What does digital law cover?

The challenges of these new legal disciplines are significant. We support you to protect your interests.

What does digital law cover?

It covers the personal data law, the intellectual property law, the e-commerce law, the new information and communication technologies law (NTIC).

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Why can the expertise of FELLOUS AVOCATS be useful to you in digital law?

The cabinet FELLOUS AVOCADOS masters all the transversal data of thegeneral digital normative environment, as well as the respective roles of regulatory authorities concerned (CNIL, ANSI, CSA, ARCEP...).

In this sense, it intervenes to understand the technical, economic and social challenges of digital transformation of society.

This digital transformation of society is materialized in particular by the multiplication of online sales sites.

For example, when creating an online sales platform, you will have to be vigilant about writing General conditions of sale (CGV) andutilizing (CGU) in order to fix the framework of the commercial relationship (right of withdrawal, liability & warranty, price...) and on the treatment of legal issues related to payment, the legality of offers (advertising...).

It also makes it possible to effectively solve legal problems related to information processing And at the massification of data and supports companies in bringing their activity into compliance with European rules relating to data protection.

In fact, the collecting And the processing of personal data by companies are subject to obligations designed to protect the privacy and individual freedoms of the persons whose data is collected.

The General Data Protection Regulation No. 2016/679 or GPDR (General Data Protection Regulation) came into force in France on May 25, 2018 after several years of negotiations in the European Parliament.

This regulation has profoundly modified the current French regulations resulting from the The so-called “Informatique & Libertés” law of 6 January 1978, and in particular the 1995 Personal Data Protection Directive.

The objective of this regulation is to toughen At the same time people's rights whose data is collected, and the Actors' responsibility in charge of their treatment, while avoiding the excesses of an application specific to each country.

As for cryptocurrencies, they experienced a meteoric rise in recent years, but whether for beginners or the more experienced, cryptocurrency investment remains a Young technology and especially difficult to understand.

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What is a “cryptocurrency”?

According to The Financial Markets Authority (AMF), “cryptocurrencies”, rather called “cryptoassets”, are virtual digital assets that rely on the technology of blockchain (block chain) Through a decentralized ledger And a encrypted computer protocol.

More generally, the cryptoassets represent virtual assets stored on an electronic medium allowing a community of users accepting them in payment to carry out transactions without having to use legal tender.

From a legal point of view, a cryptocurrency is not Not a currency. According to theArticle L111‑1 of the Monetary and Financial Code (CMF),” The currency of France is the euro ”. It is therefore the only legal tender in France. Therefore, if a professional can agree to be paid in cryptocurrency, nothing prevents him from refusing it either.

She doesn't does not depend on any institution, does not benefit fromno legal tender in any country which makes it difficult to assess its value and cannot be spared therefore constitute a reserve value. Its value is determined solely according to theoffering And of the requisition.

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What does the concept of “blockchain” mean?

It is simply a tech allowing information to be stored and transmitted securely using cryptographic processes, which resembles a large database containing the history of all exchanges between its users.

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What are the most well known cryptoassets?

The best known cryptoassets are Bitcoin, the Ripple, theEther, the Litecoin, the Nem And the Dash.

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An example of current cryptocurrencies?

Lately, it has been the NFTs which are the latest cryptocurrencies to be all the rage.

If the latter have applications in the world ofartistry, the idea is that they can also be applied in other varied fields, such as Video games, or the sport.

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Concretely, what is an NFT?

THENFT name Is the acronym for English” Non-Fungible Token ”, which means a Non-fungible token in French.

Although this is similar to legal terms (in particular the concept of fungibility of an asset and a digital token), the very name of non-fungible token has the advantage of perfectly reflecting its definition: it is a token (including a title) that represents a digital and non-interchangeable object. The NFT is stored in a Blockchain.

NFTs are used to authenticate, make digital files unique, take the place of certificate of authenticity and constitute digital proof of the origin and ownership of the work to which they are associated. In this sense, these digital objects certify the ownership of a material asset (work of art, house, etc.) or immaterial (GIFs, sounds, digital avatars...) to its owner.

In reality, everything is “tokenizable.” For example, Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, marketed his first tweet for 3 million dollars. Likewise, the Sorare company, a fantasy football game, has made it a thriving business whose NFT card transaction volume reached $325 million in 2021. NFT and Video games are also very closely linked, such as the co-founder of Twitch, Justin Kan, who created the Fractal platform according to his motto “Play to Earn”.

In fact, players who have succeeded in unlocking weapons certified as unique by the blockchain will be able to either keep them to enjoy them in the game, or resell them and receive cryptocurrency, which can then be converted into euros, dollars...

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Legally speaking, is an NFT precisely defined?

Like all cryptocurrencies, from a legal point of view, there is no legal definition of an NFT because of its hybrid nature, at the crossroads of several distinct legal concepts, which is similar to a” Legal UFO ”.

However, in view of the growing and significant challenges of NFTs, their attachment to a legal category in order to determine their legal regime would be interesting.

For the Monetary and Financial Code, a digital asset is:” a digital representation that does not come from an institutional body (i.e. central bank or public authority), is not necessarily attached to legal tender, does not have the legal status of a currency ”. The NFT therefore falls into this category ofdigital asset.

The only positive condition is that people agree to use it as a medium of exchange that can be transferred, stored, or exchanged electronically.

However, there is legal uncertainty since theArticle L. 552-2 of the CMF specifies that a token is an intangible asset representing, in digital form, one or more rights making it possible to identify, directly or indirectly, the owner of said asset.

However, it should be noted that the NFT does not give no intellectual property rights to its owner unless the author of the work consents.

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What tax regime applies to cryptocurrencies?

Since the 1^Er January 2023, theArticle 79 of the 2022 Finance Act has changed the tax regime for capital gains from the sale of cryptocurrencies.

From now on, transfers carried out on a non-professional basis will systematically fall under the Single lump-sum levy regime.

Taxpayers will be able to choose to be taxed either at flat rate of 12.8%, or at Progressive income tax schedule.

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How are capital gains from the sale of cryptocurrencies taxed?

A distinction must be made according to whether the capital gains from cryptocurrency sales are made within the framework of a usual practice or casual.

When they are part of a usual practice, capital gains from the sale of digital assets, bitcoins or other cryptocurrencies, are taxed under industrial and commercial benefits (BIC).

On the other hand, Gains made on an occasional basis by individuals when selling cryptocurrencies, since the 2019 finance law (article 41), benefit from adapted taxation.

Therefore, in accordance withArticle 150 VH bis of the General Tax Code, the overall capital gain realized during the year is taxable if the total of the transfers is greater than 305 euros.

The winnings are then subject to the single lump-sum levy: they are taxed at a an overall rate of 30%, or 12.8 per cent for income tax and 17.2 per cent for social security contributions.

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What are the precautions to take when investing in cryptocurrencies?

Various risks may result from investments in cryptoassets. When investing in cryptocurrencies, it is entirely possible to be confronted with a speculative bubble, to computer hacks (hacking) or even being accused of money laundering. We are talking about speculative bubble when the price of an asset increases excessively, beyond its intrinsic value. The price of cryptocurrencies being very volatile, it exposes buyers to financial losses which can be very important.

In terms of security, the custody of crypto‑assets does not offer no protection, as the funds are not held in a banking institution. As an indication, the money laundering refers to the process of reintroducing into the legal economy the proceeds of criminal offences (which include, among others, organized crime activities, the abuse of social assets or even the tax evasion). By nature, crypto‑assets present a Anonymous character, promote the circumvention of anti-money laundering rules or can participate in Terrorist financing Or ofcriminal activities.