#E-commerce Lawyer in France: Secure Your Online Store

🌐 E-commerce lawyer services	👤 Typical situations	🤝 Our assistance
📜 Drafting terms of sale and terms of use	Launching an online store	Drafting and updating terms of sale and terms of use
⚖️ Handling commercial disputes	Customer complaint or return issue	Negotiation, mediation, legal representation
🛡️ GDPR compliance	GDPR non-compliance	Compliance work, drafting privacy policies
🔄 Sale or purchase of an e-commerce website	Selling your online business	Negotiation, legal protection of the deal
📦 Intellectual property	Infringement, violation of rights	Trade mark filing, defence against infringement

An e-commerce lawyer secures the legal side of your online sales business: drafting terms and conditions of sale (CGV) and terms of use (CGU), GDPR compliance, trade mark protection, customer disputes and litigation with platforms. Hashtag Avocats, where digital law is one of the firm’s two practice areas, assists online sellers at every stage, from launching the store to selling the website.

What does an e-commerce lawyer do in France?

Online commerce combines several bodies of rules: consumer law, personal data protection, intellectual property, contract law and commercial law. The e-commerce lawyer has a command of these different areas and how they interact. The main tasks are:

• Advice and compliance: pre-contractual information obligations, legal notice, commercial practices, management of customer reviews.
• Drafting contractual documents: terms and conditions of sale, terms of use, privacy policy, supplier and logistics contracts.
• Protecting intellectual property: trade marks, domain names, content, defence against infringement.
• Handling disputes: customers, suppliers, competitors, marketplace platforms.
• GDPR compliance: record of processing activities, cookies, data processing agreements, personal data breaches.

Drafting terms of sale and terms of use: the legal foundation of your store

Your general terms and conditions of sale govern the relationship with your customers: price, payment, delivery, returns, warranties. Incomplete terms, or terms copied from a competitor, create concrete risks: unenforceable clauses, administrative penalties, disputes lost before they begin.

The French Consumer Code (Code de la consommation) requires clear and complete information before the contract is concluded. For distance selling, the consumer has a withdrawal period of fourteen days, provided for by Article L221-18 of the Consumer Code (in French), without having to justify the decision. Your terms of sale must set out precisely how it is exercised, its exceptions and the refund arrangements.

On top of this comes the legal guarantee of conformity: the seller is liable for lack of conformity that appears within two years of delivery of the goods (Article L217-3 of the Consumer Code (in French)). We draft or update your terms of sale and terms of use so that they reflect these obligations exactly, while protecting your interests.

Handling commercial disputes

Customer complaints, questionable refund requests, disagreements with a supplier or a carrier: disputes are part of the life of an online store. A badly handled dispute costs twice, in cash and in reputation.

We step in from the first stages of the conflict to seek an amicable outcome, through negotiation or mediation. When litigation becomes unavoidable, we represent you before the competent courts. Our commercial litigation and contract law (in French) practice covers the most frequent situations: late deliveries, non-conforming products, termination of commercial relationships, disparagement.

GDPR compliance and customer data

An e-commerce website processes personal data continuously: customer accounts, orders, payment, marketing, cookies. The GDPR imposes a strict framework, under the supervision of the CNIL (French data protection authority). The most serious breaches expose you to administrative fines of up to €20 million or 4% of annual worldwide turnover (Article 83 GDPR (in French)).

We audit your processing operations, draft your privacy policy, put your processors under contract (emailing, logistics, payment) and organise the collection of consent, in particular for cookies. In the event of a data breach, we handle the notification and communication with you. For dedicated support, see our GDPR lawyer page.

Intellectual property: protecting your brand and your content

Your trade mark, your domain name, your product pages and your visuals are assets. We file your trade marks with the INPI (French intellectual property office), monitor infringements and take action against counterfeiting and domain name misappropriation. We also defend online sellers wrongly accused of infringement by competitors or rights holders.

Selling or buying an e-commerce website

Selling or acquiring an online store means securing specific assets: domain name, customer database (and its GDPR compliance), supplier contracts, marketplace accounts, stock. We structure the transaction, draft the business sale documents and negotiate the guarantees (liability guarantee, non-compete, transition).

Disputes with platforms (Amazon, marketplaces)

Suspension of a seller account, withholding of funds or delisting of products can paralyse your business overnight. We assist you in challenging these measures, negotiating the reinstatement of the account and, where necessary, bringing a liability claim against the platform before the competent courts. Speed of action is decisive in these cases.

Dropshipping and selling internationally

Dropshipping raises specific questions: the seller’s liability for products it does not hold, compliance of imported products, informing consumers about delivery times, tax and import VAT. Selling to other European Union countries adds VAT rules and local consumer law rules. We structure these models from the outset so that growth does not rest on a fragile legal basis.

Why choose Hashtag Avocats for your e-commerce business?

Our firm devotes one of its two practice areas to digital and innovation law. We know e-commerce business models: direct sales, marketplace, dropshipping, subscription. This sector knowledge allows us to anticipate the risks specific to each model and to propose solutions suited to your stage of development, from launch to resale.

Online commerce moves fast, and the law moves with it: stronger obligations on customer reviews and influencers, European regulation of platforms, growing requirements on cookies and profiling. Ongoing support allows you to build in these changes before they become risks. We offer follow-up arrangements adapted to the size of your business, from an annual review of your terms of sale to continuous support.

FAQ: e-commerce lawyer

When should you call on a lawyer for your e-commerce website?

Ideally before launch, to lay a compliant foundation: terms of sale, legal notice, privacy policy, cookies. Then at each significant change: new sales channel, international expansion, serious dispute, inspection by the DGCCRF (French consumer protection and competition authority) or the CNIL, planned sale.

Can I copy another website’s terms and conditions?

No. Besides the risk of copyright infringement, copied terms rarely describe your actual processes (delivery, returns, warranties) and create commitments you do not honour. In a dispute, these inconsistencies are turned against you.

Does the 14-day withdrawal period apply to everything?

No. The principle is laid down by Article L221-18 of the Consumer Code for distance contracts, but the law provides for exceptions (personalised goods, perishable foodstuffs, digital content supplied with express consent, among others). Your terms of sale must identify precisely the exceptions that apply to your catalogue.

What does a non-GDPR-compliant e-commerce website risk?

Administrative penalties from the CNIL of up to €20 million or 4% of annual worldwide turnover for the most serious breaches, in addition to reputational damage and actions by the individuals concerned. Early compliance work limits this risk.

Official sources

• Article L221-18 of the French Consumer Code, fourteen-day right of withdrawal: Légifrance (in French)
• Article L217-3 of the French Consumer Code, legal guarantee of conformity: Légifrance (in French)
• Article 83 GDPR, administrative fines: CNIL (in French)

Law as in force on 6 July 2026. This content provides general information and does not constitute legal advice. Every situation is different: contact our team for a review of your e-commerce project.