How do you recognise good chocolate? What quality label can you trust? Is that toy really safe? Can you be confident that online store is genuine?
France’s Direction Générale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la Répression des Fraudes (DGCCRF) has published a brief checklist to help you prepare for the festive season.
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Toys and decorations - If you’re buying in a store: check for the CE mark, especially toys or decorations, product composition and return conditions. Pay close attention to the age recommendations and warnings on the packaging of any toys, and that it bears the CE mark.
If you're buying Christmas decorations, garlands or candles, check the safety markings (CE marking) and follow the instructions and precautions for use.
Digital and tech - If you’re buying digital gifts: make sure you’re covered by the legal guarantee of conformity. Connected products, digital content or services benefit from a two-year legal warranty of conformity.
Food - Read labels and ingredient lists on any food items you buy to find out levels of quality raw materials; the higher an ingredient is on the list, the more of it is present in the final product. For example, each type of chocolate must comply with specific compositional criteria.
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Under French law, chocolate must contain a minimum of 35 percent cocoa for ordinary dark chocolate, or 43 percent for quality dark chocolate. Milk chocolate contains 30 percent cocoa. As for chocolate bonbons, regulations stipulate that they must contain 25 percent chocolate. Official quality labels and signs, such as IGP or Label Rouge, can be used to identify a food product.
Labels - Products bearing the words “Fabriqué en France” or “Made in France”, or those benefiting from quality labels such as AOP (Appellation d'origine protégée) or AOC (Appellation d'origine contrôlée) guarantee specific know-how and local origin.
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Markets - Christmas markets are subject to specific regulations.
Prices must be clearly displayed, and products must be clearly identifiable, to avoid misleading consumers as to the craftsmanship or local character of the items.
For food consumed on site, the origin must be indicated. For other products, this indication is compulsory only if its omission is likely to create confusion in the mind of the buyer.
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