SMS marketing in France is one of the strictest in Europe. Get it right and you reach a highly engaged audience; get it wrong and you face fines up to €375,000 from the CNIL plus reputation damage.
Why this matters: France enforces both the GDPR and a national law on commercial SMS (LCEN). Missing one rule is enough to trigger a complaint.
The 7 must-follow rules
- Explicit opt-in — collect a free, specific, informed consent before any commercial SMS.
- Mandatory "STOP" — every commercial SMS must offer a free unsubscribe via "STOP" or equivalent.
- Sending hours — only Mon-Sat 8 AM to 8 PM, and 10 AM to 8 PM on Saturday. No SMS on Sundays or public holidays.
- Identifiable sender — alphanumeric sender ID or short code. No anonymous numbers.
- Bloctel registry — exclude any number registered on Bloctel for cold prospects.
- Data protection — store proof of consent, allow access/erase rights, document a register of treatments.
- Truthful content — clear pricing, no misleading offers, no late-night promo.
What counts as a commercial SMS
- Promotions, sales, discounts, product launches.
- Loyalty rewards or upsell prompts.
- Transactional SMS (delivery, OTP, alerts) is not subject to opt-in but still falls under GDPR.
Penalties for non-compliance
| Violation | Fine |
|---|---|
| No opt-in | Up to €75,000 |
| No STOP option | Up to €15,000 |
| Sending outside hours | CNIL warning + €15,000 |
| GDPR breach | Up to 4% of global turnover |
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Mailpro auto-injects "STOP", respects French sending hours, exports proof of consent, and is hosted in Switzerland for max GDPR safety. Discover Mailpro SMS · SMS pricing
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