PARIS - French President Nicolas Sarkozy says governments need to lay down and enforce rules in the digital world.

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (R) and Finance and Economy Minister Christine Lagarde arrive to attend a G20 Globalisation conference in Paris May 23, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

The French leader, hosting a so-called e-G8 conference in Paris, has said creativity in the online world must be fostered, but that governments "in our democracits are the only legitimate representatives of the general will."

Sarkozy told hundreds of business executives, creative minds and reporters Tuesday that the free market "has its own means of regulation, but no exchange is really free if the terms of this exchange aren't equal."

The conference of top digerati is billed as the first of its kind, being held in connection with Group of Eight powerful nations, whose leaders are holding a summit in the Normandy resort town of Deauville on Thursday and Friday.