Rémi de Balmann: "Law of October 7, 2016 for a Digital Republic and signs: what impacts?"

First and foremost, this law is a first in terms of the way it was drawn up. In this respect, it illustrates the power of the Internet and could serve as a precursor example of a more participative democracy. Indeed, and prior to its presentation to the Council of Ministers, a public consultation was launched in September 2015, with citizens invited - via a digital co-creation platform set up for this purpose - to " contribute, improve or comment " on the preliminary draft bill for a Digital Republic drawn up by the Government. In the words of Axelle Lemaire, the French Secretary of State for the Digital Economy, this consultation was intended to illustrate "a digital society (...) that is innovative, open and free, based on the sharing of information and knowledge that creates value and benefits everyone ". As the explanatory memorandum to the bill submitted to the French National Assembly on December 9, 2015 was later to point out, " this platform, open to all, generated more than 8,500 contributions and nearly 150,000 votes ".

What other benefits do you see in this law?

In its objectives, this law is significant, even if in its opinion of December 3, 2015, the Conseil d'Etat "considered that there was a significant discrepancy between the content of the bill and its title ' For a Digital Republic' (and that) the title 'Bill on the rights of citizens in the digital society' would correspond more accurately to the provisions of the bill (...)". It will be recalled in this respect that, in its famous decision of June 10, 2009 on the law promoting the dissemination and protection of creation on the Internet (HADOPI I), the French Constitutional Council - with reference to article 11 of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen on the right to free communication of thoughts and opinions - ruled that " given the current state of the means of communication and the widespread development of online public communication services, as well as the importance of these services for participation in democratic life and the expression of ideas and opinions, this right implies the freedom to access these services " (Decision no. 2009-580). As the explanatory memorandum to the bill for a Digital Republic also emphasized, the aim was to " promote the circulation of data and knowledge ", to " work for the protection of individuals in the digital society " and to " guarantee digital access for all ".

And what impact could this law have on retailers?

Two points are of particular interest to retailers. Firstly, in Title II on " Protecting rights in the digital society ", Article 48 of the law stipulates that "consumers have the right, under all circumstances, to recover all their data. consumers have the right to recover all their data in all circumstances ". The law adds that " any online public communication service offers the consumer a free function enabling the recovery (in particular) of all data resulting from the use of the consumer's user account and which can be consulted online by the consumer, with the exception of data which has been significantly enhanced by the provider in question.

This data is retrieved in an open standard that can be easily reused and exploited by an automated processing system ". As explained in the bill's explanatory memorandum, the aim was to " reduce market viscosity by obliging providers of major digital services, such as e-mail and cloud computing, to offer their customers the possibility of easily retrieving and transferring their data ". With regard to consumers, the aim was to " promote the portability of data stored online by introducing an obligation for all providers of online public communication services to offer consumers a function for recovering files uploaded by the consumer and data associated with his or her account ". A real revolution in prospect, it being specified that the entry into force of this measure has been postponed until May 2018, to allow time for the various economic players to be consulted on the modalities of its implementation.

And the second important point?

This law is intended to combat false Internet reviews more effectively, which is far from negligible for retailers. In fact, it's healthy to penalize the disloyalty that consists in promoting one's own site using positive reviews that don't come from consumers, or encouraging the circulation of negative reviews on competitors' sites. The Law for a Digital Republic therefore includes a series of provisions designed to reinforce " platform loyalty and consumer information ". At a time when we are extolling the virtues of "made in France", let's congratulate ourselves on the fact that our country is a pioneer in this field!

As long ago as July 2013, the AFNOR Z 74-501 standard was the first in the world to aim to make the processing of consumer reviews on the Internet more reliable, notably by prohibiting the purchase of reviews, making it impossible to modify a review online, and displaying the most recent reviews first, as well as all reviews in their entirety. This standard could serve as the basis for an international standard, the principle of which has been accepted by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and which is currently being drawn up by a technical committee chaired by a Frenchman. The role of editor of this future standard has been entrusted to the Chairman of the AFNOR e-reputation standardization committee.

The law on the Digital Republic is part of this movement, with article 52 stipulating that: " Without prejudice to the information obligations set out in article 19 of law no. 2004-575 of June 21, 2004 for confidence in the digital economy and in articles L. 111-7 and L. 111-7-1 of the present code, any natural or legal person whose activity consists, on a principal or accessory basis, in collecting, moderating or disseminating online consumer reviews is required to provide users with fair, clear and transparent information on the publication and processing of online reviews. "It specifies whether or not these reviews are subject to control and, if so, it indicates the main characteristics of the control implemented. "It displays the date of the review and any updates. "It informs consumers whose online review has not been published of the reasons for its rejection. " It provides a free function enabling those responsible for products or services that are the subject of an online review to notify it of any doubts about the authenticity of the review, provided that reasons are given for the notification.

This is a worthwhile project to "clean up" real and fake reviews, and reinforce the reliability of information that consumers are far from insensitive to!

Interview published on the Digitalisations website