects:
- The identification and hosting notices required by the LCEN reformed in 2024
- The policy for processing personal data and managing cookies, actively monitored by the CNIL
- The digital accessibility declaration for online sales sites, since June 2025
Writing compliant legal notices therefore requires keeping up with recent legislative developments and not settling for generic models found online. A model prior to May 2024 likely omits the new identification requirements, and a model prior to June 2025 ignores digital accessibility. Checking the last update date of one’s legal notices page remains the most reliable reflex for assessing the compliance of one’s website.
