Q: So, if any of our listeners are planning a trip to France, and something goes wrong while they are shopping, or in a restaurant or an hotel, what sort of things should they be looking out for?


A: Let me first start with shopping. Advertising in France is much more strictly regulated than in the UK. Basically, it is an offence to make a false or misleading advertisement to the general public about goods and services in France. The penalties are not merely theoretical. People have been sent to prison for breaking this law.


Q: Can you give a few examples?

A: Yes. Cases include a drinks manufacturer who claimed that a drink was made of fresh fruit when in fact it was made artificially with chemicals; or a shoe shop which suggested that prices had been cut when in fact the goods were being sold at a higher price. Other cases include things like wrong measurements, sizes and so on.


Q: But aren’t all adverts misleading?

A: Perhaps, but the point is that you do not actually have to have been mislead by the advert. The test applied by the French Courts is whether anyone reading the advert (or watching it on TV or so on) might have been misled.Widely exaggerated messages - such as one for a suitcase which showed it being run
over by a bulldozer followed by the claim that it was still as good as new - may escape on the grounds that no reasonable person would have believed it to be true.
If the statement in the advert is true, it may