You are right about French. The language academy has no legal authority (they don’t “officially regulate” anything), and very little influence on common speech. It is a state-funded cultural institution, nothing more.
The Wikipedia page states: "The Académie is France's official authority on the usages, vocabulary, and grammar of the French language". And "The body has the duty of acting as an official authority on the language."
So while they may lack the power to enforce their official positions, the mere existence of an official state-sanctioned authority for a language is a notable difference from English.
