When you buy a board game online, you rarely check who is behind the merchant site. The name, address, and registration number of the site’s publisher: this information seems trivial, until the day a dispute arises. The U Games site, specialized in the gaming world, displays a legal notice page. The question remains what it contains, what it should contain, and how to read it to draw useful conclusions about the seller’s reliability.
Legal notices of an e-commerce site: what the law requires after the LCEN reform
Most buyers confuse legal notices with general terms of sale. The former identify the site’s publisher. The latter frame the commercial transaction. These are two distinct obligations.
Since the SREN law of May 21, 2024, the obligation to identify the publisher is linked to article 1-1 of the LCEN, and no longer just to the former article 6-III. This evolution modifies the expected structure of legal notices. A site that still references the former article is using an outdated legal framework.
To learn more about the U Games site, the dedicated page gathers the identification information of the publisher, the host, and the contact details. This is the first reflex to have before any order.
In practical terms, a merchant site publisher must display its complete identity: company name, legal form, registered office address, registration number with the trade register, contact details, and name of the publication director. The absence of any one of these elements constitutes a legal breach.
Identifying the actual operator behind the name U Games
You may have noticed that several companies can have similar names without being related? This is exactly the trap with “U Games”.
French public registers list at least two entities with similar names. The company U-GAME, registered under SIREN 807 499 025, was an LLC based in Saint-Valery-en-Caux. It was removed from the Rouen Trade Register on September 6, 2021. Its declared activity was the operation of websites, under NAF code 63.12Z (internet portals).
Another entity, University Games Europe, has SIREN 433 459 799 and has been registered in the National Register of Enterprises since December 2000. These two structures do not have the same purpose or the same operator.
The U Games site hosted on u-games.ch is subject to Swiss law, which further distinguishes it from the two mentioned French entities. To verify who actually operates a site, the reliable method is to cross-reference several elements:
- The domain name and its geographical extension (.ch, .fr, .com) provide information about the country of hosting or registration, not necessarily about the company’s registered office.
- The registration number displayed in the legal notices must correspond to an active entity in an official register (RCS in France, cantonal trade register in Switzerland).
- The name of the publication director and the physical address must be consistent with the data from the consulted register.
An identical trade name does not guarantee any legal link between two companies. Automatically associating “U Games” with either entity without verification would be a mistake.
Personal data and privacy on an online gaming site
Beyond the identity of the publisher, the transparency of a site is reflected in its personal data processing policy. When you create an account, place an order, or accept cookies, you provide information that the site collects and uses.
The GDPR requires any site that processes data from European users to specify several points. Why does this framework apply even to a Swiss site? Because the GDPR applies as soon as the site targets users located in the European Union, regardless of the country of hosting.
A complete privacy policy must detail:
- The categories of data collected (identifiers, address, browsing data, payment information).
- The purposes of processing: order management, targeted advertising, service improvement, sharing with third parties.
- The duration of data retention and the user’s rights (access, rectification, deletion, portability).
- The identity of the data controller and, if applicable, the data protection officer.
If the privacy page is limited to vague formulations like “we use your data to improve our services,” without specifying which third parties have access or how long the data is retained, the level of transparency is insufficient under European law.
Checking the legal compliance of a merchant site: the right reflexes
Reading the legal notices is not enough. You also need to know what to look for and how to interpret what is missing.
A compliant site displays its legal notices on a page accessible from all other pages, usually in the footer. The absence of a link to the legal notices from the homepage is a warning sign.
Next, check for internal consistency. Does the name of the company mentioned in the legal notices match the one displayed on the contact page? Is the postal address the same in the general terms of sale and in the legal notices? A discrepancy between these elements often reveals a neglected update, or even a legal structure changed without updating the site.
For sites registered in Switzerland, the cantonal trade register (accessible online) allows you to verify the existence and status of the company. In France, platforms like Pappers or the Business Directory offer free access to registration data.
A site that makes its legal information easily verifiable inspires more trust than a site that settles for the bare minimum regulatory requirements. Transparency is not just a legal obligation: it is also an indicator of commercial seriousness, particularly in the e-commerce gaming sector where players are multiplying.
