The legal notices refer to a set of information that every website must display to allow visitors to identify its responsible party. This obligation is based on the Law for Confidence in the Digital Economy (LCEN) of June 21, 2004, the legal basis of which was recently moved by the SREN law of May 21, 2024, to Article 1-1 of the LCEN. Their absence exposes the site publisher to criminal sanctions, including for small structures.
SREN Law of 2024: What Changes for Your Site’s Legal Notices
Most of the legal notice templates available online still cite Article 6-III of the LCEN as the legal basis. Since Law No. 2024-449 of May 21, 2024, aimed at securing and regulating the digital space, the obligation to identify the publisher is now found in Article 1-1 of the LCEN. A detail of legal reference, but which has a direct consequence: a site whose legal notices refer to the old article displays outdated information.
For a professional publisher, using an outdated template amounts to publishing a legally inaccurate document. Web service providers who supply these templates to their clients also bear some responsibility. According to available research, web agencies can themselves be sanctioned for compliance gaps on the sites they deliver.
Before drafting or updating your legal notices, it is useful to consult the B2B Infos website to observe the structure adopted by a professional publisher and verify the expected elements.
Mandatory Legal Notices: Information to Display According to Your Activity
The content of the legal notices varies according to the legal status of the publisher and the nature of their activity. However, the common foundation remains the same for all professional sites.
Common Foundation for a Business
- Company name, legal form, address of the registered office, and amount of share capital. This data allows the internet user to verify the legal existence of the structure.
- Registration number with the RCS or SIREN number, as well as the VAT identification number for intra-community transactions. Without these identifiers, a professional prospect cannot verify the company or issue a compliant invoice.
- Contact details: email address and phone number. A contact form alone is not sufficient to fulfill this obligation.
- Identity of the site’s host: name or company name, postal address. The host must be identifiable just like the publisher.
Regulated Activities
Some professions must add specific mentions related to their sector. An e-commerce site must include general terms and conditions of sale (GTC) or explicitly refer to them. Regulated liberal professions (lawyers, accountants, architects) must specify the professional order to which they belong and the applicable ethical rules.
A showcase site without online sales is not exempt from legal notices. Even a personal blog published on a non-professional basis must display the identity of its publisher or, failing that, that of its host.
Legal Notices and Privacy Policy: Two Distinct Documents
A common confusion is to group legal notices and privacy policy on the same page, without distinction. These two documents respond to different legal obligations and cover separate areas.
The legal notices identify the publisher and the host of the site. The privacy policy, on the other hand, describes the processing of personal data: purposes of collection, recipients, retention periods, rights of individuals (access, rectification, deletion). The legal notices are not sufficient to inform about the processing of personal data, as reminded by the CNIL.
The issue of cookies illustrates this distinction well. Information about trackers and the collection of consent falls under the GDPR and the ePrivacy directive, not under legal notices as defined by the LCEN. A poorly configured cookie banner or insufficient information about the purposes of trackers constitutes violations that are sanctioned separately.
CNIL Sanctions and Concrete Risks in Case of Non-Compliance
The risk is not theoretical. The CNIL imposed a fine of 500,000 euros on November 27, 2025, against a distance selling company for breaches related to consent and information regarding cookies. This amount shows that inspections concern both cookies and the legal notices themselves.
For legal notices in the strict sense, the absence of publisher identification is punishable by a fine of up to one year in prison and a criminal fine for individuals. Legal entities face multiplied amounts. The most common risk in practice remains the formal notice sent by a competitor or a consumer, followed by legal action.
Priority Control Points
- Verify that the legal reference cited in your legal notices corresponds to Article 1-1 of the LCEN (and not to the old Article 6-III).
- Ensure that the privacy policy is distinct or clearly identified as a separate section, with the purposes of processing, retention periods, and rights of individuals.
- Check that the cookie banner collects free consent before any deposit of non-strictly necessary trackers.
Compliance of a website is not limited to copying a generic template in the footer. The legal notices, the privacy policy, and cookie management form three distinct aspects, each with its own requirements. Updating these documents after each legislative change remains the only way to prevent an inspection from turning a neglected formality into costly litigation.
