This translation is provided as a courtesy. In case of contradiction between the French version and the English version, the French version will prevail.

Reading time: 4 minutes

Keyword: legal notice

Objective: fill in a site’s legal notice on OpenEdition Journals.

Context

To be in accordance with French regulation, all websites must include legal notice. These are the compulsory identification details of the publisher, director of publication and host.

Failure to display the legal notices provided for in article 1-1 I and II of the of French Law No. 2004-575 of 21 June 2004, as amended, on Trust in the Digital Economy (the “LCEN”) is punishable by law. The penalties are set out in article 1-2 of the LCEN).

The fields to be completed by publishers are as follows:

• Information about the publisher;
• Surname and first name of the director of publication (and his/hier position);
• E-mail.

The aim is to enable any Internet user consulting a website:

• to obtain the necessary information on those responsible for the site;
• to identify and contact those responsible, in particular to report illicit content or to declare a malfunction on the site.

The purpose of legal notice is to protect Internet users visiting the website. They must be easily accessible and complete on every site.

Fill in the legal notice

Before your start

The name of director of publication must be filled in to complete the legal notice (https://objs-en.hypotheses.org/854).

Once logged into the editing interface, click on Administration.

Click on the Site Options drop-down menu, then on Mentions légales.

Publisher information

The “Publisher information” field is a free field. However, a certain amount of information is required.

The publisher must provide the following identification details:

1. name of the legal entity (i.e. the name of the company or the name of the a non-profit organisation under French law of 1901);
2. the address of the registered office;
3. the business telephone number of the legal entity;
4. the RCS¹ number if it is a company (in the form RCS ……..);
5. the share capital (if the publisher is a private company).

Caution!

In Lodel, copying and pasting into WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) fields must be done clearly to avoid importing unwanted formatting and tags. To do this, when “pasting” information into the editor, it’s important to either: ● use the “Paste from Word” option; ● use the “Paste as plain text” option, then reapply any italics, superscript, etc., as appropriate. “Paste from Word” option A new window opens: “Paste as plain text” option A new window opens: Paste the text into the window, using the keyboard shortcut for your operating system, or right-click. Then validate by clicking on “OK”.

Surname and first name of the director of publication (and his/her position)

The director of publication is the natural person who will be held liable in the event that contents published in that journal or website constitute a press criminal offence within the meaning of the French law of 29 July 1881 law on freedom of the press.

In most cases, the director of publication shall be the natural person who is the authorised representative of the legal entity that publishes the site.

It is also necessary to indicate the capacity of the publication director.

Here are a few types of legal entities under French law, along with their authorised representative:

• for a university or any other administrative public authority (i.e. établissement public administratif, EPA), its president;
• for a non-profit organisation under French law of 1901 if it has been registered with the ‘préfecture’, thus incorporated (association de loi 1901 déclarée en préfecture): its president;
• for a private company: depending on its legal status, this may be either the president (of a Société par actions simplifiée-SAS or of a Société anonyme-SA) or the legal manager (‘gérant’) of a Société à responsabilité limitée-SARL (i.e. a limited liability company with at least two associates) or of an Entreprise unipersonnelle à responsabilité limitée-EURL (i.e. a limited liability company with a unique associate).

For more information, see: https://objs-en.hypotheses.org/854.

Caution!

When there is more than one legal entity carrying the publication, the legal entities must agree on which natural person will be held liable in the event of content constituting a press offence. There may be several people authorised to sign contracts (one authorised representative per legal entity), but only one director of publication. When the director of publication changes, it is essential to modify this field by entering the new director of publication.

Email (for reports)

An active and regularly consulted e-mail address must also be provided, so that the publisher can be contacted by an Internet user in the event of content that appears to be illegal.

Once all fields have been completed, click on Modify.

The “Legal notice” page is then generated, with a corresponding link, displayed in the “Information” collection and in the site footer.

Host

The “Legal notice” page must also include information identifying the website host: the name of the legal entity, address and telephone number of the service provider.

Websites hosted on OpenEdition platforms are hosted by CNRS. Consequently, the information concerning the host will be the same for all the websites present on the OpenEdition platforms, i.e.:

Le Centre national de la recherche scientifique – CNRS
3 rue Michel-Ange, 
75794 Paris cedex 16 – France
+33 1 44 96 40 00

Intellectual property

The location of information relating to intellectual property, and in particular copyright, is specified in the Legal notice. In other words, the “Intellectual Property” paragraph in the latter will indicate where this information can be found on the Publisher’s site.

Caution!

The Host and Intellectual Property fields are automatically generated by OpenEdition.

Example of a Legal notice page

Once the legal notice has been completed by the publisher, a page is automatically generated.

This documentation does not exempt you from referring to the laws and regulations in force.

1. In France, RCS number = number assigned by INSEE, RCS stands for Registre National du Commerce et des Sociétés. This number is made up of :
   – the word “RCS”;
   – the town in which the company is registered;
   – a letter (A for traders and B for companies);
   – the company’s SIREN number. ↩︎

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