2023-07-24 16:31:25
As of August 1, receipts will no longer be mandatory, and will only be obtained at the explicit request of the customer at the time of purchase. They can also be retrieved by email, or on their phone using a QR Code system.
For the government, the objective is to reduce their environmental bill. Because behind these little pieces of paper hides a considerable impact. According to Ademe (Ecological Transition Agency), 12.5 billion receipts are printed in France each year, not counting bank card receipts and vouchers. This represents 150,000 tonnes of paper which required 25 million trees cut down and 18 billion liters of water consumed.
Two postponements and concerns
This measure has been supported by the government for three years, precisely since the 2020 climate and resilience law providing that “Till receipts will no longer be automatically printed by the merchant from January 1, 2023”. A deadline not respected, postponed for the first time to April 1 by the Minister responsible for trade Olivia Grégoire, then a second time to August 1.
In question, the necessary adjustments to respond to criticism from consumer associations, which is more against a backdrop of high inflation. “In a climate where the French are vigilant about their spending, it was not wise to implement this modification at this time”, inform the minister’s office. And to specify however “that it is absolutely not a question of a suppression of the sales receipt. If customers want it, they can ask for it”. What to answer to the concerns for the households with the fairest in the management of their budget, or for the elderly unfamiliar with digital.
With the exception of hotel-restaurants
If by chance a consumer does not request a receipt, but later decides to return a purchased product, he can always count on the dematerialized receipt that the merchant is supposed to have kept in his computer system. It should be noted that for restaurants or hotels, tickets will always be systematically printed, in particular so as not to complicate the expense report systems for the employer.
But questions remain. What will happen, for example, in supermarkets that ask consumers to scan their ticket to exit? This case does not yet seem to have been foreseen by the ministry, nor by the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF).
Some reasons for concern expressed by consumer associations remain, such as data control in particular. In a press release published in April 2022, UFC-Que Choisir feared that “this measure does not pave the way for a forced dematerialization of the ticket”, and does not facilitate, “via marketing techniques, the creation of databases by merchants, leading to the rise of intrusive or unwanted advertisements”.
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