3 years
Term of office for all appointed members — elected representatives and administration officials serve by virtue of their office and are not subject to the fixed term.
Criminal
Professional secrecy violations by CEPC members are criminal offences: up to 1 year imprisonment and a €15,000 fine under Art. 226-13 of the Code pénal.
Non-public
CEPC sessions are not open to the public. Enquirers may attend only to examine the questions to which they contributed, and only when the Commission requested their assistance.

The Composition of the CEPC

The CEPC is a mixed-membership commission whose composition reflects the range of institutional, professional, and economic perspectives needed to assess commercial practices in the French distribution chain (Art. L 440-1, al. 1 and Art. D 440-2). It combines democratic legitimacy (elected parliamentarians), judicial authority (serving and honorary magistrates), sectoral expertise (production, industry, wholesale, distribution), economic analysis (qualified experts), and administrative oversight (senior government officials).

Category Members How designated Term
Elected representatives1 deputy (député) and 1 senator (sénateur), designated by the permanent committees of their respective chambers competent in commercial relations between suppliers and resellersBy their respective parliamentary committeesDuration of mandate
Magistrates1 honorary administrative magistrate, 1 honorary judicial magistrate, 1 commercial court judge (juge de tribunal de commerce). The vice-president of the CEPC is chosen from among these three if the president is not already a member of a courtMinisterial appointment3 years
Production and industry8 members representing sectors of agricultural, fishery, and food production, as well as industrial and artisanal production and processing — or their alternates (suppléants)Ministerial appointment (from professional organisations or companies)3 years
Wholesale and distribution8 members representing wholesalers and distributors, chosen from professional organisations or companies — or their alternatesMinisterial appointment (from professional organisations or companies)3 years
Qualified experts3 persons qualified in matters relating to industry-commerce relationsMinisterial appointment3 years
Administration representativesThe Director General of the DGCCRF and the Director General for Economic and Environmental Performance of Enterprises (directeur général de la performance économique et environnementale des entreprises), or their representativesBy virtue of office (ex officio)Duration of office
Elected representatives
Members1 deputy (député) and 1 senator (sénateur), designated by the permanent committees of their respective chambers
TermDuration of mandate
Magistrates
Members1 honorary administrative magistrate, 1 honorary judicial magistrate, 1 commercial court judge. The vice-president is chosen from among these three if the president is not already a member of a court.
Term3 years (ministerial appointment)
Production and industry
Members8 members representing agricultural, fishery, food production, industrial and artisanal production/processing — or their alternates (suppléants)
Term3 years (ministerial appointment from professional organisations or companies)
Wholesale and distribution
Members8 members representing wholesalers and distributors — or their alternates
Term3 years (ministerial appointment)
Qualified experts & Administration
Qualified experts3 persons qualified in industry-commerce relations (ministerial appointment, 3 years)
AdministrationDirector General of the DGCCRF + Director General for Economic and Environmental Performance — by virtue of office, duration of office
The DGCCRF Director General as a Member — Acting Personally and Under Professional Secrecy

The Director General of the DGCCRF sits on the CEPC and, like all other members, serves in a personal capacity and is bound by the professional secrecy obligation. This means that the DGCCRF's participation in CEPC deliberations does not create an automatic flow of information between the two institutions — the Director General is personally bound to secrecy regarding everything learned in their CEPC capacity, just as any other Commission member.

Leadership: President, Vice-President, and Succession

The CEPC has a president and a vice-president. Where the president is not a member of a court, the vice-president must be chosen from the three magistrate members (honorary administrative magistrate, honorary judicial magistrate, or commercial court judge). The vice-president substitutes for the president in all their functions.

The president holds two significant operational powers under the governance framework: the personal responsibility for ensuring anonymisation of all documents before they reach the Commission, and the power to request enquiries by authorised agents (see below).

Governance: Sessions, Enquiries, and the Separate Secretariat

Sessions Non-Public Sessions

CEPC sessions are not open to the public (Art. D 440-9). The Commission deliberates in private, ensuring that the parties whose practices are being examined cannot be identified through public observation. Enquirers (enquêteurs) who have contributed to the examination of a specific question at the Commission's request may attend when that question is being examined — but only for that specific question.

Enquiries President's Power to Order Investigations

The CEPC can hear any persons or officials it considers useful to its mission (Art. L 440-1, III). The president can also request that an enquiry be carried out by agents authorised under Art. L 450-1 C. com. (DGCCRF agents and competition authority instruction service agents) and Arts. L 511-3, L 511-21, and L 511-22 C. consom. The enquiry report must preserve the anonymity of the persons concerned.

