What legal obligations distinguish a self-employed person selling online from an independent contractor working offline? This question deserves to be asked from the perspective of applicable texts, as the SREN law of May 21, 2024, has modified the framework for legal notices, and several obligations specific to the digital realm are added to the common foundation of the micro regime.
Legal Notices and Online Terms and Conditions: Obligations Compared by Sales Channel
The self-employed person operating exclusively online faces display constraints that their counterpart in a physical market does not. The table below summarizes the main differences.
| Obligation | Self-employed person with a website | Self-employed person without a website |
|---|---|---|
| Legal notices (art. 1-1 LCEN amended by the SREN law 2024) | Mandatory: identity, address, phone number, registration number, identity of the host, publication director | Not applicable |
| Written terms and conditions | Mandatory for B2C online sales, accessible before the order | Mandatory upon request in B2B, no display required in the absence of a website |
| Consumer mediation | Mandatory membership + mention on the site and commercial documents | Mandatory membership, mention on invoices |
| GDPR compliance (privacy policy, cookie consent) | Mandatory as soon as personal data is collected online | Mandatory if data is collected, but no cookie management |
| Right of withdrawal (14 days) | Mandatory for any B2C distance sale | No obligation except for distance sales off-site |
What emerges from this comparison is: the digital channel multiplies the obligations for display and transparency. An online self-employed person must manage at least four distinct legal blocks on their site (legal notices, terms and conditions, privacy policy, mediation), whereas an offline independent contractor focuses on invoicing and specific contractual terms.
The legal resources available on the Auto-Entrepreneur du Web site detail each of these blocks in the specific context of online micro-enterprises.
Article 1-1 of the LCEN after the SREN law: What Changes for Micro-Entrepreneurs
Before May 2024, the legal notices of websites fell under article 6 III of the law of June 21, 2004 (LCEN). Since the entry into force of the law n° 2024-449 known as the SREN law, the new article 1-1 applies. Article 1-2, created by the same text, formalizes a sanction regime in case of non-compliance.
For an online self-employed person, the practical implications are twofold. The text now specifies the mandatory information blocks in a more structured way: complete identity (name, surname, mention “individual entrepreneur” or “EI”), phone number, registration number, name of the publication director, contact details of the hosting provider.
The stakes are not merely formal. Article 1-2 strengthens the penalties for failure to provide legal notices, transforming an often neglected obligation into a real legal risk. In practice, a check can be triggered by a consumer or competitor report.
Consumer Mediation: An Underestimated Obligation for Online Self-Entrepreneurs
Any B2C activity requires membership in a consumer mediation scheme. This obligation, which has existed for several years, remains poorly applied by online micro-entrepreneurs.
Membership must be effective even before the first sale. The name and contact details of the mediator must appear:
- On the website, in an accessible section (often included in the legal notices or terms and conditions)
- On the general terms and conditions provided to the customer
- On any contractual or commercial document sent to the consumer
The absence of a listed mediator exposes one to an administrative fine. This point is often omitted from micro-enterprise creation guides, even though it directly concerns any self-employed person selling services or products to individuals via a website.
GDPR and Cookies: Specific Pitfalls for Online Self-Entrepreneurs
GDPR compliance is not limited to adding a cookie banner. For a self-employed person collecting personal data (contact form, newsletter, online order), several elements must coexist on the site.
- A privacy policy describing the data collected, its purpose, its retention period, and the rights of users (access, rectification, deletion)
- A mechanism for obtaining consent for non-essential cookies, in accordance with CNIL recommendations
- A record of processing activities, even simplified, documenting the flow of personal data
- The designation of a data controller (the self-employed person themselves in most cases)
A simple contact form is enough to trigger the obligation of GDPR compliance. The size of the business does not exempt: the micro-entrepreneur regime does not create any exemptions in this area.
Clauses to Include in the Terms and Conditions of an Online Self-Entrepreneur
The general terms and conditions of an e-commerce site or online service provision must cover several points that physical sales do not require with the same precision. The right of withdrawal of 14 days, applicable to any B2C distance sale, must be mentioned along with its standard form. Delivery or service execution terms, refund conditions, and the complaint procedure complete the framework.
Six clauses structure the terms and conditions of an online self-entrepreneur: seller’s identity, description of the service or product, price and payment terms, withdrawal period, legal guarantees, mediation. Each clause must be written in clear and accessible language before the order is validated.
The micro-entrepreneur regime simplifies accounting and taxation, but not the obligations of transparency towards online consumers. The legal compliance of a site relies on the articulation of these different blocks, and a gap in just one of them can be enough to engage the liability of the self-employed person.