Advertisers and marketers beware. You might be pretty free to use iconic old British buildings in advertising without permission (e.g. the Tower of London, Palace of Westminster, etc), but that's not the case when it comes to a number of French buildings.
The French courts have confirmed that commercial exploitation of images of buildings which are 'national domains', require prior authorisation of the 'custodian' of the relevant building/location. It's expected that a reasonable fee will be charged for the authorisation.
The fee is likely to reflect the advantage/benefit enjoyed by the person/brand/advertiser who wishes to use the image for commercial purposes.
Authorisation is required regardless of the media.
A limited exception is available if the image is used commercially "in furtherance of an end that is cultural, artistic, pedagogical, for teaching, research, informational, by way of illustration of current events or related to a public service mission" - but this is unlikely to be useful to most advertisers and marketers.
The upshot is that if you plan to use an image or footage of a French building or monument in advertising/marketing, you will need to conduct some checks first. You should not assume that it's safe to use the image or footage simply because it shows an ancient building or monument.
Section L.621-42 of the Code, which, as amended by the Act of 7 July 2016, provides as follows: "The use, for commercial purposes, of the image of buildings constituting national domains, on any media, is subject to the prior authorization of the custodian [French term is "gestionnaire"] of the relevant portion of the national domain. Such authorization may take the form of a unilateral deed or a contract, whether or not in conjunction with financial terms. The fee shall take into account the advantages of any kind obtained by the holder of the authorization..."
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