Secretariat A Separate Secretariat Guaranteeing Anonymity

Although the CEPC is located within DGCCRF premises, it maintains a dedicated and separate secretariat. This institutional separation is specifically designed to guarantee the anonymity of referrals. The secretariat is the first point of contact for all referrals and the entity responsible for implementing the anonymisation procedure before any material is passed to Commission members.

Anonymisation Anonymisation Before Circulation to Members

The president and vice-president are personally responsible for ensuring that all documents, enquiry reports, and information collected are anonymised before being circulated to the Commission (Art. D 440-11). The secretariat must delete all nominative references from documents and, where necessary, withdraw any pieces that would allow a person or company to be identified. This process happens before any Commission member sees the material.

Professional Secrecy: The Criminal Sanction

Professional secrecy is not merely a governance aspiration for the CEPC — it is a legally enforceable obligation with criminal consequences. Every member of the CEPC, without exception, is bound by professional secrecy for all facts, acts, and information they learn in the exercise of their functions (Art. L 440-1, I-al. 3).

The Professional Secrecy Obligation — Scope and Sanctions

Who is bound

All members of the CEPC without exception — including elected parliamentarians, magistrates, industry and distribution representatives, qualified experts, the DGCCRF Director General, and the DPEEE Director General. The secrecy obligation applies to all regardless of their category of membership or professional background.

What is covered

All facts, acts, and information (faits, actes et renseignements) of which members have knowledge by reason of their CEPC functions. This covers everything learned during Commission deliberations, from referral documents, enquiry reports, and all other materials communicated in the context of the Commission's work.

Criminal sanction for violation

Violation of professional secrecy is a criminal offence under Art. 226-13 of the Code pénal: one year of imprisonment and a €15,000 fine. The criminal nature of the sanction — rather than a civil or administrative penalty — reflects the seriousness with which the legislature treats confidentiality breaches in this context.

Why the Criminal Sanction Matters for Businesses Using the CEPC

The criminal enforcement of professional secrecy provides a strong structural guarantee for businesses that refer sensitive commercial information to the CEPC. A supplier that submits confidential pricing terms, contract structures, or commercial correspondence to support a referral can be confident that the criminal sanction attaching to any disclosure is a real deterrent to leaks — whether intentional or inadvertent. This is particularly significant given the CEPC's mixed composition: the same Commission that includes industry and distribution representatives also includes their counterparties' sector. The professional secrecy obligation, backed by criminal sanctions, is the framework that makes it possible for all parties to participate in the same institution.

Key Points on CEPC Composition and Governance
The CEPC's mixed composition — parliamentarians, magistrates, production and distribution representatives, qualified experts, and senior government officials — gives its opinions a breadth of institutional legitimacy that purely administrative or judicial bodies cannot replicate.
The three-year appointment terms for non-elected, non-official members provide continuity and insulation from short-term political or commercial pressures.
Sessions are not public: deliberations take place in closed session, which is essential to the confidentiality framework. There is no public gallery and no transcript available to parties or the press.
The president has the power to request that DGCCRF agents and competition authority instruction service agents carry out an enquiry. This investigative capacity — backed by the enforcement powers of those agents — means the CEPC can go beyond the documents submitted to it to verify or supplement the information on which it forms its opinion.
The anonymisation procedure is the president's personal responsibility. Every document, enquiry report, and piece of information is stripped of nominative references before reaching Commission members. The secretariat's separation from the DGCCRF is the structural safeguard for this anonymisation.
Professional secrecy applies to all members without exception — including the DGCCRF Director General who sits on the Commission. The DGCCRF's institutional participation does not create a channel for CEPC information to flow to DGCCRF enforcement without the criminal sanction applying to any disclosure.
The criminal sanction (one year imprisonment + €15,000 fine under Art. 226-13 C. pén.) provides a genuine deterrent. Businesses submitting sensitive commercial information to the CEPC are protected by a criminal-law confidentiality framework, not merely by administrative undertakings.
Ready to Engage with the CEPC or Navigate French B2B Commercial Law?

This concludes our four-part series on the CEPC. Whether you are considering a referral, assessing a published opinion's impact on your sector, or managing a dispute in which the CEPC may be consulted by the court, our team is here to help you navigate the process effectively.

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This article is for general information and educational purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice. Always seek qualified legal advice for your specific situation.