A 3928: Requires businesses that allow automatic renewals, continuous service offers, and automatic subscription renewals to provide notice regarding cancelling such renewals, services, or subscriptions.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3928 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY January 30, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. BORES -- read once and referred to the Committee on Consumer Affairs and Protection AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to automatic renewals, continuous service offers, and automatic subscription renewals The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "click to 2 cancel act". 3 § 2. Paragraph c of subdivision 1 of section 527-a of the general 4 business law, as added by chapter 267 of the laws of 2020, is amended 5 to read as follows: 6 c. fail to provide an acknowledgment that includes the automatic 7 renewal or continuous service offer terms, cancellation policy, and 8 information regarding how to cancel in a clear and conspicuous manner 9 that is capable of being retained by the consumer. If the offer includes 10 a free gift or trial, the business shall provide such acknowledgement 11 before the consumer pays for the goods or services and also disclose in 12 the acknowledgment [how to cancel and allow the consumer to cancel 13 before the consumer pays for the goods or services] the price that will 14 be charged after the free gift or trial period ends, and if the free 15 gift or trial period lasts for more than thirty-one days followed by an 16 upcoming automatic renewal or continuous service charge to such consum- 17 er's account, the business shall provide such acknowledgement at least 18 three days before, but not more than twenty-one days before, the cancel- 19 lation deadline for such automatic renewal or continuous service charge. 20 Such notice shall include instructions on how to cancel and allow the 21 consumer to cancel before the consumer pays for the automatic renewal or 22 continuous service charge. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02152-01-5 
 A. 3928 2 1 § 3. Paragraph b of subdivision 3 of section 527-a of the general 2 business law, as added by chapter 728 of the laws of 2023, is amended to 3 read as follows: 4 b. A business that allows a consumer to accept an automatic renewal or 5 continuous service offer for an initial paid term of one year or long- 6 er[, provided that such automatic renewal or continuous service renews 7 for a paid term of six months or longer,] shall notify such consumer of 8 [such] any upcoming automatic renewal or continuous service charge to 9 such consumer's account at least fifteen days before, but not more than 10 forty-five days before, the cancellation deadline for such automatic 11 renewal or continuous service charge. Such notice shall include 12 instructions on how to cancel such renewal or continuous service charge. 13 § 4. Paragraph a of subdivision 3 of section 527-a of the general 14 business law, as amended by chapter 728 of the laws of 2023, is amended 15 and a new paragraph d is added to read as follows: 16 a. In addition to the requirements of subdivision two of this section, 17 a consumer who accepts an automatic renewal or continuous service offer 18 online shall be allowed to terminate the automatic renewal or continuous 19 service exclusively online, which may include a termination email 20 formatted and provided by the business that a consumer can send to the 21 business without additional information. A consumer who accepts an auto- 22 matic renewal or continuous service offer shall additionally be allowed 23 to terminate the automatic renewal or continuous service offer in the 24 same manner that the consumer accepted such automatic renewal or contin- 25 uous service offer. If a phone number is provided for the purposes of 26 cancellation of the subscription, such number shall be toll-free and 27 shall be prominently displayed in the disclosure. 28 d. In addition to the requirements of subdivision two of this section, 29 in the case of a change in the fee charged under an existing automatic 30 renewal or continuous service offer that has been accepted by a consum- 31 er, the business shall provide, no less than seven days and no more than 32 thirty days before the fee change takes effect, the consumer with both 33 of the following: (i) a clear and conspicuous notice of the fee change; 34 and (ii) information regarding how to cancel such automatic renewal or 35 continuous service in a manner that is capable of being retained by the 36 consumer. 37 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.